We're considering switching to Foundry BigIrons (probably the 4000, as
opposed to Cisco 6500 series switches. We're currently using 7206VXRs).
Anyone have opinions (on or off list) on this product? Looking through
the archives, I don't notice any discussions of this since about 2001 [1].
(http://www.foundrynet.com/products/l3backbone/bigiron/BigIronx00Datasheet.html)
I'm mostly interested in its BGP implementation, as the boxes would be
handling our core routing via BGP.
(I haven't noticed anyone complaining about BGP problems in the past
year or so); also opinions on the CLI would be helpful (I'm told it's
95% identical to IOS's CLI). The CLI was another complaint in the thread
cited below, so I'm curious if it has improved since 2001.
I'd be interested in hearing about the comparable Riverstone boxes as
well.
[1] thread starting at
http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/2002-09/msg00050.html
I've gotten some really useful responses off list. Sorry for the extra
noise, but I'm going to summarize the responses to the list later today
(for the archives)...
I'm removing names, email addresses, company names and other identifying
stuff in case anyone doesn't want to be quoted publicly, but if you
don't want me to quote you at all, please do send me a heads up.
Here are the responses I got so far, trimmed and edited. Thanks once
again - I got way more than I bargained for in the way of responses.
I did also receive a response directly from someone at Foundry, (with at
least one of the expected emails from $SALES_DROID at $COMPETITOR).
Sorry for the super long post (about 22k so far) - I've tried to trim as
much as possible (if you respond to this post, PLEASE don't fullquote
the entire message).
Hopefully this won't start any flamewars! I didn't say any of this
stuff, so please don't write me telling me that I'm wrong or asking
who wrote a particular comment.
From what I can tell, it sounds like the newer JetCore based stuff is
much less problematic than the Ironcore stuff. Overall, sounds like the
CLI is fairly easy to adapt to for someone who has experience with Cisco
gear. Definitely some complaints about the BGP implementation; hard to
tell whether those issues are resolved with newer hardware / software.