Re: What Platform for a small ISP (was: Cisco 7600 (7609) as a core BGP router)

[David Storandt <dstorandt () teljet com>]

Why are you a "small start-up" and needing 600M-1G of pipe, and from
3x carriers? You can't use 150-200M via GigE ports and scale as needed
(assuming you aren't bound to a SONET loop)?

We started our IP backbone in 2005 with 3x 300M connections on
6509/maxed-Sup2s with 85% BGP tables and 6516-GBIC blades. All of our
drops were GBE or 10/100, no SONET, no fancy stuff. 3x nodes meshed.
Redundancy was our only mandatory requirement. Everything worked well,
until we started getting more sophisticated. This setup now could run
$5-6k/node if you shop around.

Since then, prices have dropped on more powerful stuff and persistent
EOL progression, so if you can pull off funds for Sup720-3BXL engines,
you've got options for 10G, IP6, MPLS, and full tables from day one,
although 10G ports are not cheap (for a shoestring one, at least). I
would consider Sup720-3Bs as a minimum for that platform, considering
EOL and features.

-D


On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 10:57 AM, R. Benjamin Kessler<rbk () mnsginc com> wrote:
> On 7/22/09 9:48 AM, Jim Wininger <jwininger () indianafiber net> wrote:
>
> > What do you consider a "small start-up ISP"? What kind of upstream
> > connectivity are you considering (or at least falls under the category
> of
> > small isp) bandwidht, bgp etc?
>
> two or three upstreams - OC-12 to 1G to each (BGP full tables)
> three "POPs" meshed together
>
> > > On 7/22/09 9:39 AM, "R. Benjamin Kessler" <rbk () mnsginc com> wrote:
>
> > > There has been a lot of good feedback regarding the deficiencies of
> the
> > > 7600 platform...
> > >
> > > So, the new question is: what platforms should a small, start-up ISP
> > > consider when looking to provide Ethernet services to their
> customers?
> > > - Scalability - 100M, 1G, 10G access speeds (backplane limitations,
> > > number of ports per chassis, etc.)
> > > - MPLS Capabilities
> > > - QoS Features
> > > - Ease of configuration and support, etc. (finding NOC talent,
> scripting
> > > tools, etc.)
> > > - Software/Hardware "stability" and "longevity" (we don't want
> something
> > > that is brand-new and therefore "buggy" nor do we want something that
> is
> > > going EOL next year)
> > > - Bang for the buck (both acquisition and on-going maintenance and
> > > support)
> > >
> > > I'm sure I'm missing a lot of things...are there any good
> presentations
> > > from previous NANOG meetings that one should review?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > >
> > > Ben