[c-nsp] 7500 performance

[Pete Templin]

Walter Keen wrote:
> Speaking of CPU performance, does anyone have any feedback on the Cisco 
> 7500 series, I'm considering using it instead of multiple 7204's to 
> aggregate/terminate atm (9 oc3, 1 ds3) and T1 (channelized ds3) traffic, 
> I'm looking at the RSP8, with vip4-80's and the appropriate PA's, and 
> planning on doing etherchannel on (2) pa-fe's back to our core (7613) 
> router.

As someone (Jon Lewis?) said a while ago, VIPs in a 7500 are like 
individual 7202s with a magic backplane between them.  Sizing your VIPs 
is like sizing your NPEs.  If I were buying 7500s (which I wouldn't be 
doing), I'd be buying VIP4-80s at the bare minimum, VIP6-80s if I had 
the need, and RSP4s (if I didn't need full routes) or RSP16s (if I did 
need full routes).

I don't know how well those etherchannels will work for you.  I think 
they're software-dependent, but I suspect GEIP+ may be the better bet 
for you.  Complexity (of which etherchannel most likely qualifies) is 
not the 7500 strong suit.

pt