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Cisco 9000 Series routers

As we discussed on various routers as per the capacity of the network where it is required and also the capability of the routers. Since we discussed all but let me take a overview of all the details what we discussed in earlier posts

We have various bandwidth requirement in the WAN network connected to various sites across the globe. These routers are as below as per the bandwidth. All these routers have the higher capability but i am just telling you the best practices and recommendations

  • Bandwidth requirement : 1 to 10 Mbps , Small Offices : Cisco 1921, Cisco 1941 Routers
  • Bandwidth requirement : 10 Mbps to 40 Mbps, Small Offices : Cisco 1941 router
  • Bandwidth requirement : 40 Mbps to 100 Mbps, Medium and Small enterprises : Cisco 2900 Series routers ( Cisco 2901, Cisco 2911, Cisco 2921 and Cisco 2951 routers )
  • Bandwidth requirement : 100 Mbps till 200 Mbps : Medium enterprises : Cisco 3900 series routers ( Cisco 3925, Cisco 2945, Cisco 3925E and Cisco 3945E )
  • Bandwidth requirement : 200 Mbps till 400 Mbps : Medium enterprises : Cisco 4000 series routers ( Cisco 4231, cisco 4321 and Cisco 4351 routers )
  • Bandwidth requirement : 400 Mbps till 1 Gbps : Large Enterprises : Cisco 4000 series ( Cisco 4451-X ) and Cisco ASR 1001 ( End of sale ) Cisco ASR 1002 ( End of sale )
  • Bandwidth requirement : 1 Gbps till 20 Gbps : Large Enterprises : Cisco ASR 1001-X, Cisco ASR 1002-X, Cisco ASR 1004, Cisco ASR 1006, Cisco ASR 1009, Cisco ASR 1013
  • Higher bandwidth requirement : Large Datacenter : ASR 9000 Series router ( Cisco 9001, Cisco 9006, Cisco 9010, Cisco 9904, Cisco 9910, Cisco 9912, Cisco 9922 routers )
So above are the routers as per the recommendations of the WAN requirement in the small, medium and large enterprises as per the design.

Let's talk about the features of the Cisco 9000 ASR routers and they are : 
  • It supports high density interfaces like 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps and even 100 Gbps interfaces.
  • The IOS is IOS-XR based software
  • Control plane and switch fabric redundancy (cluster redundancy available for ASR 9001)
  • Fully redundant commons (fabric, power modules, power entry modules, fan trays)
Fig 1-1 Cisco ASR 9001 Router


Lets talk about the various models of Cisco ASR 9000. 
Cisco ASR 9001: It uses rack space of 2RU ( Rack Unit ). It has fixed 4X10 GE Modular port  adapters. The Cisco ASR 9001 has a maximum capacity of 240 Gbps ( Very high backplane capacity ). The IOS used in this router is IOS-XR.
Cisco ASR 9006 : It uses rack space of 10 RU. It has 4 line cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 7 Tbps. 
Cisco ASR 9010 : It uses rack space of 21 RU. It has 8 line cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 14 Tbps. 
Cisco ASR 9904 :  It uses rack space of 6 RU. It has 2 line cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 16 Tbps.
Cisco ASR 9910 : It uses rack space of 21 RU. It has 8 line cards, 5 Fabric cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 64 Tbps.
Cisco ASR 9912 : It uses rack space of 30 RU. It has 8 line cards, 7 Fabric cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 80 Tbps.
Cisco ASR 9922 : It uses rack space of 44 RU. It has 20 line cards, 7 Fabric cards and 2 RSPs. It has maximum capacity of 160 Tbps.

Below is the Cisco ASR 9006 Chassis shown, where it shows 2 Fan trays, 4 Line cards slot, 2 RSP Slots and 3 power modules and the total hardware description at the right.

Fig 1.2 Cisco ASR 9006 Router

From all these routers, the mighty one is Cisco ASR 9922 router with the high bandwidth capacity.
Cisco ASR 9922 router is very high capacity router and is used at the service provider or the biggest enterprise network where the traffic is very high. We will come up with another post where we have the use cases on the Cisco ASR 9000 Series routers and the design recommendation on these routers.