Catalyst 9300 multipoint gre throughput

[tsgruu2000]

Hi all,

As far as I know the 9300 supports gre. I am looking for a replacement of DMVPN. The network is built using ISR G2 which are going end of life.

The network consists of a redundant hub and 6 spokes. 7 VRFs are in use which connect through a dedicated mgre tunnel.
There is no need of IPSec so I guess we could build a mgre network using Cat9300 instead of ISRs.

My only concern is abut throughput. With the old ISRs we got about 250Mbps throughput. Does somebody know about the gre Throuput of a Cat9300?

Many Thanks!

Regards,

Urs

[tsgruu2000]

Hi all,

As far as I know the 9300 supports gre. I am looking for a replacement of DMVPN. The network is built using ISR G2 which are going end of life.

The network consists of a redundant hub and 6 spokes. 7 VRFs are in use which connect through a dedicated mgre tunnel.
There is no need of IPSec so I guess we could build a mgre network using Cat9300 instead of ISRs.

My only concern is abut throughput. With the old ISRs we got about 250Mbps throughput. Does somebody know about the gre Throuput of a Cat9300?

Many Thanks!

Regards,

Urs

[Mark Malone]

Hi
the data sheets dont provide the exact throughput for GRE for that model but yes it does support it , would you not be better off using a 4221/4331 ISR router
was there no NAT in place in the ISR as a switch wont do that

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst9300/software/release/16-5/configuration_guide/rtng/b_165_rtng_9300_cg/b_165_rtng_9300_cg_chapter_011.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-9300-series-switches/data_sheet-c78-738977.html#Product-Overview-Features

[tsgruu2000]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. There is no need for NAT. I agree with you, the easyest way would be replacing the old ISRs with new ones. From a cost perspective the 9300 would be attractive if they performed equal. Furthermore we could substitute the ISR and the existing Aggregation Switch with one device in each location.

[Mark Malone · Accepted solution]

understand cost effectiveness and consolidation can be very important and you will have 1 less switch to manage ,a layer 3 switch can actually be faster than a router in certain circumstances as it switches in hardware while router in software but you will lose many l3 features that can be the backlash from using it instead of router at the edge , just consider any future projects etc that may require any specific l3 functions 1st , if none your probably safe to use it, i have used 3850s before when there was no option and they worked fine , 9300s are fast switches

a 4331 or 4221 would be cheaper than 9k but maybe not if your replacing 2 devices with 1 switch though

[Joseph W. Doherty]

I don't know for a fact, but likely a Cat9300 would support GRE at wire speed with overall capacity likely that of the overall device (or very close to it). (NB: from experience with 6500s and 4500s.) However, sometimes switches have some feature limitations, on using something like GRE, that might be unsupported altogether, or if enabled, might even process switch the packets (the latter providing for low performance).

As Mark also notes, other switch features, in comparison to a router, might be non-existent or only a subset. QoS features, as also mentioned by Mark, might be lacking. For example, most switches do not support shaping. GRE/IPSec or VTI/IPSec might be missing too.