Using a Cat6500 for a small hosting company

[smileface]

Hi,

I am running a smaller hosting company and i am currently looking at a Cat6506 switch with a SUP720 Supervisor Engine. I have also been looking at a Cat6509 with a SUP2-GE Supervisor Engine. At the moment i am getting my connection from a ISP but i am going to get my own BGP AS now.. My question is just, how much will the SUP720 be able to route, and how many routes will i need to get it to route my packets in and out of my AS? I have seen that the full BGP table is over 400,000 and the SUP720 is only capable of 256,000, but do i really need the full table? It's really confusing.

Also, can anyone tell me the major differences between the SUP720 and SUP2-GE Supervisor Engines?

Thanks a lot in advantage. :-)

- Chris

[sleepyshark]

You can take partial/default routes from your ISP, which means a SUP2-GE with memory can handle it.  If you have multiple Tier-1 ISP's, i'd do full tables.

Additionally, I noticed you said "from an ISP" meaning ONE... AS numbers are established for companies who want to multi-home, meaning you'll need another ISP to make it happen.

Thanks,

Sean Brown

http://www.sleepyshark.com

[smileface]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for the answer! I think i misexplained my situation about the ISP's, i will have a peering agreement with EuroTransit and another ISP called Zen Systems (it's in denmark), so i will have a total of 2 x 1 gbit, 1 gbit to each provider. Those ISP's is (from what i know) not a Tier-1 ISP, so would there be any problems here?

Thanks,

- Chris

[sleepyshark]

No problems, you can still take partial routes with no problems, essentially BGP will figure out the best path, send it to the ISP, who will then do the same thing sending it out their best peer/path.

[smileface]

Ah okay, so i will also be able to add my own routes for different subnets/AS's (like prepending)? Also, do you know any information about how much traffic (mbps) the SUP2 Supervisor Engine is able to route? I have only seen that it can route about 30mpps.

Thanks again.

[Leo Laohoo]

Also, can anyone tell me the major differences between the SUP720 and SUP2-GE Supervisor Engines?

Sup2GE?  As in the legacy Sup2?  Or are you talking about the newer Sup2T?

If you are talking about the newer Sup2T, since the price between the Sup720 and Sup2T is similar, I'd recommend you look into the newer one.  Unfortunately, the Sup2T is only supported in an "E" chassis.

Q & A:  Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2T

[smileface]

Hi,

I am talking about the legacy SUP2-GE (not the SUP2T as this is too heavy for my usage). I haven't been looking at a E-chassis, i have tried to compare them though, there isn't much information about them. I only found something about that you can use more power on the E-chassis than the original.

Thanks,

- Chris

[Leo Laohoo]

Hi Chris,

I've posted the Data Sheet and a "Q&A" of the Sup2T in my previous post. 

Just want to let you know that the price of the Sup720 and the Sup2T are the same.  So if you want to consider a Sup720 then it's worth investing on something newer.