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recommendations on fiber jumper diameter
by Chuck Anderson 02 Jul '10

02 Jul '10

Does anyone have any pros/cons with using duplex 2-fiber zipcord jumpers with 2.9mm vs. 2.0mm vs. 1.6mm exterior jacket diameters? Thanks.

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XO feedback
by Net 02 Jul '10

02 Jul '10

Hi, We're currently looking to buy transit from XO for one of our DCs. Their pricing is very competative compared to some of the other providers we've considered to date. I'm hoping to get some feedback on their services, support, peering arrangements and the overall stability of their core backbone network from folks who've had experience or currently using them. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance -- Sent from my mobile device

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Sample RFP/RFQs for routing/switching equipment
by Don McMorris 02 Jul '10

02 Jul '10

I'm working with a very rapidly growing SME that is preparing an RFP/RFQ for new routing and switching equipment. Nothing too extravagant - 2 locations, <100mbps throughput. I'm seeking sample RFPs and RFQs for them to assist in the process - specifically to see what to ask for in terms of features and other considerations. There's a deep passion to get this "right the first time". If you know of or have access to RFPs or RFQs you'd be willing to share, it would be of great help. I briefly searched the NANOG archives, and (somewhat surprisingly) did not find a similar request. Thank you very much. --Don

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Type of network operators?
by Butch Evans 02 Jul '10

02 Jul '10

I have been on this list for about 2 weeks, just observing the discussions. I have primarily worked with wireless service providers in the past who are fairly low budget operators. Some of the things I've observed about this group are: * This list seems to be populated by better funded operations (whether that means larger or just better at getting funding may remain to be seen) * Most of the operators on this list seem to be pretty good at their work and the questions seem to revolve around more complex issues * There seems to be a number of corporate network operators on this list as opposed to access network operators (such as ISPs and such) I hope you all don't take this as an affront and get offended, as that's not my intent. I am just making some simple observations. Having said this, I wanted to introduce myself and see if this is a list that I need to participate in actively. I am a network engineer and consultant. I have worked in the past with Cisco, Juniper and other similar "higher end" type devices, but it's been a while since I had customers who use that gear. Most of my current customer base are smaller operators who can pinch a penny in half. :-) I do a lot of work with MikroTik RouterOS, ImageStream and other Linux based devices. I do engineering, training, hardware sales and such for networks all over the world. I am likely to continue to monitor the list for questions that are in my area of expertise, but wondered if these devices I mention are "common" to operators on this list. I know that I have not caught a discussion that involved any of them so far (other than one reference to an OpenBSD solution a day or two ago). Anyway, hello to the list and I look forward to finding a home among this group.

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SPANS Vs Taps
by Bein, Matthew 02 Jul '10

02 Jul '10

As I was doing a design today. I found that I had a bunch of 100 MB connections that I was going to bring into a aggregation tap. Then I was thinking, why don't I use a switch like a Cisco 3560 to gain more density. Anyone run into this? Any down falls with using a switch to aggregate instead of a true port aggregator?? Regards, Matthew

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Advice regarding Cisco/Juniper/HP
by James Smith 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

I'm looking for a little insight regarding an infrastructure purchase my company is considering. We are a carrier, and we're in the process of building a DR site. Our existing production site is all Cisco equipment with a little Juniper thrown into the mix. I'd like to either get the same Cisco equipment for the DR, or the equivalent Juniper equipment. We have skill sets for both Cisco and Juniper, so neither would be a problem to manage. A business issue has come up since we have a large number of HP servers for Unix and Wintel. With HP's recent acquisition of 3Com they are pressing hard to quote on the networking hardware as well, going as far as offering prices that are way below the equivalent Cisco and Juniper models. In addition they're saying they'll cut us deals on the HP servers for the DR site to help with the decision to go for HP Networking. Obviously to the people writing the cheques this carries a lot of weight. >From a technical point of view, I have never worked in a shop that used HP or 3Com for the infrastructure. Dot-com's, telco's, bank's, hosting companies...I haven't seen any of them using 3com or HP. Additionally, I'm not fond of having to deal with a third set of equipment. I'm not exactly comfortable going with HP, but I'd like some data to help resolve the debate. So my questions to the NANOG community are: Would you recommend HP over Cisco or Juniper? How is HP's functionality and performance compared to Cisco or Juniper? Does anyone have any HP networking experiences they can share, good or bad?

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LTE for CCTV projects?
by Rogelio 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

A friend of mine works for a physical security company, and he is looking for LTE vendors who might help him create wireless networks that they can run video over. Up to this point, they've used 5.x GHz (802.11a and now 802.11n) for most everything, with 4.9 GHz in certain cases where they could apply for the license. Recently, however, he has been aggressively reaching out to LTE vendors. I asked why LTE instead of WiMAX (which is more "baked" when it comes to large CCTV deployments around the world), and he gave the following reasons: --true mobile (not simply souped up local wireless) solution --access to the lower 700 MHz band (which can go farther, for obvious reasons) --access to a public safety block (licensed similar to 4.9 GHz). I've googled "d block LTE", but can't determine whether or not he is 100% eligible or not... --While WiMAX has "better" ROI (for most people, anyway), this isn't too much of an option because their overall ROI is good based on the premium services they offer Anyone else's thoughts on this? I'd be particularly intersted in knowing which LTE vendors might be worth talking to in this dept.

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Future of WiMax
by Seth Mattinen 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

A while back I remember reading a comment here that "WiMax is not a future proof technology" and that several manufacturers have dropped it or something to that effect. I think it was in the starting a WiMax ISP thread. This has stuck in my head, and I was curious if there was any truth to this. WiMax sounds promising, but I certainly don't hear a lot about it other than Sprint/Clear. Is it just that everyone that's doing wireless is sticking with relatively inexpensive 802.11 a/b/g/n products, or is WiMax really a dead end? ~Seth

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Re: ASR vs 7604 for BGP border router?
by khatfield＠socllc.net 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

What kind of budget do you have? I think it really depends on what you're going after. Both would work... Is there something specific you want to do? Honestly, your current bandwidth utilization and need could be handled by an OpenBSD system. I think I may be missing your exact question. Are you asking which would work best? Or simply asking about reliability? In my opinion, I prefer the Juniper MX series over the ASR. However, there are plenty of fanboys for ASR's. I really don't think you could go wrong either way. Unless a deciding factor is budget or something along those lines... ------Original Message------ From: David Hubbard To: nanog(a)nanog.org Subject: ASR vs 7604 for BGP border router? Sent: Jun 30, 2010 10:48 PM Curious if anyone can give me some real world thoughts on the Cisco ASR1004 w/RP2 & ESP5 versus a 7604 w/?? as a border router for web hosting environment. I'm looking to replace a pair of aging routers of a different make. Current config is four providers, two send full BGP on gigE to both of our routers for redundancy, two providers send full BGP on gigE to only one each, so basically each device receives three full feeds and then they talk to each other. Very simple network; border passes through firewalls to core using static routes, core has default route out to the border, all one physical location, nothing obscure or complicated. Cisco rep suggested looking at the ASR due to our interest in having the firewall functionality built in so we can get rid of the standalones, but that's not mandatory. A friend suggested the 7604 but I'm not sure what config as far as management, add-on cards, etc. The cumulative outbound traffic may burst up to 1 Gbit/sec during the business day, averages less. Only three things that really matter are reliable BGP, functional IPv6 (not using it yet but want to), won't fall down if a compromised server starts sending out line rate garbage packets it has to discard or similar things that don't happen in a test lab. Thanks, Dave

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ASR vs 7604 for BGP border router?
by David Hubbard 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

Curious if anyone can give me some real world thoughts on the Cisco ASR1004 w/RP2 & ESP5 versus a 7604 w/?? as a border router for web hosting environment. I'm looking to replace a pair of aging routers of a different make. Current config is four providers, two send full BGP on gigE to both of our routers for redundancy, two providers send full BGP on gigE to only one each, so basically each device receives three full feeds and then they talk to each other. Very simple network; border passes through firewalls to core using static routes, core has default route out to the border, all one physical location, nothing obscure or complicated. Cisco rep suggested looking at the ASR due to our interest in having the firewall functionality built in so we can get rid of the standalones, but that's not mandatory. A friend suggested the 7604 but I'm not sure what config as far as management, add-on cards, etc. The cumulative outbound traffic may burst up to 1 Gbit/sec during the business day, averages less. Only three things that really matter are reliable BGP, functional IPv6 (not using it yet but want to), won't fall down if a compromised server starts sending out line rate garbage packets it has to discard or similar things that don't happen in a test lab. Thanks, Dave

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