Hey guys. Heard about this new router not so long ago and wanted to get my hands on one to push some traffic through it and see if it did what it says on the tin for the low price I've been quoted.
Testing
Setup: PC1 - R1 - R2 - PC2
- Statics on each router for the opposite PC's LAN
- R1 and R2 are C1111-4P - the lowest spec model available
I know it's a limited controlled test, blasting 1Gbps of iPerf over a static route but I'm really happy with the results as this isn't too dissimilar to what most of our CEs do anyway: https://imgur.com/3ptudzE
Blue CLI is powershell on PC1 Black CLI is console on R1
We're pushing 1% - 2% of CPU while doing 1Gbps of traffic!!
Pros and Cons
The pro's I've found so far are:
- Only costs £400 (about $550) for base model
- Can push 1Gbps of traffic almost effortlessly
- Looks really nice
- Is passively cooled, i.e. completely silent!
- Can do MPLS / LDP with a license
- Can do a couple of ports on POE
- Comes with 5 GE copper ports on the base model (1 routed, 4 switched)
- In addition to the above ports it comes with 1 SFP/RJ45 dual personality port
- As small as an 1841 / 1921
Cons:
- Uses a transformer power brick which will increase the rack profile annoyingly, one small upside is the transformer takes C13 so you'll at least be able to power it in any rack without much hassle.
Summary
I'm a big fan of this router and it's going to be my CE of choice now, previously for a 100Mbps-300Mbps circuit I would've been using a C1921/C2901 with an EHWIC-1GE-SFP-CU which is around £400-£500 and for 300Mbps-1Gbps I would've been using a C7201 or an ASR1001 which is around £1400. I can literally save £1,000 per connection now so the boss is happy.
I'm going to trial it in the field on a couple of 200Mbps connections first and in a month or so if it's still doing what I expect I'll start rolling it out as the new standard.
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