Conference irocz::common_brouters

876.0. "Replacing FDDI-Enet Flat LAN with Switching" by HBAHBA::REED (John Reed @CBO = Network Services) Fri Apr 25 1997 17:33

    Hello.
    
    I need some advise on deploying the VNswitch 900EF products
    in a large manufacturing network.   
    
        EXISTING CONFIG:
    I am about to replace a DECNIS-based corporate network with a
    VNswitch-based LAN.   Today, the network consists of an FDDI backbone
    which connects about five DEChub 900s, containing DECcon900TH, and
    DECcon 900MX, DECswitch 900EF, and PEswitch900TX.  The routing for 
    the site is handled entirely by the DECNIS router, which is centrally
    located, and has many virtual IP addresses. 
    
    This is a chemical plant, covering several miles.  The big 
    primary administrative building is completely CAT5, with fiber
    to the closets.  Users are FDDI, and Fast Ethernet, and 10BaseT.
    The outlying plant buildings are all serviced by fiber from the
    DECNIS router (with FOT's on L602 AUI ports) going to fiber 
    repeaters, feeding remote DEChub90's fronted with a DECbridge 90.
    
    Several NT servers are connected using 100BaseTX, over an SMC 100
    Meg Ethernet Repeater, and to some 100BaseTX CAD stations, which link
    to the rest of the network, through a Novell Server with two NIC cards.
    
        REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS UPGRADE:
    1)  Every desktop gets a dedicated 10Meg link to the network.  
    2)  Users must see  a dramatic improvement in throughput.
    
    We did plan for the eventual migration of routers to the outlying
    sites, and to the closets.  But today, the FDDI ring (admin) has
    all seven of it's IP class-C addresses piled onto the one FDDI port 
    of the DECNIS.  And the outlying buildings share the DECNIS AUI port IP
    addresses, as distributed by the fiber repeaters.  Today FDDI is the
    primary backbone technology.  Monthly peak traffic hits about 50% util
    on the FDDI.  Protocols are Novell IPX (bridged everywhere), TCP and
    DECnet.
    
        MY PLAN:
    I want to swap out all of the old DECswitch 900EF, and DECrepeater
    900TM modules with VNswitch EE and VNswitch 900EF modules.  I will
    break down the existing DECNIS, and replace  of the L602 cards 
    with one more FDDI card (for a total of two FDDI DAS cards).  One
    FDDI will be the SERVER FDDI for the site host processors, and the 
    other FDDI will be USER FDDI, the ring throughout the entire campus.   
    All of the fiber FOIRL repeaters will be replaced with DEChub 900s 
    with VN900EF, and all of the remote DEChub 90s will become DEChub 900
    with VN900EF + EE.
    
    As a more expensive upgrade, I have also proposed installing theVN900EA
    switches in the DEChub 900s (instead of the VN900EF), and feeding them 
    all to a  central Gigaswitch/ATM at the expense of throwing away the old
    DECNIS.  The customer does not really want to dismiss the DECNIS which he
    bought only two or three years ago.   So If I can use the DECNIS I'd like to.
    
        MY QUESTIONS:
    I want to be certain of a few gotchas that have been troubling me with
    some of the products.
    
       
        a) Is IP switching available today, or IP routing in the VN900EF?
    
        b) Will I have to give different IP net addresses to each PORT of the
           VN900EE if it becomes a router?  How does the IP map to the
           switch ports?   The customer has only 30 legitimate IP Class-C
           networks, which I must fan out to all the sites.  Do I need to 
           specify a certain variant, or does the DVNEE-MA include routing
           software?
    
        c) Will the FDDI backbone handle the VLANs created on the VN900EE?  I 
           know that the DECswitch 900EF can create up to 250 VLANs to 
           put it's six Ethernets into.  How does the VN900EF carry the
           VNbus' 63 VLANs into this picture?   Do they map at all to each other?
    
        d) If I put an ATM card into the DECNIS, can it join the VLAN scenario
           created by the VN900EA modules (If I deploy them instead of VN900EF)
           or do I have to hang a VN900EE module beside the DECNIS, and feed each
           VLAN out an Ethernet port, and into the front of the DECNIS to be able
           to route between them, thus slowing throughput from 155M to 10M?
    
        e) I am confused by the marketing guides, which talk about IP switching
           and how I will deploy my IP, Novell IPX, and DECnet users which are
           today separated by the DECNIS router into ten IP networks, One IPX
           net number, and One DECnet Area.  I assume that I will bridge all but
           IP the same as today, but will call it switching instead.  Is the IP
           switching shipping now?  Is it included in the DVNEE-MA part number?
    
        f) Today, I have the DECNIS bridging, and converting IPX fromEthernet to
           FDDI using one framing technique, which is different from theframing
           technique used by the DECswitch 900EF when it bridges from FDDIto ENET.
           Which method does the new VNswitch900EF use to convert from FDDIto ENET?
    
        g) Does the implementation of fully switched Ethernet across the campus create
           a huge bottleneck at the FDDI backbone.  By creating two FDDIs in the DECNIS
           I double my bandwidth to 200Meg, but each user must pass throughthe DECNIS 
           for each transaction.   The cost for the VN900EA and VN900EF is about the same
           given the same media options.   So, If I used the ATM version, Iwould get 
           the 155Meg bandwidth, but could not create a ring (only one porton ATM).  So
           the ATM network would require a central Gigaswitch/ATM, which should dramatically
           effect traffic flow.   Does Gigaswitch/ATM and VN900EA combination perform
           IP switching, while bridging IPX, and DECnet?    Don't want to lose anything
           that I have today.
    
    Thanks for any input on these questions.
    
    John Reed
    Networking the Carolinas
    
    

    a) Is IP switching available today, or IP routing in the VN900EF?
    
        -- IP switching and IP routing are not in the shipping Version 1.X
        -- of the product.  IP routing is in Version 2.0 of the product.
        -- Ipsilon based IP switching on ATM is scheduled for a subsequent
        -- software release.  Check with product management for dates on
        -- V.2.0
    
    b) Will I have to give different IP net addresses to each PORT of the
       VN900EE if it becomes a router?  How does the IP map to the
       switch ports?   The customer has only 30 legitimate IP Class-C
       networks, which I must fan out to all the sites.  Do I need to 
       specify a certain variant, or does the DVNEE-MA include routing
       software?
    
        -- The IP routing is layered on top of bridging.  Typically,
        -- mulitple bridged ports will be incorporated into a single
        -- routing virtual interface.  You can have a single routing
        -- interface for all of the ports or, at the other extreme,
        -- a separate routing interface for each port.
        -- The packaging of the routing software is a question for product
        -- management.
    
    c) Will the FDDI backbone handle the VLANs created on the VN900EE?  I 
       know that the DECswitch 900EF can create up to 250 VLANs to 
       put it's six Ethernets into.  How does the VN900EF carry the
       VNbus' 63 VLANs into this picture?   Do they map at all to each other?
    
        -- The VNswitch modules do not support the FDDI VLAN trunking
        -- implemented on the DECswitch 900EF.  The port based VLAN's
        -- on the VNswitch, called VSD's, implement independent spanning tress,
        -- simulating independent bridges.  This is similar to the
        -- "domains" implemented on GigaSwitch/FDDI, but is different
        -- that the VLAN's implemented on the DECswitch 900EF.  Future
        -- versions of the software will implement DECswitch 900EF style
        -- VLAN's within VSD's.  Future versions of the software will
        -- will implement IEEE VLAN trunking.
    
    
    d) If I put an ATM card into the DECNIS, can it join the VLAN scenario
       created by the VN900EA modules (If I deploy them instead of VN900EF)
       or do I have to hang a VN900EE module beside the DECNIS, and feed each
       VLAN out an Ethernet port, and into the front of the DECNIS to be able
       to route between them, thus slowing throughput from 155M to 10M?
    
        -- A separate ATM Emualated LAN can be configured for each VSD.  A
        -- router can pass packets between VSD's/ELAN's.  I am not sure
        -- of the extent of ELAN support provided by DECnis.
    
    e) I am confused by the marketing guides, which talk about IP switching
       and how I will deploy my IP, Novell IPX, and DECnet users which are
       today separated by the DECNIS router into ten IP networks, One IPX
       net number, and One DECnet Area.  I assume that I will bridge all but
       IP the same as today, but will call it switching instead.  Is the IP
       switching shipping now?  Is it included in the DVNEE-MA part number?
    
        -- Ipsilon IP switching is not shipping on the VNswitch today.
    
    f) Today, I have the DECNIS bridging, and converting IPX fromEthernet to
       FDDI using one framing technique, which is different from theframing
       technique used by the DECswitch 900EF when it bridges from FDDIto ENET.
       Which method does the new VNswitch900EF use to convert from FDDIto ENET?
    
        -- The VNswitch can be configured to provide translation from/to
        -- IPX raw frame formats or to Ethernet frame formats.  Is this
        -- your question?
        
    g) Does the implementation of fully switched Ethernet across the campus create
       a huge bottleneck at the FDDI backbone.  By creating two FDDIs in the DECNIS
       I double my bandwidth to 200Meg, but each user must pass throughthe DECNIS 
       for each transaction.   The cost for the VN900EA and VN900EF is about the same
       given the same media options.   So, If I used the ATM version, Iwould get 
       the 155Meg bandwidth, but could not create a ring (only one porton ATM).  So
       the ATM network would require a central Gigaswitch/ATM, which should dramatically
       effect traffic flow.   Does Gigaswitch/ATM and VN900EA combination perform
       IP switching, while bridging IPX, and DECnet?    Don't want to lose anything
       that I have today.
    
        -- We don't provide Ipisilon IP switching on the VNswitch today.
        -- I do not know if the current GigaSwitch/ATM Ipsilon IP switching
        -- provides for concurrent operation of Emulated LAN's, which is
        -- require for the bridged infra-structure.  We will provide
        -- VNswitch IP routing with the next major software release.
        -- The GigaSwitch/ATM configuration would provide significantly
        -- higher bandwidth availability.
    
    
    Hugh