VPN over DS-3, Do I need AIM Card?

[lovedam]

I have two 2651XM routers running back to back over a DS-3 link. Right now there is about 17mpbs being xferred in both directions.

I want to make this link an encrypted link. I know that adding encryption will place a load on my routers. They are 40-45% loaded right now.

What can I realistically expect the load to be when I add the overhead of S/W encryption?

I would suspect it would be too much and have looked into the advanced encryption plug-in (AIM) cards for the routers.

The AIM-VPN-BPII-PLUS card says it will do 22mbps max on a 2651Xm with AES/2DES.

I am assuming I will get alot less with S/W encryption. Can anyone tell me what mpbs max I can expect with only S/W?

Do I have to do anything special when I put the AIM card in? Any special S/W config?

Thanks!

[roshanc]

The performance will be lower than what you are getting with s/w encryption. You can try that and see the results for yourself.

I would recommend you go for the AIM-VPN-BPII. No config is needed to get the AIM working once it's plugged in.

[lovedam]

I think I am going to go ahead and get a 3725 router so I don't have to worry about overloading that router if one day they start pumping more than 22mpbs over it.

Do you think I would still need the AIM card with a 3725?

Thanks,

Damon

[roshanc]

Going forward, I would recommend you get the AIM-VPN-EP as it will definitely improve the performance.

[tbaranski]

3DES performance is terrible on Cisco routers when it's done via software. For example, a 2621 maxes out at ~110KB/sec.