Sup 720 vs. Sup II 1

[netman42]

I am looking to replace a core network with a new 6509 chassis. I am replacing a cabletron/enterasys ssr8600 16 slot switch/router. My question is: how much more value do i get with SUP 720 card vs Sup II. I'm not sure I can justify the costs. I want to take advantage of 10/100/1000 ae 48 port cards. I see express forwarding but...

 

[ADB100]

The Sup720 has integrated Fabric module; hence the name 720, it refers to the 720Gbps switch fabric. With new CEF720 line-card modules you can achieve this sort of performance. The SupII has no in-built Switch Fabric and runs at 32Gbps. If you add a Switch Fabric Module (takes up a slot) and use CEF256 modules you can achieve 256Gbps throughput.
Be careful when mixing old and new modules in a chassis as the line-cards will have to 'fall-back' to slower speeds when talking to non CEF256 or CEF720 modules. You need to carefully look at what line-cards you need and then see whether it is worth using the Sup720 or the SupII (or even Sup1A?).
I would suggest you do some research on CCO as to what line-cards you intend to populate your chassis with.

Andy

 

[netman42]

I would like to mix up the line cards a bit. I would like to use the 10/100/1000 cards qty of 2, but would also like to accomodate older architecture like 24 port 100fx fiber card for fiber fed closets. The SUpII card has a MSFC-2/pfc-2 module built in. There are other cards in between, but somewhere in the middle of these 2 types of cards.

 

[jwi71]

You can mix and match the cards. The switch-fabric enabled cards will utilize the Sup720 Switch Fabric, the others will fall back to crossbar switching.

Hope this helps.