Cisco 1841 as a L2PTv3 End Point

mlouis · ‎11-12-2009

I have a customer who is currently using a 20 Mbps metro ethernet connection between two data centers and running it through a couple 1841 routers configured with IPSEC site to site tunnels. I know from the Cisco IPSEC SRNDs that testing indicated that the 1841s could handle about 8Mbps of encrypted throughput. Has anyone on the list validated speeds greater than this on the 1841?

We would like to extend a layer 2 connection between the two data centers using the 1841s, however we would add a couple ASA5505s into the mix. The 5505s are rated at 100Mbps VPN throughput so they should be adequate. What we would like to do is configure the 1841s as L2PTv3 end points and bridge the traffic between the two data centers for a particular server VLAN - for the purpose of supporting VMotion of VMs between the sites.

Has anyone had any experience running the 1841 as a L2TPv3 end point and been able to run it at speeds nearing 20Mbps? I don't want to enable encryption on the 1841 just a single L2TPv3 pseudo-wire and then run encryption on the ASA for the PW.

Thanks in advance.

Giuseppe Larosa · ‎11-13-2009

Hello Michael,

the C1841 is considered capable to forward 38.40 Mbps of traffic or 75000 pps.

see file in attachment

this is for just IP routing forwarding without any feature and you need to divide by two for bidirectional traffic

I'm afraid the device can be overwhelmed trying to send and receive 20 Mpbs of L2TPv3 traffic.

see attached document

feature navigator for L2TPV3 says L2TPv3 is supported on C1841 but performances can be a problem.

Be aware that all broadcasts on mirrored vlan have to be sent on the L2TPv3 tunnel.

Hope to help

Giuseppe