[c-nsp] Cisco 8000

[James Jun]

On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 10:59:59PM +0200, Mark Tinka wrote:
> 
> > Have you considered the NCS540?
> 
> We did. Two major problems as I've shared on this list before:
> 
> ?????? - IOS XR
> ?????? - Broadcom chipset

There is a third problem with NCS 540:  licensing is an absolute, disgusting mess.

There does not appear to be perpetual license models anymore for NCS 540.  Cloud
based Smart Licensing is now required on a recurring subscription payment model.
The longest recurring payment plan is 60 months, which I guess you could argue is
doable, but we don't want to deal with cloud-based licensing in our backbone.

I hope that Cisco does not enforce cloud-based subscription licensing on the 8000
series.  I am fine with Flex/Consumption subscription licenses being available as
an option (something to think about, if one is looking at $LOL expensive LCs on
ASR9K for example), but being forced to subscription model is a deal breaker.

I tend to agree with Mark wrt access devices being desirable to be simple (IOS XE).
I love IOS XR, but it's one thing to manage that on a big ASR 9922, but completely
something else to deal with that on hundreds of boxes out in the field..  64-bit
has made SW upgrade somewhat easier, but it's still convoluted with very limited
documentation available for 64-bit customers.  You have to practically open a TAC
case everytime you have question about upgrade or ISSU deployment on 64-bit eXR.

Nowadays, we've been gradually replacing ASR 920s with ASR-9901s to bring MPLS
to nearest POPs, and then for smaller sites further downstream that don't require
MPLS uplinks, we now roll packet boxes from Ciena (CN5142) to handle 1GE access.

James