Multiple IPSec/GRE Tunnels on 2851

[aaron.jay]

HI all,

I am developing a network that required multiple GRE tunnels terminating on one router. I Have been told that the 2851 routers that we generally use may not be powerful enough to run the 5 tunnels that are required. I've been told that a 2900 series router would be better suited to the job.

 Has anyone got any experience with this?

Thanks.

[Masoud Pourshabanian]

Hello,

Your router can easily handle 5 tunnels. You should check your IOS andyour link bandwidth for encryption.

2851 has a embeded hardware which will be active when IOS with security features is used,

With security IOS, your router supports 300 tunnels and 66M encryption throughput.

If your link bandwitdth is around 10M or 15M (just approximate guess), you should not be concern even if IOS with security feature is not installed.

Please check the link below to get all your answers.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/routers/2800-series-integrated-services-routers-isr/prod_qas0900aecd80169bd6.html

Hope it helps,

Masoud

[Karsten Iwen]

A 2900 router (or even better a 4300) is better suited for any job. Mainly because the ISR Gen1 routers (1800, 2800, 3800) have practically reached EOL.

There are three main reasons to migrate away from your 2851:

1. You don't want to run unsupported devices (which are likely connected to the internet).
2. The 2851 doesn't provide the throuput you need.
3. The 2851 only runs the legacy IKEv1 IPsec and not the actual IKEv2 implementation. If you want to run IKEv2 you need a newer device.

If none of these reasons are a showstopper for you, just use your 2851.