Is there a variable in the development of the cluster router market?

China's cluster routers are widely used and the market competition is fierce. Here we will mainly introduce whether there are variables in the development of cluster routers, including the comparison of the main methods to increase the device capacity at the core layer. Although the current market demand for cluster routers has gradually emerged, there are not many equipment vendors that truly master cluster technologies. So far, only Cisco, Juniper, and Huawei officially released cluster router products.

"The technology involved in the interconnection of multiple routing devices on the hardware is very cutting-edge. Currently, only a few vendors have mastered the technology. In terms of software, the virtual routing, collaboration, and ISSU (online upgrade) functions of cluster devices are also very complex. Not all routing equipment providers have the ability to develop cluster routers." In Wang Dong's view, compared with a single device, cluster routers are more complex in terms of hardware and software. Peng kuncheng, a network marketing and operation of Huawei China, believes that the biggest difficulty in R & D of router cluster products lies in the Information Synchronization and collaboration between multiple devices to achieve data exchange plane and system control plane. "In addition to integrating the functions of all single devices, the Cluster also needs to handle the changes brought about by multiple chassis, which is much more complicated than the design of a single device ." Jin Xin said.

It is worth noting that, as a domestic equipment manufacturer, Huawei was the first to release the NE5000E with a capacity of up to 10 TB in March this year, initiating a strong challenge for Cisco and Juniper, this also kicked off a new round of capacity upgrade competition for equipment manufacturers. Currently, Cisco CRS-1 has a capacity of up to 2.56 TB, and this year cisco will also launch 8 line card chassis + 4 matrix chassis cluster, it is also possible that an interface with a maximum speed of GB will be launched next year. Jin Xin said that Cisco's cluster routers evolved according to market needs and a clear roadmap. According to the design of CRS-1 multi-Chassis System, the cluster can support a maximum of 72 switching chassis + 8 matrix chassis architecture, its maximum capacity can reach more than 92T, this is the maximum capacity currently claimed by various manufacturers' cluster devices. It is not hard to predict that as the capacity of a single interface increases to 100 GB, the capacity of a cluster will become more impressive. Juniper also said that higher-capacity cluster products will be launched quickly when the requirements are clear.

Are there still variables?

It is worth noting that although the use of Cluster routers is a trend, it is not the only choice. "Network scalability can also be achieved through scientific network organizational structures. For example, a single plane 10 T network can be designed as a two-plane 5 T network, or even a four-plane T network, so that each plane can only use a large-capacity single-host router ." Xu Jianfeng believes that different roles can be assigned to different planes to differentiate customers and businesses. Although cluster routers can be used to expand the network, it is very challenging to maintain and manage IP networks that are too large and carry various services at the same time. It is difficult to differentiate services from customers, interference between different customers and businesses is hard to avoid. This is equivalent to an enterprise that needs 100 floors to meet the needs. It can adopt a variety of solutions to build a 100-storey building separately, or build two 50-storey buildings and one administrative building, A Research Building. It cannot be said that the 100-layer solution must be better than the 50-layer solution ."

Xu Jianfeng said that everyone is talking about the Unified IP/MPLS bearer network, but there are some misunderstandings. IP unified convergence bearer network is a Unified IP technology, but not necessarily a physical IP network, and convergence refers to the convergence of voice, data, images and video applications. If the customer base and business volume of individual businesses reach a certain scale, it is not ruled out that different physical bearer networks are built based on the customer base and different businesses. The key is whether the scale can reach the boundary of investment and maintenance costs. In this way, the cluster router usage will be reduced. According to reports, China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute recently is studying the scalability of different network organization forms, investment benefits, business support capabilities and requirements for equipment.

Routing Cluster

A cluster router, also known as a router matrix or Multi-frame Interconnection (Multi-Chassis), connects two or more common core routers in a certain way by using the parallel switching technology (PPS, A multi-level, multi-plane exchange matrix system can work together and act as a logical router, in this way, the limit on switching capacity, power consumption, and heat dissipation of a single chassis is exceeded and smoothly expanded to a larger Routing Switching System.

Comparison of main methods to increase the device capacity at the core layer

Method 1: capacity of a single device-expand the number of slots in the single-host frame of the cluster router and increase the capacity of a single interface. Disadvantages: Limited scalability due to factors such as single-host physical devices and micro-band processing technology, power consumption and crosstalk.

Method 2: Change the network structure-deploy multiple devices in the distributed network hierarchy and nodes. Multiple network layers are deployed at a distributed network level, which reduces the pressure on devices by means of layer-by-layer convergence. Deploying multiple devices in a node is to deploy Multiple Cluster routers on the core layer and use full-mesh connections to relieve the pressure on the devices by means of load balancing. Both methods adapt to traffic growth by changing the network structure when a single cluster router cannot continue to expand. The main difference is that the network is expanded vertically and horizontally. Disadvantage: although it relieves the limited capacity of a single device to a certain extent, it leads to increased Network Complexity and internal interconnection ports.

Method 3: Multiple Cluster routers are extended by means of cluster technology. Multiple Cluster routers are physically interconnected to form a logically integrated cluster router system. Advantage: because each vro chassis in the cluster system is connected through a high-speed optical backplane, the corresponding interconnection interfaces are saved, in addition, you no longer need expensive router interface cards to implement complex QoS, route forwarding, and other features, making the connection costs between the chassis much lower than the common port connection mode; at the same time, it also overcomes the bandwidth bottleneck caused by the use of common port interconnection. These router members only have a unified management and routing control engine, logically a cluster router, in this way, the network topology and routing structure become concise and clear, and the maintenance is simple and convenient. Clusters effectively solve the scalability problem and can meet the needs of high-speed business growth, improved network performance and capacity without increasing network complexity.