There must be "principles" for router purchase"

The name of the router, as a device connected to the LAN, is no longer familiar to anyone. However, for most users, it is indeed difficult to fully understand routers. As a matter of fact, like other products, there are rules to scientifically select routers.

Determine the vro"

How can I determine the price of a vro from several hundred yuan to millions of yuan "? This is actually the classification of vrouters. Clarifying the classification of routers is the basis for correct selection of appropriate products. Generally, vrouters are divided into low-end, middle-end, and high-end based on the performance of vro and the environment they adapt to. This is a conventional practice and is not strictly defined. We take Cisco products with the highest market share as an example, because many manufacturers have similar product division methods with Cisco products.

Low-end router: it is mainly applicable to applications with the lowest level in the classification system, or applications of small and medium-sized enterprises. The product grade should be equivalent to Cisco's 2600 series or lower products. As for the vro of which grade should be selected, it should be determined based on your own needs. The main factors to consider are not only the packet switching capability, but also the number of ports.

Middle-end router: The Middle-end router is applicable to applications of large and medium-sized enterprises, Internet service providers, or municipal network outlets in the industry. The product grade should be equivalent to the Cisco modular 3600 series, which is below the Cisco 7200 series, the selection principle is also to consider the port support and Packet Exchange capabilities.

High-end router: high-end router is mainly used in the core and backbone network router, port density requirements are extremely high, the product grade should be equivalent to Cisco 7600 series, 12000 Series, CRS-1 products. When using high-end routers, performance factors become more important.

In addition, according to different standards, routers have different partitioning methods. For example, in terms of structure, they can be divided into modular and non-modular structures. In terms of network location, it is divided into core routers and access routers (edge routers). In terms of functions, it can be divided into general-purpose routers and dedicated routers (such as VPN routers and broadband access routers). In terms of processing capabilities, it can be divided into line rate routers and non-line rate routers. Generally, high-end routers use a modular structure, are at the core of the network, and have the ability to process the line speed. Low-end routers are the opposite.

Principles of router purchase

For users, you must first determine whether to select an access-level, enterprise-level, or backbone-level Router Based on your actual usage. This is the direction selected by the user. Then, the basic performance requirements of the product are determined based on the basic principles of vro selection. Specifically, the selection should be based on the following selection principles and reliability requirements.

Reliability refers to the fault recovery capability and load capacity. The router reliability is mainly reflected in the adaptability when the interface fault and network traffic increase. To ensure this adaptability, backup is used.

Reliability is also the most important consideration when selecting a vro, because the security and reliability of the vro are half the security and reliability of the network. Other principles include standardization of devices, management capabilities, fault tolerance redundancy of systems, and security.

As we all know, the role of the core router in the network does not have to be questioned. What should we focus on when selecting the core router? In addition to the Notes mentioned above, performance and reliability must be emphasized. In terms of performance, in addition to the specific indicators, whether the real line rate processing capability also greatly affects the network performance. Some vendors claim that vrouters with line rate capabilities cannot actually reach the line rate, therefore, you can take a look at the third-party evaluation report in this regard. Reliability also includes multiple aspects, such as hardware redundancy and module hot swapping. In addition, the importance of vendor strength is also highlighted, because it not only indicates the product's own "reliability", but also has some good performance in service capabilities.

Edge Routers are generally used by enterprise branches. for users who only need simple information transmission (such as email-oriented, and do not need to transmit some key services, some basic edge routers are competent, so they do not need to pay "high price" to buy "advanced products ". However, the situation is not that simple for users who need to transmit voice and video among other key services (such as multinational organizations, industry users, and large enterprises) in some branches, in addition to traditional data transmission and Packet Exchange functions, network devices are required to support data classification, priority control, user identification, fast recovery, and other features, this requires the edge router to be "smart ". Specifically, QoS capabilities, multicast technology, security, and management are required. At the same time, with the development of voice applications, whether or not to support voice functions depends on your application.

Currently, the demand for full integration of video, voice, and security, and network management on a single device is obvious. Edge Routers are developing in the "multi-party" direction that can meet various needs, for example, the Integrated Multi-Service Router (ISR) launched by Cisco earlier is a good example. This series of routers integrate voice, security, video, and other applications to provide secure, line-rate data, voice, video, and other advanced services for small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprise branches. It allows customers' branches to access internal data resources more securely and quickly, you can also obtain enhanced network services such as VPN acceleration, enhanced intrusion protection, URL filtering, and voice switching systems through the Optional module.

Approachable Broadband Router

Broadband routers are very approachable in terms of price and usage. What should I pay attention to when selecting a Broadband Router? Low Price and simple use are the advantages of broadband routers, which are also widely used. As a matter of fact, there are also great differences between broadband routers. correct choices should avoid the following situations.

Buy cabbage: Most of these users are household users and small business users. They are eager to sell cabbage at a price of 5 yuan or 10 yuan. Although such users do not need many features, it is worth reminding that there is no error in buying a brand that is too expensive, but the brand is necessary. Without a brand, there is no service, who can guarantee the quality?

Full pricing: Contrary to the cabbage model, some users require high-grade and even all functions, but those functions that account for a large proportion of the price have been idle for a long time. For example, if the VPN function is only for a home user or a small business with 10 employees, there is no need to consider it. If it is necessary to increase the number of people in the future, the reporter suggested that you purchase another product at that time, because the price is falling, the function is increasing, and it is unwise for low-end products to excessively consider scalability to a certain extent.

Light-dedicated: At present, the market for broadband routers is increasingly refined. The most representative is the internet cafe Broadband Router launched in the internet cafe market. Some users do not care too much about these special products, and think that they have only made some changes to general products. Indeed, dedicated broadband routers are the result of transformation on the basis of general products, but they are generally better integrated with specific needs, targeted "tuning ", for example, multiple WAN ports of the Internet cafe Broadband Router are necessary. Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that some products have a "dedicated" brand for fashion purposes, so the brand is still very important.

Users should be reminded not to expect too many terminals (such as 200) on a low-end or middle-end Broadband Router. Theoretically, there may be no problems, but there may be bottlenecks in actual use, hardware configurations (such as CPU) cannot be tolerated. In addition, enterprise users can consider the dual-WAN port Broadband Router, which not only improves the network speed, but also improves the network stability. Note that a small number of broadband routers can increase the number of WAN ports by 3 or 4. Is there more WAN ports, the better? In fact, because these devices require a more advanced processor and larger memory capacity, the price is significantly higher. Whether it is worthwhile depends on the specific needs of users.