HSRP availability in datacenters?

Fri May 11 18:58:52 UTC 2007

We currently offer HSRP everywhere, the problem is that it doesn't scale on
a budget. For example, a 3550 can do 16 HSRP groups, limiting the number of
customers that we can attach to (2x 3550s) to 16. That's a lot of
distribution infrastructure for 16 customers. Then to scale that, say, to
200+ customers, that means we have 12-13 pairs of distribution routers, each
with 2x gigE uplinks to the core ... Which means that either (A) the core
has to be really big or (b) we get fewer, more powerful distribution
devices.

This is where my employer is at now - I admit, we're tiny in the datacenter
world - but the cost to aggregate 100+ HSRP groups into the core, with room
to grow, is pretty staggering for a smb. 

This why the suits are wondering if there is a revenue opportunity hiding
somewhere to finance such a thing. Ah, the joys of growing out of your
britches :)

Thanks for any continued response,
Randal

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu] On 
> Behalf Of Mike Lyon
> Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 12:40 PM
> To: Randal Kohutek
> Cc: nanog at merit.edu
> Subject: Re: HSRP availability in datacenters?
> 
> 
> So is the question: you are selling transit to your customers 
> and you are wondering if you should charge your customer for 
> allowing them to use your HSRP gateway instead of a physical 
> interface on your router?
> 
> Personally, if I saw a provider charging for that service, I 
> would shy away from them. Only because it tells me they are 
> piece-mealing their services and are cheap. I would think a 
> good provider would include that (and/or not sell it WITHOUT 
> HSRP) in their sales offering. If for the only reason of 
> customer support nightmares. If you have your customers on 
> HSRP and you have a router go down, you wont have them 
> calling you every five minutes bitching at you...
> 
> -Mike
> 
> 
> On 5/11/07, Randal Kohutek <nanog at data102.com> wrote:
> >
> > My cohorts in suits have begun wondering if HSRP is standard for 
> > customer gateways, and from there wondering if it is 
> something we should charge for.
> > I did some research and came up with mixed results; I'd 
> like to hear 
> > nanogers experiences with this:
> >
> > In your experience, do datacenters provide free HSRP 
> gateways, or do 
> > they make you pay for it?
> >
> >
> > Real world examples are better than Google :) Thanks, Randal
> >
> >
> 