[c-nsp] Question on 7204vxr modules

[Mark Tinka]

On Thursday 10 July 2008 20:58:26 Steven Pfister wrote:

> - As a first step, we're going to replace the I/O
> controller with the new one using a FE GBIC, and put the
> PA-GE in along with the PA-A6-OC3MM until its time to cut
> over to gigabit Ethernet. Is there any restrictions on
> where we can put the PA-GE during this time? Can it be
> any slot? -

In a non-NPE-G1/G2 deployment, I/O controllers consume 
bandwidth points, and form part of the "left side" of the 
router.

If I understand you correctly, you currently have a 
C7200-I/O-2FE/E installed. This consumes 400 bandwidth 
points on the left side of the router.

When you upgrade to the C7200-I/O-GE+E as planned, you will 
also consume 400 bandwidth points on the left side of the 
router.

From your explanation, your PA-A6-OC3MM is installed in slot 
2 of the router. This consumes 300 bandwidth points on the 
right side of the router.

A PA-GE consumes 400 bandwidth points.

With 400 bandwidth points on your left handside, and 300 
bandwidth points on your right handside, you're left with 
200 bandwidth points and 300 bandwidth points to play with, 
respectively (i.e., a Cisco-supported configuration).

Installing the PA-GE would overflow the supported 
configuration by 200 points on the left side, and 100 
points on the right side.

My recommendation (if it is at all feasible in your network, 
of course) would be to keep the C7200-I/O-2FE/E and only 
enable one Ethernet port. This counts as half and the 
router would only use 200 points on the left handside, 
rather than 400 - this is a Cisco supported configuration 
as long as this condition is maintained, i.e., one of the 
Ethernet interfaces is administratively shutdown.

This way, you can install the PA-GE on the left handside of 
the router and be within the supported values for that 
side, i.e., 600 bandwidth points.

If you really do need the Gig-E-based I/O controller, then 
you may consider oversubscribing the bus accordingly. We 
have previously been in situations where we had no choice 
but to do this, but only because it was a temporary hack.

> Where is the configuration stored?

The configuration is typically stored in NVRAM on the I/O 
controller.

> Is it on  
> the flash card?

No (although it can be).

The PCMCIA flash card will typically hold the IOS image.

> When we put the new IO controller in, can 
> we just move the flash card over?

It would be best if you pre-configured the new I/O 
controller and told it where to find the new IOS, as you 
plan to re-use the existing PCMCIA flash card. Here, you're 
basically setting the Boot environment:

conf t
 boot system flash ...

You would also need to pre-load the 'startup-configuration' 
file onto the new I/O controller, and adjust it 
accordingly, e.g., FastEthernet to GigabitEthernet 
configurations, e.t.c.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Mark.
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