[c-nsp] 1G (SFP) single-mode aggregation

[Mark Tinka]

On Thursday, December 15, 2011 09:44:56 PM Peter Rathlev 
wrote:

> We've been asked to look at how one could best cram a
> fair amount of SFP links into not too much space. They
> are downlinks to FTTO switches. When going full scale
> we're talking about maybe 2500 FTTO switches.
> 
> So the question is: How many (1G) SFP switchports can one
> hope to terminate in a standard rack? And what is the
> smartest/cheapest/easiet way to do it?
> 
> We've been looking at the things described further down.
> Any better ideas than those? If anybody has good
> experience with non-Cisco equipment I'd also love to
> hear about it. And if the idea of aggregating as much as
> possible in a single rack is stupid, please tell me. :-)

You don't say whether the aggregating rack will also be the 
same one providing services, or whether services will come 
from the upstream.

If you're looking at providing services at the aggregation 
rack, have you considered other options like the ASR9922. 
Compared to the 6500, it could be more costly, but it's got 
20 slots which would give you 800 ports per chassis (a 
little less if you're going to spare 2x 10Gbps ports for the 
uplink). Not as much as the 6513 (the ASR9922's are 40-port 
line cards), but remember you're getting line rate on each 
slot in the ASR9922 (not that it really matters in your use-
case; I'm guessing density trumps performance).

You could also look at the Juniper MX960. You'd be able to 
squeeze 40x Gig-E ports into a single slot, but note that 
the MPC1 carrier card is only 30Gbps throughout the slot, 
while the MPC2 is double. 

Juniper have something interesting going on here that I, 
unfortunately, cannot go into. If you have any leads into 
Juniper, I'd suggest calling them up. 

The Juniper EX8200 may sound like an idea, but based on the 
feedback from most, I'd likely say stay away, especially if 
you're trying to run services on the rack.

This is an interesting problem.

If you're simply aggregating without services, or providing 
simple services, I'd say seriously consider the 6513 with 
the SUP2T, especially if the price difference with the 
ASR9922 is significant.

Mark.
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