3 Mb question and Summary of feedback.

Thu Oct 14 18:29:26 UTC 2004

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004, Richard J. Sears wrote:

> Never had any long term luck with MLPPP.

What about MFR (Multilink Frame-Relay)? What hardware was your MLPPP bad
experience on? I have a 7206 I'll be using for my end of this. I've seen
some web pages that discuss some problems (perhaps resolved already)
in the 7500 series with MLPPP. I'm curios if anyone who has had a bad
experience with MLPPP could say what hardware they were using and if the
problem was determined what is the most frequent cause?

I guess I'm fishing for caveats from experience to MLPPP or MFR now.

Suggestions summarized went like this:

- If you can afford it hardware mux the lines, but they normally hand
off as v.35 or HSSI which means more hardware, more $$ etc. This is the
most stable of the bunch but the most expensive as well. (This is not
an option for us.)

- MLPPP and per-packet CEF are tied for second place. Both are
inexpensive ways to bond the lines. Both have their pros and cons. For
experience purposes I would try this MLPPP first before trying a CEF
option again. I'll try per-packet CEF on an internal dual-T1 setup when
I upgrade one of our routers on it. I don't want to try adding too much
to the antique 2500 I'm replacing.

- MFR or Multilink Frame-Relay was a distant 3rd. It seems to do all of
what I want, with less overhead than MLPPP. I'm not sure how tested this
option is or if it would require an IOS upgrade for me or the client.

- Putting ATM lines together with duct tape (AKA IMA) does not sound
appealing in any way. Research yourself if you are looking for a really
really low-tech 3 Mb connection, but the first time one of those ATM
lines flakes out I think you would be screwed. I'm not a fan of ATM for
B2B personally unless it's a backup.

Thanks for the input from all that replied. I learned a few new
technologies and some more stuff to read up on.

Gerald