Metro Ethernet capacities

laustimus · ‎02-03-2007

We are going from point to point T1's at some of our offices to 5mbit and 10mbit Metro ethernet. We really do not want to change to a flat network and would like to keep routers inplace with the same subnets and everything, just move it from the WIC to the 2nd FE port.

I'm wondering though if we route from FE Int to FE Int what are the capacities for all the 2800 and 3800 series routers?

Our traffic is made up of RDP, file server and web traffic. It's a very simple topology also and we get along great with just RIP 2.

sachinraja · ‎02-03-2007

Hello laustimus,

you can do whatever you want with metro ethernets !!! thats the biggest advantage of this technology.. You can ask the service providers for a layer 2 or a layer 3 link... if you want a flat/layer 2 network, the service provider will assign you a VLAN in his network , and trunk all your VLANs onto that VLAN and transport the data streams.. In this case, it is very critical for you to ask the ISP to allow protocols like BPDU, LACP etc for you to run STP , etherchannels etc over the Metro WAN... If you get a Layer 3 Metro circuit, the ISP will give you a point to point ethernet interface !!!

the 2800 and 3800 routers work really well with such scenarios.. no issues at all !!! you can refer to the datasheet of these routers on the CCO to know all the capabilities of these routers...

Hope this helps.. all the best..

Raj

laustimus · ‎02-06-2007

Great thanks for the response Raj!

My last question is I can't seem to find how much sustained throughput the routers will handle.

What I'm wondering is if the 2811 will handle 10mbit of constant data traffic.

Thanks again!