[c-nsp] 7200s (VXRs and not) and MPLS capabilities

[Paolo Lucente]

Hi Justin,

in the end, the VXR backplane has nothing to do with MPLS
- rather is an added TDM bus for cross-connects.

Consensus was a few time ago on this same list that there
are really few cards supporting it and pretty much nobody
getting benefit from it.

Also, you don't have different IOS images between the VXR
and non-VXR versions; you do have a different image though
if the 7200 is a) slapped with a shiny NPE-G2 processor or
b) we are speaking of a 7201 which is a different product.
I don't think either of the two is your case ($$).

The traditional 7200 is pretty much a swiss-knife and fits
very nicely as a small-scale PE in an MPLS network; both L2
and L3 VPNs are supported and MPLS-TE aswell; VPLS are not.
Full featured QoS is there. IHMO, there is an interesting
option of running the 12.2SR train onto it.

Scaling mostly depends on CPU and memory available as it's
a pure software platform. Once you get them confirmed, you
might google the archives for some pointers.

Cheers,
Paolo


On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 05:44:55PM -0500, Justin Shore wrote:
> Does anyone have any links to info on the MPLS capabilities of the non-VXR 
> 7200s and how they stack up against their VXR siblings (cousins?)?  We have 
> an option of picking up some inexpensive non-VXRs (I don't know what CPUs 
> yet) and are considering using these to terminate DS3s of T1 customers.  
> VRFs for MPLS VPN would be in use for some of the customers.  MLPPP for 
> some as well.  QoS for voice.  Other than that it should be very basic.  
> I'm hoping that no one would want full tables, though I can't recall what 
> the IPv4 route limits are for processors before the G1.
>
> For that matter we also have the option of picking up some cheap 7500s, 
> though I'm less inclined to use these for anything.
>
> Thanks
>  Justin