Router Choice

Mon Nov 17 18:20:24 UTC 2008

Hello,I appreciate all your feedback. I have also recieved more research
material from independent research institutes that give the products thumbs
up.

Best regards

Raymond

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM, Paul Wall <pauldotwall at gmail.com> wrote:

> Whoa, excessive use of "!"...this isn't IOS ICMP output.
>
> For those of you who want to have a chuckle, grep the word "exit" on
> any of these fine 7750/7450 router configurations. Seeing a router
> configuration that contains 10,000+ instances of the word "exit" makes
> me recall the fine book FINAL EXIT. Seems like a poor mans version of
> nesting with { }'s in JUNOS.
>
> Some of my gripes on the Timetra (whens the last time Alcatel built
> something themselves instead of acquire it?) box are that it really is
> catered to installs where Alcatel is running the design side of the
> network as well. The CLI is somewhat non-intuitive for IOS, IOS-XR or
> JUNOS operations staff. Here are some examples:
>
> Here in 2008, why are people buying boxes that do not support
> candidate configuration or commit/rollback? The only thing you can
> "commit" on the box is routing policy changes. I thought this was a
> service provider box?
>
> For years (this might not be the case anymore), any time you attempted
> to use the short-form of the "show" command by typing "sh", you
> received a syntax error. This is because there were two commands that
> began with sh: show and shell. The problem is that the shell command
> prompts you for a password that only Alcatel knows (and won't share
> with any customers that I'm aware of). So, if your own customers cant
> run the command, why give users a headache?
>
> Its a router, why do I have to do "show router route" to see a routing
> table entry? For years, you also had to suffix the command "exact" on
> the end of every command as well.
>
> Pricing wise...they're way above other boxes that you can find
> elsewhere that can do the jobs you need. Both the Cisco 7600 and the
> Juniper MX line both have a way better CLI and employ a knowledgeable
> staff of seasoned former service provider engineers. Alcatel seems to
> be comprised of failed router startup guys from Caspian or Chiaro.
> Feature wise, they're behind the curve when it comes to competing with
> Cisco and Juniper. I think this is also shown in how they name their
> software releases as "Feature Groups" (telco-speak, anyone?).
>
> The main thing I want to speak to is that this box is not made for
> your clueful IP operator. Alcatel is very insistent that the customer
> use their UNIX/Windows NMS (I believe they call the SAM) to interface
> with the routers. Sorry but...that might fly in telcoland where
> executives ooh and ahh over point-and-click network management, but I
> think most operators are going to find it a tad bit useless.
>
> Sure, they do have NSR, but so did Avici. Does NSR make up for the
> lack of features, high pricing and being stuck at 20Gbps per slot?
> Yes, they do have 40Gbps per slot on the way, but who doesn't support
> 40Gbps per slot today?
>
> Why bother stepping back a few years in development when if you want a
> solid P core box, Foundry MLX/XMR, Juniper MX, Cisco 7600s and CRS-1's
> are ready now and at prices that really aren't all that bad. Oh yeah,
> you wont scratch the hell out of your finger nails when removing the
> compact flash on those boxes.
>
> Drive slow, pinging 10(!!!!).
>
> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 10:31 AM, devang patel <devangnp at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I guess they have good lab in Plano, TX also!!!I worked on the same
> routers
> > for IPTV deployment and really they are best!!!
> >
> >
> > regards
> > Devang Patel
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 8:43 AM, Dan Snyder <sliplever at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I think that the 7750SR routers are great and you won't be let down. We
> >> used to have an all Cisco network and I was skeptical at first but they
> have
> >> been great.
> >>
> >> As for nss and nsr when we tested this by failing a cpm we saw less than
> 50
> >> ms of traffic loss. I would see if you could go to either California or
> >> Canada to one of ALUs labs and have it demonstrated for you.
> >>
> >> hth,
> >> Dan
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPhone
> >>
> >>
> >> On Nov 12, 2008, at 7:40 AM, "Raymond Macharia" <rmacharia at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>  Hello  fellow nanogers,
> >>> I am a long time user of Cisco gear and currently evaluating an
> >>> alternative
> >>> for my network expansion. currently the one that looks like it will be
> >>> able
> >>> to do the job iare Alcatel-Lucent 7710/7750 service routers.
> >>> I am looking for real life experience of those who have used it and
> what I
> >>> may need to watch out for (if anything) I have seen in some of their
> >>> documentation features like Non-stop Services (NSS) and Non-stop
> Routing
> >>> (NSR). are these features real world deployable.
> >>> oh, just to add I want to use the routers as P routers in my IP/MPLS
> core
> >>>
> >>> Regards
> >>> --
> >>> Raymond Macharia
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
>

-- 
Raymond Macharia