Zebra/linux device production networking?

Tue Jun 6 21:42:36 UTC 2006

Greetings fellow nanogers,

Long time lurker, first time poster (please, be gentle!).

After looking at the archives, I didn't see this particular discussion,
so here we go.

First, a little background..
My CTO made my stomach curdle today when he announced that he wanted to
do away with all our cisco [routers] and instead use Linux/zebra boxen.
We are a small company, so naturally penny pinching is the primary
motivation. That, and the sheer joy of watching me squirm. He has
informed me that he has found "many people" who do this for their "core
devices". I'm not so certain about this whole situation, so I humbly ask:

How many of you have actually use(d) Zebra/Linux as a routing device 
(core and/or regional, I'd be interested in both) in a production (read: 
99.999% required, hsrp, bgp, dot1q, other goodies) environment?

And, if you care to spend this much time, what pitfalls/benefits did you 
find out about after implementation?

Has there been any discussion (or musings) of moving towards such a 
solution? I've seen a lot of articles talking about it, but I've not 
actually seen many network operators chiming in.

Here's the article that started it all (this was featured on /., so 
likely you've read it already).

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2004/tc20041129_5206_tc024.htm
and another:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/5693

Feel free to respond off list. If anyone else is interested, I will of
course summarize to list or to individuals.

(ps, particulars are deliberately not included.. I'm not looking for 
advice, just if anyone has any solid experience with this..)