Help in selecting router please

[Michael T. Halligan]

Nicole,

You should call up Chris Johnson @ networkhardware.com. You'll find, 
however, that a refurbed Cisco 6506 is actually
cheaper than a 6504 due to available qty.

Nicole wrote:
>  Sorry for the late reply. Bogged down with other issues.
>
> On 20-Sep-06 My Homeland Security "observers" reported that kashani said:
>   
>> Nicole wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi
>>>  I was wondering if anyone could assist in helping me with a problem.
>>>
>>>   I have bandwidth that is exceeding our 1Gb fiber drop from our
>>> colo provider, so I need to add another. So do so, I will need to move to a
>>> router or routing switch that can use BGP (as that is all that our colo
>>> providor
>>> offers) to support load balancing across the two fiber drops. Then provide
>>> at
>>> least 2 preferably 4 or more 1Gb copper or fiber ports to connect to our
>>> switches. 
>>>
>>>  Once we start talking multiple gigabit routing, I am in over my head and
>>>  the
>>> costs seem extreemly high. I was wondering if anyone could reccomend a
>>> solution
>>> or router that may be less than stratosferic in cost. 
>>>       
>> I was last a routing geek in 2001 and haven't really kept up with the 
>> technology. However I don't think there is enough info here about your 
>> infrastructure to make a decent suggestion. Here's a couple of questions 
>> to get things going and some router ramblings.
>>
>>       Are you getting a connection to a different provider or the same
>>     
> provider?
>
>  The bgp would simply be to balance two connections from the same providor.
>  
>   
>> If it's the same provider you can etherchannel or whatever your vendors 
>> calls it from your gear to their gear with your current switch. Not a 
>> terribly fancy solution, but it should work if both sides are reasonably 
>> modern.
>>     
>
>  Sadly not an option for them since we are connected to their main router to
> get that level of bandwidth.
>  
>   
>>       If it is two providers you're pretty much stuck with BGP. That leads us 
>> to the next question, do you need/want full BGP routes?
>>     
>
>  Not forseable in the near future.
>  
>   
>> I might consider asking for a default route from each provider, 
>> 0.0.0.0/0, and then 10-15k of their peering routes rather than the whole 
>> 120-150k routes a full table could be. Your total BGP table should be no 
>> more than 40-50k routes which could fit into 32MB IIRC. That means you 
>> can get a cheap(er) routing engine w/128-256MB for your current big dumb 
>> switch. Of course all that depends on which big dumb switch you already 
>> own. I wouldn't do full routes with two providers with anything less 
>> than 128MB for the record and more RAM is always better.
>>
>>       Are you going to be pushing significantly more traffic in the near
>>     
> future?
>
>  That is our hope of course, but no one can ever say how soon.
>  
>   
>> If yes, it might be worth your time to have a real routing 
>> infrastructure rather than half assing it. Full BGP tables allows you to 
>> pick better and hopefully faster routes, load balance across many 
>> providers, which leads to fault tolerance at least at the routing layer. 
>> Additionally it allows you to negotiate bandwidth prices and gives you 
>> the knobs to use your bandwidth as effectively as possible.
>>     
>
>  Right now I have been told find the best but cheapest solution. 
>  
>   
>> You can also go the opposite way and keep a smaller network and use a 
>> content delivery network if you're all http or something similar. CDNs 
>> are often no cheaper than doing yourself, but require less initial cash 
>> and personnel.
>>     
>
>  CDN's are expensive and also usually require either bulk payments for
> bandwidth, used or not, or per MB of transfer which would be too expensive in
> the long run. 
>
>
>  So far I have been given a quote for either a cisco 6504-E or a foundry
> fastiron super-x. Both at about 25K.
>
>  If anyone else is in the business and would like to quote on this, please let
> me know. Other comments and suggestions of course welcomed!
>
>
>  Thanks!
>
>    Nicole
>
>
>  
>  
>   
>> Ramin
>>     
>
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