Cisco Routers... need help!

[VisionIT]

Hi Peeps.

I'm not very clue'd when it's comes to Cisco's stuff, but here goes...

I need a router capable of serving nearly 5000 systems... and is capable of running at least 2 OC-12 (622Mbps) connections.

In the v.near future, an OC768 line will be fitted, looping obviously through Level3 and TW etc... so i'm going to need to upgrade the router fairly soon! Whilst i'm not working to any specific budget, the cheaper, the better!

I've browsed the Cisco site (and got very confused in the process) but can't seem to find what i'm looking for.

Anyone care or able to shed some light for me...

Cheers...

[IntelSucks]

I thought you knew everyting....

[VisionIT]

Er.... thanks! (I think)

I can't believe nobody knows what to look for... come on peeps.

[Kasracer]

To tell you the truth, I don't think we really have many/any network buffs here. I think it's mostly you and me and I've only took 1 semester of cisco (which was a year ago, I'm getting rusty ).

[MagellanTX]

There is a lot more here than just selcting a router for a site as large as the one you are indicating. If you have 5000 nodes, then hopefully you are running a campus infrastructure (vlans). I am assuming that the router you are looking for is going to be installed in the core layer and if so, that brings up even more questions. Is this going to be your main point of connection for those 5000 systems in your company? What kinds of traffic are you passing? Is the OC going be ATM (and what AAL)? There is a lot of homework and planning that need to be done before making such a change on that large of a network. Also, if this is a main entry point into your network then you have created a single point of failure if you only go with one router. If this is a critical link then you are going to want more than one router running at least HSRP.

The router you pick would be based on your site survey. Any router from the 7000 series right up to the GSR 12000 series would be capable connecting to the OC lines you indicated (although you need to determine the final connection leg ie. fiber, coax..etc). However, if the router is going in your distribution layer then many of the Cisco switches (with the MSFC) can connect to WAN topologies (6000 series is a good one to start with)

Even though you noted you don’t have a budget for this, it is not going to be a cheap project (the recurring circuit charges for OC lines is enough to have its own budget). I would strongly recommend you contract a CCDP and a CCNP to perform the site survey and plan out the project as this type of question cannot be answered in a forum.