Cisco 800 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 800)
Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
More suited is where we need more flexibility in terms of diagnosing the issues and also troubleshooting, which makes it easier for us because we have a more transparent way of diagnosing faults and fixing the issues. So that's a good one. I'm not too sure what is the less appropriate areas, but I could see less appropriate, probably not in places where it's a quick deployment on the cloud side. So probably that's right, I think. And all the security solutions as well
It is very well suited to act as your aggregator / core switch for mid to large facilities. it is flexible enough to really be useable in small environments but costs may hinder that. It has redundancy of power and management blades that does add a lot of peace of mind and security. Really the only reason you would not use a 9000 series is frankly cost and/or real requirements for performance. They have several versions of this model, plus they have an entire set of lines that can accommodate nearly as much as the 9000. Less demand or less of a budget can weigh in the decision to select this particular model.
[Cisco 800 Series Integrated] Routers can form tunnels over a cellular network via the SIM inserted into it.
With an external antenna attached to it, their coverage is very good, making them suitable for remote sites where network coverage from ISPs is a concern.
They function as a switch and router in one device.
[The] upgrade process [is] overly complicated compared to NX-OS or IOS. New images and the current configuration need to be compiled into "golden IOS's". If you don't include the configuration, you will have a clean device with no configuration.
[There are] major bugs in every release. We have had to cycle through all of our routers 3 times in the last year for updates due to show-stopping bugs that did not come to light until after the changes were made in production.
[It has] terrible documentation. You have to mine their site to get to any documentation for recent versions of IOS-XR. If you make the leap from 32-bit cXR to 64-bit eXR, then the documentation is more or less non-existent. Due to the internal architecture of hardware itself, technical specs can change from software version to software version, so don't expect any sort of firm scalability numbers. You'll have to rely on your sales engineer for that.
Cisco has provided a real diverse router in a small package that meets the needs of our current environment. I highly recommend this product and should feel the to consider this type of solution, you would have made the right decision
This router is easy to use and manage. It provides the features, most important the security our organization requires to function properly. There is also cohesion between the HQ router we are currently using.
The code for the switch is slightly different than the 2960X series that it is replacing, but still very familiar. It was relatively straightforward to work around this minor issue. The switch itself is solid and is very flexible as well as reliable.
At the time (during 2020 - COVID) there was an issue getting the new switches due to circumstances around COVID with reduced work force, etc. Generally we have not had an issue getting the product in a timely fashion.
I think Cisco is a good product that offers a huge list of options where you can get support from. I find that forums, blogs and communities really assist wit resolving any issues that you might come across.
In some ways, the platform is a big improvement over our previous IOS and NX-OS devices: They offer version-controlled configuration staging/commits. They have a robust portfolio of network protocols and features even beyond datacenter devices. Due to the use of NPUs instead of relying entirely on ASICs for forwarding, new versions of the software are able to improve hardware performance and capacity. Unfortunately, I have run into more bugs on IOS-XR than I ever did on IOS or even NX-OS (which has a shocking number of bugs of its own) and you have to be a licensing guru to get your order right the first time.
Implementation of this router is relatively easy. What i can say is plan your implementation and consider the the environment you are going to use it for.
Really, the only issue encountered when deploying the new 9000 series was attempting to copy a working config from an older series switch and applying it to the new 9000 series. Once it was explained that a new switch configuration needs to be built up specifically for the 9000 and deployed were the issues resolved.
We looked into setting up Site to Site VPN with either Cisco ASAs or [Fortinet] FortiGate Firewalls. We were unable to find a product that didn't also require us to set up an LTE modem separately. It would have forced us to have a mess of cables and multiple devices. Our kit for the field with the Cisco 800 [Series Integrated Services Router] is simple: router, power cables, and wireless access point. Everything is labeled and attached plugs into one device. Any field user can follow the instructions [to] get up and running quickly.
When we are integrating the ASR9000 router with other devices then there should be the same device that can cater to the throughput. We can use the Cisco 9600 Switch which can be easily integrated and can handle the speed in terms of uplinks 40G can be handled. Adding to this Cisco DNA Center can be integrated to do the automation and monitoring purposes.
We work directly with our vendor/partner who works closely with our ability to pay at certain times of the year due to budget restraints of public education.
Depending on the model of 9000, it can be as simple of a setup as needed, or can be as expandable as required. The units we purchased only had SFP ports for basic trunk line configuration
We didn't need to buy new devices when we were increasing backbone capacity from 1G to 10G.
Due to the modular nature of the software, when there is an issue with any running services, we need not reboot the whole device which affects all clients and availability.
