MPLS/MEF Switches and NIDs

Thu May 27 11:06:41 UTC 2021

On 5/26/21 12:39 PM, Colton Conor wrote:
> Ciena seems to have multiple options available with Segment Routing, 
> MPLS, and streaming telemetry support. I am probably most interested 
> in what Ciena has to offer. Has anyone deployed the 3000 or 5000 
> product line of Ciena? How does it compare to Juniper? The Ciena 3924 
> is sub $1000 for example, and has 4 10G ports on it.

I've used the Ciena 3000 series switches as NIDs a fair bit and have no 
real complaints about them aside from TAC being a bit loathe to give out 
new versions of SAOS even when the version you've got deployed is going 
EOL.  I've not used the MPLS functionality mostly because it's a pricey 
software license add-on and I can get by without, but the MEF and 
associated carrier-oriented Ethernet functionality seems to be pretty 
much top notch in terms of feature set, stability, and configurability.  
I mostly use the 3928 though partially because the 3924 is new enough it 
didn't make it into my standard build-out BOM.  The 3928 does also have 
redundant PSU (fixed, but there are two) if that matters to you.  At 
sub-$1000, the 3924 is a good deal in comparison if it'll do what you need.

If you've never used them, you might find the config language a bit 
annoying in that it's more Yoda syntax than Cisco, but it's also more 
consistent than Cisco (what isn't?), so it's got that going for it.  
Documentation is alright.  TAC is responsive to inquiries.

--
Brandon Martin