Router Stack??

Why would you want to stack routers? The point of stacking switches is to get the port density needed while keeping bandwidth high and remaining one spanning tree device.

If you need that port density and bandwidth, you would be usig a L3 switch anyway.

I have a router which is like a central point that link to other router. (one central router in the city and other routers at the province connect to that). But now i need to connect more router to this central router but run out of interface. So it seem like i need to replace that router? or can the router stack?

Thanks, hhs

Depends what you have as a router. If you're using a 3750 L3 switch as a router, or if you've filled a 6509 then you can either stack another

3750 onto the first or (if you're very rich) you can link 6509s with the new VSS feature. I'd be very surprised if you were doing either of those things so the answer is almost certainly no.

Things you can consider are adding more interfaces to a modular router, buying a larger modular chassis and reusing your interfaces, daisychaining routers together, or just buying a bigger router. More information on what kind of router(s) you have already and the number and type of interfaces would let people provide better advice.

Sam

(Please follow up to the group - I won't respond to personal email.)

Buying a larger modular chassis mean like buying a new routers, right? What do you mean daisy chaining router? Now i have 2651 which have 2 WIC. (now already use all of 4 interface - 2x WIC-2T). Please advise.

Thanks, hhs

If I read the specs right the 2651 has 1 or 2 fast ethernet ports, 1 network module slot and 2 WIC slots. You don't mention the NM slot but if you're not using that already you can get an NM-2W module to give you two more WIC slots into which you may be able to put WIC-2Ts. It looks as though the 2651 doesn't support the NM-4T card, directly.

The 2600 series is end of life and you can't get them any more, but replacing the chassis would involve getting another router (2800 or 3800 series) into which you could put the same WICs or an NM-4T (a second hand 2691 would handle the NM-4T too, apparently). Alternatively you could buy a second router and connect it to the first using one of the ethernet ports - that's what I mean by daisychaining.

Without just a little more detail of which 2651 model (plain or XM) and what the interfaces are used for it's difficult to say more.

Hope that helps.

Sam

Lest I blaspheme the Cisco brand, you might check out Juniper's EX series switches. Stackable, L3 and full routing protocol support right out of the box. You also don't have to deal with the extremely expensive VSS stuff - you can virtualize up to 10 of these 24-port boxes. I'm looking at them to replace my Cisco gear in the Metro-E stuff I've got.

hhs wrote:

I haven't use the Network Module slot yet.The fact is, I don't know that it can use to provide WIC. Thanks for your information. I will check out NM-2W.

Thanks you guys alot :)

HHS is just trying to find a solution to the lack of interfaces... His original question about "stacking" seems to point me to simply putting another router on the same subnet and use a routing protocol to transfer information about which interface to forward the traffic.

There's no need to replace or upgrade the current router... just put in another router that suits your needs and implement any of the many routing protocols available. (I suggest EIGRP for it's ease and flexibility) So in this sense, "stacking" of routers is completely possible.

One thought on this however, you'll want to pay more attention to future-proofing your solutions. i.e. the next router you put in, plan for expansion.

-JC

You don't give us enough information, but based on that comment, I suspect yo need to have a serious think.

It sounds like you have a single router. That is rarely a good thing as it is a single point of failure.

You also don't tell us what the router is, and how you connect the sites in, or how important these links are to the business.

P.

You need to have a think about where you are going. The simple option is to add another 2651, and connect some links to that. That way if one fails, you only lose part of your links.

You may want to ook at latger routers like a 3800 where you cen get a higher port density, but just adding lots of ports to a single router increases the hit should it fail.

Hello,

So what about the performance? Among the two option:

1. get network module and WAN interface card
2. put another router and use routing protocol to transfer or forward traffic (is it like add other hop? Will this increase delay)

Thanks, hhs

Whether that was indeed the case was the kind of information I was fishing for initially. Since his (apparently obsolete) router has space for more interfaces a second router may or may not be the appropriate way to go. Depending on how his routers are connected and how his network is monitored use of a dynamic routing protocol may be overkill.

Or just budget for it.

Sam

We can't comment on performance unless we know the type and quantity of traffic on your network and the how the rest of it is configured. What speed are the links to your outlying routers and what is on the end of them? Is there some kind of uplink from your central router and what is its speed? What are the distances involved?

Sam

We decide to purchase bigger router (2800 series), make use of 2651 in the other locate. Thanks you guides for all of the idea.

Thanks, hhs