[63965] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: Extreme BlackDiamond
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sthaug@nethelp.no)
Mon Oct 13 15:11:46 2003
To: michel@arneill-py.sacramento.ca.us
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
From: sthaug@nethelp.no
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:59:02 -0700"
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 21:11:00 +0200
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> > On the other hand, 6500s can do both L2 and L3 rather well, including
> > BGP.
>
> Aren't most of the 6500 blades the same as the 7600 ones anyway? Between
> these two IMHO we are looking at a blurry distinction between a router
> with very good switching capabilities and a L3 switch with very good
> routing capabilities.
Until the Sup720, it was simple: 6500 with Sup2/MSFC2/PFC2 and at least
one OSM equals 7600. The difference is mostly a marketing one.
I don't understand how you can differentiate between a router and an L3
switch. In my view "L3 switch" is a marketing term. All high end boxes
do hardware based IP forwarding, whether their ancestry is from the L2
or the L3 side.
Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no
