10G LAN Ports on Cisco Routers

[Syed Farhan Ali]

Dear Team,

I need to know if there are any Routers that can provide 10G Downlink (LAN) towards a Core Switch/Firewall.

There is a customer who need to develop a 10G Backbone and we need to propose them a Router with 10G Port.

Kindly advise on this concern.

Regards,

Farhan.

[Leo Laohoo]

ASR-HX range is designed for 10 Gbps links. 

[Syed Farhan Ali]

Hi Leo,

Thanks for your input. The customer has budget constraints and ASR-HX is an expensive equipment. Can you please suggest if we go with ISR4451-X router and insert two SM Modules having either 4x1G or 1x10G Ports functionality, will that work fine under this scenario?

Regards,

Farhan.

[Leo Laohoo]

Don't bother putting 10 Gbps ports on 4451.

[Junaid Shah]

I have 4451x and it works perfectly fine for me but again I have not installed EHWIC modules or SM Service modules for 10G so could you provide more details that why you not recommend using 10G ports on 4451x. Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

could you provide more details that why you not recommend using 10G ports on 4451x.

"Economics".  If 4451X can support 10 Gbps bandwidth then Cisco's R&D to the ASR-HX will be useless as a lot of organization with financial issues will shy away from getting the ASR-HX in favour of the affordable 4K routers.  

Sure, the 4K can support SFP+ ports but the question one should ask is:  How close to 10 Gbps can the router support?  If I recall, this router can support an Aggregated Throughput of 1 Gbps or 2 Gbps.   So installing an SFP+ capable module is an exercise of financial futility. 

As what Reza and Joe said, it's cheaper to just stick two SFP instead of the expensive SFP+.  

[Junaid Shah]

Thank you Leo for your response, it makes sense and appreciate it.

[Syed Farhan Ali]

Hi All,

I need this Router to have 2x 10G Ports for LAN and not for WAN. Therefore I was looking for "SM-X-4X1G-1X10G" module to be inserted which can provides 10G LAN capabilities.

What is your opinion regarding this gentlemen?

Regards,

Farhan.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Here's what Cisco says in their Q&A (http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/routers/4000-series-integrated-services-routers-isr/q-and-a-c67-730528.html):

Q.    What is the maximum throughput on the Cisco Gigabit Ethernet WAN Service Modules?

A.     These modules are so-called “routed-port” modules, meaning that all traffic to and from the ports on them are routed through the host router. As such, the maximum throughput of the Cisco Gigabit Ethernet WAN Service Modules is mandated by the host router and not by the module itself. E.g. The Cisco 4451-X ISR has two throughput levels of 1 Gbps (factory default) or 2 Gbps level with the Cisco IOS Software feature Performance on Demand License. The maximum total throughput of a Cisco Gigabit Ethernet WAN Service Module will be one of these two.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Assuming the 4451 supports a 10g interface, and also assuming you don't need to support 10g throughput, you could, but it would only work fine, again, if you don't need 10g throughput.

Besides the ASR-HX Leo suggested, there other 10g capable ASRs, the might cost a bit less, although suspect all are going to cost more than a 4451.

Less expensive 10g can often be found in L3 switches.  They, however, don't offer all the features routers do.

[Reza Sharifi]

Farhan,

The 4400 series routers don't support 10Gig, but you can use multiple 1Gig interfaces.

As Leo and Joe suggested, you can use an ASR if you have to have a 10Gig interface. The default license is for 5Gig throughput but you can purchase additional license to go up to 36Gig.

HTH

[cnsinstall]

The 4451x out of the box can handle 500mpbs synchronous and 1G synchronous with the performance pack. If you have a 2G or 3G circuit then the 4451x should be able to handle these speeds with the Boost performance pack which removes the throttle. I would not however go over a 3G circuit size. You will still need a 10G module to make this work.