[AusNOG] Cisco 7201 vs Juniper SRX 550 for border routers

[Rhys Hanrahan]

Hi Everyone,

We are currently in the middle of upgrading some our network hardware, and was hoping that I could get some input on deciding on a pair of border routers.

Initially we were looking at the Juniper MX series for this role, but found it's a bit outside our price range (for now). In trying to keep it all Juniper (as we'll most likely use EX-series for our core and access layers), we have been looking at the Juniper SRX 550 routers for our border. They seem like they will do the job for our needs, but are missing LNS functionality, which is something we'd have to purchase 7201s for in the future, and so therefore I'm also looking at just buying 7201s instead.

Logically to me, since the SRX is (apparently) newer hardware, it should perform better than the 7201s. My anecdotal evidence, however, suggests otherwise, and I'm looking to confirm that in terms of real-world performance. Comparing the spec sheets between the SRX 550 and the 7201, on paper it looks like the 7201 beats out the SRX in terms of performance (mainly PPS). It also sounds like the SRXs store multiple copies of BGP routes in memory and so where a pair of full sets of internet routes for the SRX is not possible, it's still possible on 7201s.

>From all that I've read and heard from various people, it seems that generally, the Juniper SRX series is not held in a high regard in terms of reliability or performance, compared to something like the MX series (which is to be expected really). Whereas I hear a lot of good things of the 7200 series, despite the fact it's EOL, it's still being used and is a reliable range. Due to these factors, despite it being an older router, I am leaning towards the 7201s as it seems like an all-around better choice in terms of reliability and performance.

My main hesitation in going with the 7201s is that, we'll be using them for quite a lot, and I'm unsure of how quickly the performance will drop if I start using more features. So I was hoping that someone could give some real-world input so say which would likely be the better choice. Overall right now, I'm still siding with a pair of 7201s.

Here is a summary of what we'll be using the border routers for:

  *   BGP (Initially only a default route, but potentially 2xfull internet routes in future. Plus IX routes.)
  *   OSPF (Up to 50 or so routes)
  *   Static NAT (up to 100K active translations)
  *   Up to 400 Mbps IP Transit
  *   Up to around 25K ACLs (we currently firewall customer servers on the border. We're looking at moving the firewalling off to a dedicated box like an SRX or ASA, but probably not at our current size, if possible).
  *   NAT64
  *   IPSec (around 10 Mbps of AES256/SHA traffic).
  *   NetFlow
  *   HSRP / VRRP
  *   IPv6 Support
  *   LNS (Up to 200 sessions).
  *   MPLS PE
  *   QinQ Tunnel / QinQ Termination
Appreciate any insights that can be given on which path to take.

Thanks!

Rhys Hanrahan
Chief Information Officer
Nexus One Pty Ltd

E: support at nexusone.com.au<mailto:support at nexusone.com.au>
P: +61 2 9191 0606
W: http://www.nexusone.com.au/
M: PO Box 127, Royal Exchange NSW 1225
A: Level 10, 307 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000

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