BGP Growth projections

Sun Jul 12 08:50:49 UTC 2009

Mark Radabaugh wrote:
> I'm looking for new core routers for a small ISP and having a hard time 
> finding something appropriate and reasonably priced.   We don't have 
> huge traffic levels (<1Gb) and are mostly running Ethernet interfaces to 
> upstreams rather than legacy  interfaces (when did OC3 become legacy?).   
> Lot's of choices for routers that can handle the existing BGP tables - 
> but not so much in small platforms (1-10Gb traffic)  if you assume that 
> IPv6 is going to explode the routing table in the next 5 years.    The 
> manufacturers still seem to think low traffic routers don't need much 
> memory or CPU.
> What projections are you using regarding the default free zone over the 
> next 5 years when picking new hardware? 

I'll give you the Cisco product answer since that's what I know.  I'd go 
with the ASR 1000 product line.  At 1-10Gbps you've exceeded what an 
7200 (even the G2) can handle.  The largest of the ISR (3845) tops out 
at 1/2 Gbps at max CPU in theory (far less in reality).  You don't want 
a software router though, especially for a SP and especially not for an 
Internet edge router.  The ASR forwards in hardware.  The 1002 with no 
internal hardware redundancy can handle 5 or 10 Gbps and costs a little 
more than a 7206 w/ NPE-G2 or a 7201 (with the 5Gbps ESP).  This is one 
consideration for replacing my edge 7200s with.  The 1004 version 
currently scales to 20Gbps and can handle redundant RPs.  The 1006 
module also currently scales to 20Gbps but can handle redundant RPs and 
ESPs.  All the ASRs have internal software redundancy so crashes should 
be relatively painless in theory, even with a single RP.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9343/index.html

I'm looking at using the 1002 for my Internet edge and the 1006 for the 
core are smaller remote POPs.  The platform has been out for a year or 
so and appears to be fairly solid.

Justin