An evaluation of the Cisco 9000 Series (ASR 9000)
May 05, 2023

An evaluation of the Cisco 9000 Series (ASR 9000)

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • 9001
  • 9006

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)

We have placed this unit at the top of our network. It does the routing for nearly all of our sites, which are layer 2. It provides 10 GB connectivity to all of our WAN links as well. It handles local workstations at our site in addition to being the aggregator or core to our district. All of our primary services are connected to this switch, all wireless appliances (Cisco) as well as our Virtual services and storage.

Pros

  • The 9000 series is an extremely stable device, seldom having failures.
  • It has more than enough capacity for our needs, while we do use 4 blades on our chassis.
  • We can mix fiber and copper easily.
  • With three redundant power supplies we are able to ensure it remaining powered up by using several battery backup units tied to a generator.

Cons

  • There is a bit of a problem when "counting" ports on the different blades, due to when using redundant ports and management you actually lose the option to use some ports. It's not major, but when you are counting on the availability of 10GB SFP's you need to remember you may be short a port or two.
  • Generally it is designed and built very well, however, you do need to be aware that the unit weighs a considerable amount and does require at least two people, (really three) to place it in the rack.
  • Layer 3 - Routing
  • Flexible blade selections for copper, fiber and redundancy
  • Redundant power supples.
  • Redundant management blades to spread the coverage/risk over multiple blades
  • The 9000 series offers you the ability to consolidate multiple switches into "one" switch with multiple blades and configurations.
  • The 9000 offers a level of peace of mind because of the multiple ways redundancy is available and built into the unit.
  • With the flexible blade design you can achieve high density in copper interfaces, and blend in 10 Gig SFP interfaces that allow you to configure not only fiber connections but create high speed / high capacity WAN connections.
  • The 9000 management follows the same code and OS that Cisco has had for a long time, which translates into easier management and a lower learning curve for the folks who are charged with configuring and maintaining the 9000.
  • Brocade ADX (Discontinued)
The Brocade was a very decent switch, and it's configuration and performance was very comparable to the Cisco switch. We had a Brocade because at the time of installation we could not get a Cisco. We are happy with the Brocade but it is end of life and end of support. We still did have at the time a Cisco 4000 chassis, which then we upgraded to the Cisco 3850. There was a change in thinking and logic when we moved between those switches. We are very happy to say that the 9000 series offers more "power" and more flexibitly to us than either of those did at the time. We do NOT regret in any way our selection of a 9000 series.

Do you think Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000) again?

Yes

Unitrends Data Center Backup and Recovery, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (npm), Securly Filter
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.

Using Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)

3 - We have three people who manage the ASR 9000 but it supplies services to over 6000 end users.
3 - There are three support engineers that support the ASR 9000, but one primary Network Manager (myself).
  • Solid dependability platform
  • Can offer the flexibility and performance we need
  • Consistent design platform, meaning since we are a Cisco shop, it is easy to integrate.
  • We have eliminated bottlenecks that were happening at a large facility on our WAN
  • We have been able to stream and broadcast from several locations
  • We depend on the consistent performance out of the unit.
  • Expand our remote backup solutions
  • Increase bandwidth to certain high need locations
  • Expand our wireless footprint
It has performed as required, we have no reason to move away from it.

Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000) Support

Cisco offers TAC support, which combined with our local Cisco Vendor has always resolved or at least explained why and issue came up, and what the solution is.
ProsCons
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Quick Initial Response
None
We purchased Cisco Smartnet, which is a support contract that teams with our vendor. On high demand equipment we always sign up for Smartnet. While it is pricy it is very necessary when a major outage occurs.
Yes - We did a firmware update and it resolved the issue.
When we physically moved our facility to a new office, it required considerable management of the old connections to the new one. It also required major routing changes in the configuration. We planned the move date and support was on board with us the entire day and successfully got us moved in and up and running.

Comments

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