Question

Need upgrade from Cisco 2611 Router

Asked by: Lilshooter

I'm looking to upgrade from a Cisco 2611 FE Router, the current router I have in place seems to lockup, I'm guessing too much traffic passing through the interfaces.  I have approximately 1600 users doing IP Nat Translations through the router, the router is also responsible for determining which type of traffic is passing through it and route the traffic accordingly.  What model should I be looking at to replace this one with more capacity to handle the traffic?

Here's the current IOS / Ram
ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 11.3(2)XA4, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
ROM: C2600 Software (C2600-I-M), Version 12.3(21), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc2)

do1cr uptime is 39 minutes
System returned to ROM by reload
System image file is "flash:c2600-i-mz.123-21.bin"

cisco 2621 (MPC860) processor (revision 0x100) with 61440K/4096K bytes of memory  

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Asked On
2007-02-16 at 09:47:33ID22394649
Tags

cisco

,

2611

,

upgrade

Topic

Network Routers

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: nakoz69Posted on 2007-02-16 at 10:19:41ID: 18550574

You might need to get a baseline for how much traffic/memory/CPU usage you are currently experiencing.  You can use a tool like solarwinds (solarwinds.net - trial version) run the network monitor for a few days and see what your current stats are.  After you have that info you can make a better decision as to what router to purchase.  

Although if you want a quick guess you may want to look at getting a 3845.

 

by: lrmoorePosted on 2007-02-16 at 15:39:24ID: 18552949

Agree with nakoz69 that you should establish some baseline performance metrics of CUP utilization, memory utilization, and bandwidth utilization. Solarwinds is one of the best tools to do that with.
It also depends on what type WAN links you have and whether or not you can offload the NAT and some other features to a separate firewall..
The 2621 is fairly capable, but is is end of lifed. A tech refresh may be in order for a fully depreciated piece of equipment, and the 2800 series might be enough if you also have a dedicated hardware firewall like the PIX/ASA series.

 

by: lrmoorePosted on 2007-02-16 at 15:40:02ID: 18552950

>CUP utilization
Should be:
  CPU utilization

 

by: clokendaggerPosted on 2007-02-16 at 18:53:11ID: 18553683

You'd be surprised what even an entry level router can do, especially if a 2600 is handling the load (or almost handling).  As was mentioned before, interface requirements will be a big factor in deciding which router is best for you.  I'd suggest looking at the the Cisco 1841, a great router much superior to the 2611 you are using.  The 1841 provides WIC slots for multiple WAN interfaces and has two builtin FE ports.  If you do not need the WICS, check out the 1801....  

Besides establishing a baseline as mentioned above, give some consideration to growth.  This will also be an important factor when deciding on a replacement router especially if growth will mean additional interfaces.

I was curious...  Is the freezing a regular occurance?  i had one client who had a number of infected computers.  It was using a symantec vulnerability to attempt to spread and systematically trying to open connections to remote ports.  They unwisely had not set limits on the number of open connection/half-open connections, etc...  This resulted in the router running out of memory and freezing until rebooted.  A combination of eliminating the infections and adding the max values resolved the issue.

 

by: LilshooterPosted on 2007-02-22 at 09:02:18ID: 18589348

As my network grows I think would only be wise to upgrade to a larger router.  The 2600 Series machine is simply too slow and can't keep up with the packet requests, I would also like to look into the VoIP capabilities of the 3800 Series as we start looking for a VoIP solution in this office.

Thank you for your input!

Shoota

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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