[j-nsp] Juniper M-series vs 72xx/NPE-G2

[Phil Sykes]

My 2c's worth inline:

 > - M5, M10, M20, or M7i - what is my best bet for the traffic 
> levels mentioned above?  We need the basics - BGP, OSPF, GRE 
> tunnel capability, and some basic ACLs.  Nothing fancy like MPLS, etc.

 All of the above are capable of handling the traffic levels mentioned
without any issues.
 GRE Tunneling will require a tunnel PIC or an M7i with an integrated
AS-PIC, unfortunately.

> - What is the difference between the non-"i" series vs the 
> newer "i"-series? e.g. M10 vs M10i.  How about the "Enhanced" 
> vs non-Enhanced chassis?

 The M7i/M10i are a newer chipset, which is required to support some of
the newest PICs (e.g. 4 port Gig-E IQ2). 
 They're also smaller and lighter - the original M5 and M10s could have
eaten more salad during the design process.
 The M10i also has redundant routing and forwarding blades, which its
predecessor didn't.

 http://juniper.cluepon.net/index.php/M10i may help you out.

> - What M-series router should I be looking for on the used 
> market? Specifically, what one should have the greatest availability.

 I would imagine used M5s and M10s are going to be most available. Make
sure they are the version with the E-FEB, which supports newer cards
like the SFP-based Ethernet PICs.
 Ideally for future-proofing and most cost-effective support of GRE, get
the M7i with integrated AS-PIC.

 Watch that M20 and M5/M7i/M10/M10i PICs are not (practically)
interchangable.

> - What routing engine should I be looking for?  I see a lot 
> of RE-333's out there, but don't see a "performance chart" 
> anywhere on Juniper's site
 
 http://juniper.cluepon.net/index.php/Routing_Engine

 RE-333 (a.k.a RE-2.0) is a minimum as you'll need to be able to install
768MB of memory to handle full BGP table scaling. Commodity memory will
work, but may not be supported.

> - Does anyone have advise regarding Juniper's recertification 
> process on used gear?  We would need at least basic 
> support/JUNOS upgrades on whatever we buy
> - Does anyone have a suggestion on who to source the used gear from?

 Can't comment for the U.S.A.

Cheers,

Phil Sykes
Technical Consultant		JNCIE-M #227
 
Imtech Telecom
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