OSPF and ISIS, etc redistribution is a Zebra/etc function and I am told it is pretty good at these functions.
multilink PPP? With spanning tree on multiple VLANs? With peer groups?
Most of these are OS functions, but I believe they support peer groups in the later editions of the software.
We extensively and heavily utilize peer-groups all over at the edge of our IPv6 testbed network, which is mainly powered by Quagga (Some zebra), and a couple C's and J's. We absolutely had no problem running peer-groups with Quagga in both v6 and v4 as of date. Remember that Zebra/Quagga is not a _solution_. It is a userland component you build into an OS or a platform, to BUILD a solution.
With SNMP?
OS function. Works.
How does the host deal with 802.1q trunks? With Channel interfaces? With hot-swapping a line card? With TCP MD5?
Hotswapping is a chassis function. The rest are OS functions.
These are the questions I ask myself when I pick a routing platform. Cheap is of no use to me if it does not do what I need.
Of course, but you may not need all of these functions on your low-medium end, or you'll want to pick your alternate platform as thoughtfully as you'd pick a large-capital item.
Deepak Jain AiNET
-- James Jun (formerly Haesu) TowardEX Technologies, Inc. 1740 Massachusetts Ave. Boxborough, MA 01719 Consulting, IPv4 & IPv6 colocation, web hosting, network design & implementation http://www.towardex.com | james@towardex.com Cell: (978)394-2867 | Office: (978)263-3399 Ext. 170 Fax: (978)263-0033 | AIM: GigabitEthernet0 NOC: http://www.twdx.net | POC: HAESU-ARIN, HDJ1-6BONE