Cisco 7301 - OK for full BGP table?

osiristrading123 · ‎02-10-2009

We are planning on connecting to two ISPs for redundancy via a pair of routers, using Gig Ethernet.

We are looking at either the 7301 or ASR1002. Will the 7301s be able to handle the full internet routing table each, along with an IBGP session between them, and still pass +-500MBit/sec of traffic (over GE)?

The ASRs are just a bit expensive when you start adding NBAR, IPSec, FW, etc to them.

Any other recommendations that aren't more expensive than the ASR1002, but will still perform adequately in our scenario?

Giuseppe Larosa · ‎02-10-2009

Hello Anthony,

the C7301 will be enough for current needs: full BGP table(s) and up to 500 Mbps of throughput.

An alternative could be C7206VXR with NPE-G2.

ASR1002 could provide you the capability to support future needs: bandwidth requirements are likely to increase fast over time.

I think ASR 1002 comes with a RP and one ESP processor so you will have all the functionalities but probably with only a 5 Gbps throughput scale.

ASR 1004 could be a better choice being able to support more powerful ESP.

If a solution without handling full BGP tables could be acceptable a good multilayer switch (a C3750E) would have been an acceptable choice but with no NAT features.

Hope to help

Giuseppe

osiristrading123 · ‎02-10-2009

Or how about a 7201 - it seems the 7301 is nearing EOL.

Giuseppe Larosa · ‎02-10-2009

Hello Anthony,

I think 7201 is another chassis version of 720x so with an NPE-G1 or NPE-G2 you should be fine.

Actually it has a different CPU but numbers are similar to NPE-G2

see

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps341/ps7253/product_data_sheet0900aecd80630b58.html

Hope to help

Giuseppe

royalblues · ‎02-10-2009

Yes it would be fine.. Actually the 7201 has an integrated NPE-G2 offering high performance

Narayan

Joseph W. Doherty · ‎02-10-2009

Is the 500 Mbps, per router and duplex? If so, to guarantee Ethernet wire speed, you'll need about 1.5 Mpps. The G1 (in 7301) offers 1 Mpps, so that's a bit shy. The G2 (in 7201) offers 2 Mpps. That appears suffient but it doesn't leave much reserve capacity if you push the links harder and/or allow for other IOS processing.

The 7304 with NSE-150 can offer up to 3.5 Mpps, but you need to carefully check whether it supports your required IOS features.

The ASR1002 can use either the ESP-5 or ESP-10. The former provides 4 to 7.5 Mpps (depends on features), the latter 8 to 15 Mpps (again depends on active features).

Another alternative would be you might want to examine the various Metro switches, which offer even more performance but often without all the same IOS features.