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

[John T. Yocum]

TCIS List Acct wrote:
> 
> 
> John T. Yocum wrote:
>>>
>>>>  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.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately that URL doesn't really contain any practical 
>>> performance data for the RE's.  I'll keep Googling for some.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the info.
>>>
>>> --Mike
>>
>> What sort of performance data are you looking for on the RE? The RE 
>> isn't involved in the actual packet forward forwarding, the PFE 
>> (Packet Forwarding Engine) is.
>>
>> --John
>>
> 
> John,
> 
> What specifically does the RE do, if not packet forwarding?  Sorry for 
> the lack of clue here, we are coming from the Cisco world where the NPE 
> generally does it all.
> 
> --Mike

Mike,

The RE runs the routing protocol processes, and management functions. 
All forwarding, and route lookups are done entirely in hardware, which 
depending on the system will vary from a few million pps to 10's of 
millions.

In other words, even an M5 will outdue a 7200 without much effort.

--John