Use of Metro ethernet switches

Folks,
I have looking at a sample config for EWS. The senario has 3550's at the enge and 6500 at the core. 6500's were doing the Q-IN-Q functionaility to carry customer vlan over provider vlan.
My question is where would a 3750 series metro switch be useful. Lets say i had a 7600 P.E which also have Q-IN-Q functionility, why would i buy a 3750 if i was a provider?
Thanks

Hello,
simplified one driving factor for Q-in-Q is port cost. The cost of an ethernet port on a 7600 is higher than the same port on a 3750. So for a SP serving many customers and potentially in need of hundreds of ethernet customer ports, it means that the hardware invest will be lower and therefore competitiveness in the market will be better.
Hope this helps! Please rate all posts.
regards, Martin

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What kind of Metro Ethernet Switchs?

Dear Sir,
We adopted an IP/MPLS network so we need to make expansion. The expansion will be Cisco Metro Ethernet Switches.
What kind of Cisco Switch will be suitable for this purpose ?
Find the attached image for the Network topology so the Core routers is Huawei NE80E and the Edge Router is Huawei NE40E.
Waiting for your suggestion.
Regards.

Hu Hussein!
I worked a lot on ME3750..I can´t recommend this platform! The hardware and sw features are obsolete.
If you do not need MPLS, the ME3400E (E Series!!) supports features like "selective QinQ", wich could be very nice n an metro ethernet network.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/metro/me3400e/software/release/12.2_58_se/configuration/guide/swtunnel.html
You have only 1GE ports.
I think the ME3600X/3800X should be the choice. You have the features like 3400E and EVC support
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/metro/me3600x_3800x/software/release/12.2_52_ey/configuration/guide/swevc.html
The 3600X by default has enabled the two 10GE ports. The 3800X NO. Check the licensing model (also for scalabiliz, mpls) before you buy...
The features of the platforms are nearly the same.
The 3800X supports larger TCAM, more VRFs,ecc
I never used the 3600/3800 series.The platform is very new. But future proof
..or maybe a 6500 or 7600 platform (if you need port density)...?
Regards,
Thomas

3750 Metro ethernet switch

Folks,
I have 6500's at the core and want to use the 3750 at the PE. My question is the following:
1) 3750 would do Q-IN-Q.
2) Once the packet reaches the 6500(sup 720) running MPLS. What happens to the frame. Do i use xconnect to transfer the frame to the appropriate PE?
Just confussed about how does the PE use the Q-IN-Q information to direct it to the appropriate PE?
Sample config would be highly appreciated.
Thanks

Well.. its about product features .. you gotta compare products with your requirments at various layer of your network and to come out with justification of your requirments . Any ways below is snippet for you to have some justification between two products
===============================================
What is the difference between the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series and the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series?
The Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series is built for Metro Ethernet access in a customer location, enabling the delivery of more differentiated Metro Ethernet services. These switches feature bidirectional hierarchical QoS and Traffic Shaping; intelligent 802.1Q tunneling with class-of-service (CoS) mutation; VLAN translation; MPLS, EoMPLS, and Hierarchical Virtual Private LAN Service (H-VPLS) support; and redundant AC or DC power. They are ideal for service providers seeking to deliver profitable business services, such as Layer 2, Layer 3, and MPLS VPNs, in a variety of bandwidths and with different SLAs. With flexible software options, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series offers a cost-effective path for meeting current and future service requirements from service providers.
The standard Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series is an innovative product line for midsize organizations and enterprise branch offices. Featuring Cisco Systems® StackWise technology, Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series products improve LAN operating efficiency by combining industry-leading ease of use and high resiliency for stackable switches.
What is the Metro Ethernet positioning of the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series, the Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series, and the Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series?
Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series Switches
=========================================
Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series switches are a new line of premier, customer-located switches that bring greater intelligence for Metro Ethernet access, enabling the delivery of more differentiated Metro Ethernet services. These fixed configuration switches feature bidirectional hierarchical QoS and Traffic Shaping; intelligent 802.1Q tunneling; VLAN translation; MPLS, EoMPLS, and H-VPLS support; and redundant AC or DC power. They are ideal for service providers seeking to deliver profitable business services, such as Layer 2, Layer 3, and MPLS VPNs, in a variety of bandwidths and with different SLAs. With flexible software options, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Metro Series offers a cost-effective path for meeting current and future service requirements from service providers.
Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Switches
==================================
With a range of Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, DC power, and fiber configurations, the Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series is an intelligent metro access switch for service providers serving the enterprise and small and medium-sized business markets. Featuring 802.1Q tunneling, high-performance IP routing, and subsecond Spanning Tree Protocol convergence, this line of powerful, cost-effective, fixed-configuration switches enables Metro Ethernet services such as Transparent LAN services and business-class Internet access.
Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series Switches
===================================
Ideal for Metro Ethernet access in residential markets, the Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series is an affordable line of fixed-configuration Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switches. Featuring advanced rate limiting, voice VLAN support, and multicast management, these switches enable residential Metro Ethernet services such as Internet access, voice over IP (VoIP), and broadcast video.
Hope it helps
Ps rate this post if it helps u ..
Thanks and Regards
Raj

Metro Ethernet Switches Network Implementations

I wish that Cisco would collect as many as network scenarios and pratical configurations for 3750ME, Metro Ethernet, and MPLS, starting with few basic one.
Cut down the marketing materials. It will benefits all customers and cut down supports.

There are lot of such materials.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5532/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns341/ns396/ns223/ns227/networking_solutions_sub_solution.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk436/tsd_technology_support_category_home.html
Hope this helps

Metro ethernet switches

i am new at metro ethernet. What is needed in a standard switch (Cat4500, Cat6500, etc) in order to support metroethernet services. thanks ahead
asanes

Hi,
It basically depends where you want to put the devices you stated in the network, looking at the devices I think you should have MPLS, LDP/RSVP and other standard routing protocol.
For access, you also should have STP (RSTP/MSTP) configured.
Please go through this link for further information
http://cisco.com/en/US/customer/netsol/ns341/ns396/ns223/ns227/networking_solutions_package.html
Cheers,
Sultan

Metro ethernet and ethernet

Hi all,
I am new to metro ethernet concept. Can someone give me a head start and also, what are the differences in ME switches and normal switches ?

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In no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising out of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if Author has been advised of the possibility of such damage.
Posting
As Peter wrote, Metro Ethernet is a vast topic. However, from a non-provider perspective, the idea is to allow interconnecting widely physically separated (your) site networks just about as simply and similar to connecting your LAN together at one of your sites. I.e. you just connect different (your) site devices with an Ethernet connection, and you use that connection pretty much like you would any other Ethernet link between your devices.
From a carrier or MAN provider perspective, running a widely distributed, multiple customer Metro Ethernet (or a carrier Ethernet) network, you'll want some features not found in (as you say) "normal" Ethernet equipment.
What's different about Metro Ethernet switches is they generally offer features not found in "normal" Ethernet switches. Again, from a non-provider perspective, you often only need/desire a few additional features (and for that reason, it's not uncommon for non-providers to use "normal" Ethernet switches with Metro E - I've also seen Metro E switches used with "ordinary" LAN Ethernet networks). From a provider's (carrier's) perceptive, you'll really want more features. Because of these two perspectives, you'll often find Metro Ethernet switches marketed to non-providers, and Carrier Grade Ethernet switches marketed to the MAN Ethernet providers.

Bellsouth Metro Ethernet -- is it QinQ?

I have a customer who has bought some connections from Bellsouth's Metro Ethernet product. I am having a tough time getting someone at Bellsouth to give me any information about the product.
Are they just using QinQ (802.1q tunneling) to make it all happen? If that's the case then I should just trunk to them with 802.1q and not have to do anything else, I believe keeping the native vlan 1 should even be fine. If anyone knows anything about this or has connected sites using the Bellsouth metro-e product please let me know.
Brian

Hello,
looks like it is Ethernet over SONET, with a possibility to migrate it to EoMPLS:
"Currently BellSouth uses a specialty Ethernet switch to support its shared multipoint offering, but that may change. "We're converting to more of a general purpose device that will be part of our MPLS network and will deliver Ethernet and other services," hints Kaish.
Some carriers have implemented shared multipoint services directly over fiber, which means that those services do not include Sonet restoration capability, effectively limiting them to non-critical traffic. But BellSouth's metro Ethernet network is Sonet-based and customers can leverage Sonet's restoration capabilities, Kaish says."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUJ/is_13_107/ai_108408900
Another source of information supporting the statements above:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2004/prod_070604.html
In any case this does not mean straight forward, that you can use the service to setup trunks between your switches. This depends on the interface configuration of (presumably) the 7600. They might restrict you to dot1Q with one VLAN or even to plain ethernet.
Hope this helps! Please rate all posts.
Regards, Martin
P.S.: have a look at http://www.metroethernetforum.org/presentations/SC2003_BobSmithEntNet.PDF which should answer many questions! Especially they state "Dedicated Ethernet supports VLAN tagging" - sounds like setting up a dot1Q trunk with them will be supported.

HT4260 Is it best to place a 5-port switch upstream of the bridges, or, use the 3-port switch built into the bridge?

One airport extreme as DHCP server, two more as bridges, using Ethernet,

As long as you use a Gigabit Ethernet switch, you can install the device literally anywhere you want downstream of the main AirPort Extreme router if you need more ports for Ethernet devices. Otherwise, use the Gigabit Ethernet switch that is built into the AirPort Extreme to keep things simple and minimize the extra connections that would be required using an outboard switch.
Be sure to use CAT5e or CAT6 Ethernet cabling throughout the network.

Building metro ethernet using cat3750

Hi,
I am Mazlan and work for one of ISP in Malaysia. We would like to discover metro ethernet technologies.
We would like to use our current backbone network to create this metro network and we are planning to use cat3750.
The design is something like this.
R1--cat3750--RA--[WAN}--RB--cat3750--R2
R1 and R2 is in different location but will be running on same VLAN (with help of cat3750). Let say there is customer connected to R1 and their branch at R2, they will only feel they are in same LAN, but actly they are in different location.
We need some opinion of builidng this network. I need help for the configuration in cat3750 as well in the router. We have no experince in this technologies.
Perhaps somebody whos is interested to help me out can email me at [email protected]
Your help is highly appriciated.
--mazlan

The Catalyst 3750 switch supports IEEE 802.1Q tunneling and Layer 2 protocol tunneling.
configure guide
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a00805a650e.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_configuration_example09186a00801cc828.shtml

Can I link 2 airport extremes together by using ethernet, through an ethernet switch?

can I link 2 airport extremes together by using ethernet, through an ethernet switch?

This will depend on the type of switch that you are asking about.
An "unmanaged" Gigabit Ethernet switch will pass through everything with no configuration needed.
A "managed" switch will require programming that defines the performance of each port on the switch.

EIGRP with over 1000 neighbors using Metro Ethernet

No documentation about using EIGRP with what kind router can build a large network using Metro Ethernet. Cisco7600 become unstable unstable after applying over 600 eigrp neighbors.

Is there a reason you need EIGRP? If you're scaling to 1000 neighbors you should really use BGP. It's meant to be scalabale (I have routers that have 150,000 BGP routes in it). It's really designed for scalability, where as I find EIGRP is preferable in a low-neighbor routing environment.
-Mike
http://cs-mars.blogspot.com

Can I use an ethernet switch to add a "pogoplug" device to my Airport express router? Or do I need a different router?

I have an airport express router and decided to get a "pogoplug device" (cloud service to store files etc.). It requires to be connected to router per ethernet but I realized too late there is only one ethernet connection in the router. A friend suggested I get an ethernet switch but it still doesn't work...Do I need a new router?

Then, unfortunately, no as the single Ethernet port of the AX needs to be connected to the Ethernet port of your Broadband modem.
One option is to get another AX, and then, configure it as a wireless Ethernet bridge. It would connect to the first AX by wireless, and then, you can connect the PogoPlug to it.

Best way to detect failure in Metro ethernet networks

Hello ,
I am working for a well known provider and I am currently migrating one of my client from Frame-relay to Metro-ethernet link .
I am actually looking for advices on what sort of mechanism to implement to detect a failure in the ME parth .
As you probably know , failure on one of the links might cause the CE-SWITCH-PE interfaces to stay up/up and the network will not neceseraliy start converging .
So far I have implemented BFD along with IP SLA route tracking , I am happy with BFD but the IP SLA is acting "weird" .
- IP SLA ICMP tracking rely on ICMP packets and was too sensitive to packets lost
- We switched to ip route sla tracking but I am still unsure about the best way to use or implement this .
Is there some sort of best practices available somewhere for this ?
thanks ¨
T

Hello Thomas,
From what i have seen BFD is best bet as it allows to relax the L3 protocols timers ( BGP / any other protocol used between CE- PE ). Another option is to have gre tunnel between the PE - CE link and track this tunnel interface.
Regards,
Shreeram

Metro Ethernet Design question

Hello,
I was wondering how service providers guarantee their security protection in the Metro Ethernet model, especially when Internet is one of the applications used over the Metro network.
For example: The customer edge switch (3550) is connected directly to the service provider aggregation layer(either Cisco Catalyst 4500 and 6500 Series switches ) .
In the network core, Cisco 12000 or Cisco 7600 Series routers.
So where is the security devices in this architecture, where is the firewalls, the IDS/IPS, that protects the service provider core from any threats.
Providing the customer with Internet in Ethernet switching technology the service will put the provider in a vulnerable position.
Am I thinking wrong here?

Hi
The CE will be hardened using storm control both multicast as well as broadcast on the ports where the end users are connected.
About the accesiability between the other users who are connected on the ports of same switches you have switchport security coded which will take care of the access violation part.
Also the maximum no of MAC address which can be permitted/allowed over the ports.
This inturn will send u a trap and can shut the port if theres any violation detected on those ports..
In the next layer where u say 6500 or 7600 u will have FWSM modules which will be taking care of filtering and other funtionalities which is very much similar to a standalone PIX firewall.
you can have redundandcy or even load balancing with
the FWSM modules over there in the 6500 switches.
And ofcourse the IP addressing schemes deployed would be in private scopes and will have either NAT pools or PAT enabled in the FWSM.
you got to have more n more ACLS on all the devices to mitigate the general known worms/virus or their variants in the network applied in applicable points.
regds

Metro Ethernet Design With Redundant Head Ends

We're getting ready to turn up some metro ethernet circuits that were just installed by AT&T. AT&T has provided a VLAN for each remote site (so each site has its own VLAN), and those VLANs are trunked to our head end switches (Cisco 3750 Metro Switches).
I'm struggling with the best design for IP routing. We currently use OSPF on our internal network, and I was going to extend OSPF to our metro solution as well, but I'm not so sure now.
I don't want routing to occur directly between head end #1 and head end #2, we already have redundant paths within our corporate network, and allowing our two head ends to route between each other via our metro ethernet solution is not what we want. However, running OSPF on each of the VLANs which have been provisioned for us would permit routing between the head ends.
We simply need to allow redundanny for our remote locations in the event that one head end were to fail, all of the traffic to/from the remote site would be routed through the head end which is still online.
Anyone suggestions on the best routing design for this situation would be greatly appreciated. I've attached a network diagram to make things clear. I believe I can also go back to AT&T and request one VLAN that includes all sites if that would simply things. I just need to make sure I can still do our traffic shaping because the remote sites are only 10mbps and the head ends are 1gbps.
Thanks,
-Steve

just at a glance it looks as if you should be able to have stp on and setup 1 site as primary and other as secondary

Use of Metro ethernet switches

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