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What machine do I need to do full BGP?

laloperez
Level 1
Level 1

Hi all,

My company is planning to do full BGP with two providers with which we are now using default routing for the out packets mixed with BGP for announcing our prefix. My concern is that I'm uncapable to determine the correct machine to do it. I presume that anything less than a 7600 or 6500 is unuseful, but even with that gear, I'm not sure if it's better a 6500 or a 7600. I can't get the differences between them for us. Worse, which supervisor is the minimum for support the 250000+ BGP routes? 32, 720 (which incarnation?)? I'm lost :O

By the way, we're a hosting company and all of our connections are FastEthernet or GigaEthernet (with providers and the other switches)

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Don't bother with the 2800 or 3800. I'd go with a 7200 series. Either the new 7201 which is a sweet little box http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7253/index.html

or a 7204/7206 VXR bundle. You'll want the NPE-G2 with 1Gig ram. The Sup720-3BXL will work, but as stated in a previous post, it's way too much hardware just to hold the BGP table.

View solution in original post

23 Replies 23

Danilo Dy
VIP Alumni
VIP Alumni

Hi,

For full BGP, the minimum requirement is 256MB DRAM. Therefore you need a router that can support 512MB DRAM.

A 3800 Series router is a good choice. A 3845 Router can support multiple NM/WIC on its 4 NM Slots and it comes integrated with 2GE and 2SFP Port with redundant power module and is upgradeable to 1GB DRAM.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5855/prod_models_comparison.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5855/products_relevant_interfaces_and_modules.html

http://www.miercom.com/dl.html?fid=20040901&type=report

Dandy

And is it capable of handling a 100+Mbps conection to internet and the bgp table? What about a 2821 with 1Gig that we already owns?

We expect to need to route 250Mbps in a year from now and want to maximize our investiment, but don't want to oversize the machine. And, of course, inmediate expenses are important, too.

kerek
Level 4
Level 4

If you want to handle full Internet routing table than you have to first consider the memory available on you router as you routing and bgp table will become huge.

The number of prefixes received affect the memory and not the cpu. If you have many bgp peers than you have to consider the cpu as well. I think in this case choose the box with higher memory.

Anyway if you provide hosting services it is also wise to consider the packet forwarding performance of your box.

Here you can find some info about the performance of various products:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/765/tools/quickreference/index.shtml

Pls rate if helps,

Krisztian

But I need traffic going towards the Internet at 100+ Mbps. I thought that the "traditional" routers can't barely handle such traffic and the bgp thing at the same time. If that's not the problem, a 2821 with 1Gig DRAM would be enough, wouldn't it?

Hi,

If you take a look at the link I have posted earlier than you will see the 2821 has about 87M capability. If you plan to route this kind of large traffic than I think at leat 3800 series can be suitable. If you have to invest in new equipment as it looks than consider multilayer switch. They are also able to run BGP, OSPF (with appropriate image) and have much better performance.

Please rate if helps,

Kriszti?n

Thank you, I didn't see the item about 2821 until later. What puzzles me is that when you go for multilayer, things get complicated. We are using a pair of 4948 and they're fantastic for LAN switching and routing. But are limited to 32000 entries in the routing table 'cause of CEF, which is no possible to disable.

I'm going to check the 3800.

Well the 4500 series maximum route entries around 128k and the 6500 series have 256k so considering a Internet routing table at least 6500 series is needed. May be 7200 or 7600 series should be checked as well.

Hi,

For full BGP, the order of importance are;

1. Memory Capability

- 256 Minimum upgradeable to 512MB and above

2. Interface and Modules

- Thus it support your LAN/WAN Interface?

- Would there be slots available for future expansion?

3. Performance

- Do you need high performance?

- What where you hosting anyway to need such performance?

- Are you a big ISP with thousands of subscribers, multiple hosting, AS transit, or just a small to medium Data Centre

Though it would be nice to choose the biggest router available, but big is not always the best choice in terms of cost (one-time and recurring). A true solution architect will look for the suitable router, not always the big router - that's why companies employed network professional, else they can just call a sales representative from a vendor.

Dandy

nikolasgeyer
Level 1
Level 1

Hi there,

Reading your original and follow up posts, from what I can gather you need a router to provide;

- Full BGP routing

- Capable of 250Mbps+ sustained transfer

- Value for money.

The 3845 will do what you are after, however it maxes out ~250Mbps (using CEF switching). While it is a great value router, if you really are going to be doing 250Mbps+ then I would look at something a little bigger.

My reccomendation would be for the Cisco 7206VXR with NPE-G1. The NPE has 3 built in gigabit ethernet ports, it will handle 256000 routes and can support ~520Mbps of traffic using CEF switching. They are great value as well either brand new or second hand from an authorized reseller. The good thing about it as well is it performance starts to become an issue, you can throw in an NPE-G2 which supports ~1Gbps. Its also extremely modular and supports a range of cards if required(ethernet, pos, atm etc).

To answer your question about the 6500/7600's and route table sizes etc, the Sup720 and Sup720-3B both support 256,000 routes and the Sup720-3BXL supports 1,000,000 routes. The Sup720 supports ~15Gbps of throughput using DFC cards and ~7.5Gbps using non DFC cards.

As above, personally I would look towards the 7206VXR with NPE-G1 (or 7301 which is essentially the same thing but in a smaller box which is conveniant if you dont see yourself adding lots of cards in) based on value and requirements. The 6500/7600 seems overkill for this application unless you are also going to do something else with it.

Nik

Don't bother with the 2800 or 3800. I'd go with a 7200 series. Either the new 7201 which is a sweet little box http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7253/index.html

or a 7204/7206 VXR bundle. You'll want the NPE-G2 with 1Gig ram. The Sup720-3BXL will work, but as stated in a previous post, it's way too much hardware just to hold the BGP table.

Will it be safe to use a machine capable of 256000 routes, if the internet table is now more than 200000 entries? That's the fear I have, cause all this machines with CEF are blazing fast, but die quickly if the FIB gets exhausted, and I don't know if a 7200 will run out of FIB space in a year.

I've just read the characteristics of the new 7201 and I think it's perfect!

Thank you!

What about Catalyst 6509 with SUP-32 engine? Does it support 256k routes? Will it's processor be enough if I have 3 Internet uplinks? How much traffic can I expect for it to support?

As you can read through the rest of the thread, it depends on your needs. The Sup-32 supports 256k routes on CEF, but if you need to support 3 uplinks, it may be not enough. What kind of interfaces are those uplinks? Basically, if you need high speed in many interfaces (>=1Gbps) you'll use a 6500 or 7600 (or greater). If you need moderate traffic rates (total throughput less than 2Gbps) and full BGP you'll done with a 7200 and a NP-GE1 or 2 processor. If you need full speed but just partial BGP, you can use the Sup-32 or the basic Sup-720.

But, if you need full speed AND full BGP, chances are that you'll need a latest Sup-720 in a 6500 or 7600, OR go for a 12000 series.

IMHO, 256k maximum routes support is a bit risky these days if you need full BGP (even riskier if you need to peer with more than one provider)

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