[AusNOG] Equipment upgrade path

[Nikolas Geyer]

Can’t comment on the Nexus feature set specifically as it’s been some time since I’ve played with MPLS on it, but also look at the Cisco NCS5500 series. More designed for SP functions than a Nexus, runs IOS-XR and uses Broadcom Jericho silicon so the price isn’t too bad for what it is. Looking at your feature requirements the NCS should be able to handle all of it, but double check with your SE.


Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 18, 2018, at 6:47 PM, paul hollanton <paulhollanton at gmail.com<mailto:paulhollanton at gmail.com>> wrote:

Good morning list,
I hope you all have had a good weekend.
I’m returning to the ISP industry after a longer than expected stint in the corporate space and was hoping to get some pointers on some infrastructure upgrade options which I’m having to consider.

I work for a small-ish ISP that offers some (but not a lot) DSL/NBN services and a bunch of  TLS such as Telstra’s Ethernet Access and AAPT e-lan etc. with the odd mpls layer3 vpn too.

We’ve been using Cisco ASR1001 routers for L2TP (DSL/NBN) termination as well as sub-interfaces for the TLS services with the headend trunks from the suppliers terminated on a switch that’s providing a layer2 only function.

Rather than upgrading and continuing to terminate all TLS services on the ASR, I thinking of purchasing a layer 3 switch such as the Cisco Nexus 9236C or similar and terminating the TLS services on this as well as the supplier trunks – the 100Gb port functionality should allow us to have the device(s) in operation for some time before needing to upgrade.

The documentation on the units state that they support mpls and BGP which is nice, but if anything too heavy is required for customers with special requirements , perhaps we’d leave that to the ASR – which will also continue to perform any L2TP and NAT requirements.  To be honest, none of the documentation on the Cisco layer 3 switches suggest they are suited to what I have in mind, which brings me to my main question...

Is whether the introduction of a layer3 switch for this function is a good idea, or should we continue to use ASR’s for the job?  My other concern is will the Nexus be able (or is suitable) to do the traffic shaping that is required for the Telstra Ethernet Access services (which is important that it’s done exactly right) and other QoS functions such as voice prioritisation.

If there’s a better design or more suitable equipment I should consider, please let me know.  I’d prefer to stay with Cisco as the vendor, primarily as the migration path will (should) be simpler and I have reasonably good experience with them over the years.

Thanks,
Paul

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