Re: Recommended L2 switches for a new IXP

[Martin Hannigan <hannigan () gmail com>]

Substantial amounts of hive mind went into this topic in the formation of
Open-IX and particularly around optimizing costs and maximizing traffic.
See http://bit.ly/N-OIX1 for a reference.

Best,

-M<




On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 10:34 AM, Justin Wilson - MTIN <lists () mtin net>
wrote:

> Like Mike says, it depends on your market.   Are these markets where there
> are existing exchanges?
>
> Cost per port is what we always look at.  If we are going into a market
> where there won't be much growth we look at Cisco and Force 10.  Their cost
> per port is usually cheaper for smaller 10 Gig switches. You need something
> that is fairly robust.
>
> Reliability in an exchange is a key component.  If you go with a
> non-chassis switch make sure you have redundancy in your design.  We like
> Chassis based switches because they tend to be more robust.  But thats just
> my take on it.
>
> Justin
>
> ---
> Justin Wilson j2sw () mtin net
> http://www.mtin.net
> Managed Services - xISP Solutions - Data Centers
> http://www.thebrotherswisp.com
> Podcast about xISP topics
> http://www.midwest-ix.com
> Peering - Transit - Internet Exchange
>
> > On Jan 12, 2015, at 10:24 AM, Aaron <aaron () wholesaleinternet net> wrote:
> >
> > We used to use Brocade FastIrons until we needed more 10G port density.
> We moved to Brocade SX's.
> > Originally, when it was 2 or 3 peers, we used an old Netgear switch. :)
> >
> > Aaron
> >
> > On 1/12/2015 7:07 AM, Mike Hammett wrote:
> > > I look forward to this thread.
> > >
> > > I think one important thing is who is your addressable market size? I'm
> working with a startup IXP and there's only 20 carriers in the building. A
> chassis based switch would be silly as there would never be that many
> people present. 2x 1U switches would be more than plenty in their
> environment.
> > > -----
> > > Mike Hammett
> > > Intelligent Computing Solutions
> > > http://www.ics-il.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > >
> > > From: "Manuel Marín" <mmg () transtelco net>
> > > To: nanog () nanog org
> > > Sent: Monday, January 12, 2015 12:35:15 AM
> > > Subject: Recommended L2 switches for a new IXP
> > >
> > > Dear Nanog community
> > >
> > > We are trying to build a new IXP in some US Metro areas where we have
> > > multiple POPs and I was wondering what do you recommend for L2
> switches. I
> > > know that some IXPs use Nexus, Brocade, Force10 but I don't personally
> have
> > > experience with these switches. It would be great if you can share your
> > > experience and recommendations. There are so many options that I don't
> know
> > > if it makes sense to start with a modular switch (usually expensive
> because
> > > the backplane, dual dc, dual CPU, etc) or start with a 1RU high density
> > > switch that support new protocols like Trill and that supposedly allow
> you
> > > to create Ethernet Fabric/Clusters. The requirements are simple, 1G/10G
> > > ports for exchange participants, 40G/100G for uplinks between switches
> and
> > > flow support for statistics and traffic analysis.
> > >
> > > Thank you and have a great day.
> > >
> > > Regards
> >
> > --
> > ================================================================
> > Aaron Wendel
> > Chief Technical Officer
> > Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
> > (816)550-9030
> > http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
> > ================================================================