An evaluation of the Cisco 9000 Series (ASR 9000)
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We have placed this unit at the top of our network. It does the routing for nearly all of our sites, which are layer 2. It provides 10 GB connectivity to all of our WAN links as well. It handles local workstations at our site in addition to being the aggregator or core to our district. All of our primary services are connected to this switch, all wireless appliances (Cisco) as well as our Virtual services and storage.
Pros
- The 9000 series is an extremely stable device, seldom having failures.
- It has more than enough capacity for our needs, while we do use 4 blades on our chassis.
- We can mix fiber and copper easily.
- With three redundant power supplies we are able to ensure it remaining powered up by using several battery backup units tied to a generator.
Cons
- There is a bit of a problem when "counting" ports on the different blades, due to when using redundant ports and management you actually lose the option to use some ports. It's not major, but when you are counting on the availability of 10GB SFP's you need to remember you may be short a port or two.
- Generally it is designed and built very well, however, you do need to be aware that the unit weighs a considerable amount and does require at least two people, (really three) to place it in the rack.
Most Important Features
- Layer 3 - Routing
- Flexible blade selections for copper, fiber and redundancy
- Redundant power supples.
- Redundant management blades to spread the coverage/risk over multiple blades
Return on Investment
- The 9000 series offers you the ability to consolidate multiple switches into "one" switch with multiple blades and configurations.
- The 9000 offers a level of peace of mind because of the multiple ways redundancy is available and built into the unit.
- With the flexible blade design you can achieve high density in copper interfaces, and blend in 10 Gig SFP interfaces that allow you to configure not only fiber connections but create high speed / high capacity WAN connections.
- The 9000 management follows the same code and OS that Cisco has had for a long time, which translates into easier management and a lower learning curve for the folks who are charged with configuring and maintaining the 9000.
Usability
Alternatives Considered
Brocade ADX (Discontinued)
Other Software Used
Unitrends, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Securly Filter
