Hi!
We are planning on deploing several Core Routers with Mikrotik in ournetwork.
Can anyone recommend a hardware mix(even better with link to the equipment, but name and number will do fine) that are tested and working good? Anyone using/tried dell-servers for this?
I would be happy if someone could give me the list of gear to put together to create a good Core Router. Price is not the mather, i just nett to be assured that it will work.
It needs several NICs for our deployment.
we’ve used dell optiplex 170l workstations before with huge success. haven’t tried on any other dell’s yet
We have several Dell PowerEdge 860’s in service in both core router and firewall roles. Currently they’re all running v3.x to because the bootable drive controllers are SATA. The onboard Broadcom Gigabit NICs work great with ROS. They have 2 slots that are PCI-E, but you can request a PCI-X riser if you need it. You can easily get ten Gigabit interfaces with 2 quad cards.
We’re using Intel EXPI9404PT PCI-E quad cards in our latest builds.
Addonics makes a CF-SATA adapter with a bracket that fits nicely in the slim cd-rom bay.
http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adsahdcf.asp
We also have several HP DL140’s and the work well also (we have both 2.x and 3.x on these).
We’ve load tested the PE 860’s at several Gigabits throughput with a Xeon Dual-Core CPU. That was across three bonded Gigabit interfaces running traffic between several VLANs.
We’re in the middle of a new build out now; I’ll post some pictures of our MikroTiks when everything is online. One of the guys took the ugly plastic Dell bezel and gave them a red fading to black paint job more appropriate to a firewall.
Hi!
Did you finish your new build? If so, how did it go and what harware did you use.
Stig
Yes, the build is finished, although we’re still working on some migrations and making the racks look nice.
We have two firewall/routers, both Dell PowerEdge 860’s with Dual-core Xeon CPUs. The one serves our busines network, the other services our wired and wireless guest network running hotspot. There’s a third identical cold spare mounted below. Move the flash card and network cables, then hit power button. If the flash is bad, we have an extra flash with the same version of ROS to dump a backup or export onto from either of the primarys.
I’ll post some pics soon.
Our streaming went also live on the 1st, there’s an HP DL140 on it built as a transparent bridge. Today it hit 200Mbs+ outgoing / 20mbs incoming on the outside bonded interfaces for several hours. It’s still 2.x; so we’re watching it closely as it only sees a single CPU.
http://www.mikrotikrouter.com is something to look at.
Several things to consider in this type of hardware
Reliability of equipment.
Size (sometimes this is important)
troubleshooting components
PCI bus speeds (some computers and system boards share 1 or 2 buss, this might not necessarily be able to handle the traffic you have)
We looked at those as well as an OEM unit that looks almost identical. It looks like a very nice piece for many applications. In our case, space is not a big issue as we have plenty of rack space where we are deploying them. In a NEMA box or a cramped rack at a POP they’d be an ideal choice.
At our pricing levels, we can also put the PE860’s together for considerablly less than the cost of the PowerRouter. This is including 24x7x4 hardware support from Dell, the CF adaptor and a quad gig Intel NIC.
We looked at the specs on the PE860s and put them through considerable testing before picking them. We use the PE860’s for other applications and have hundreds of them deployed. We took several from our lab and beat on them to be sure they would perform as expected in this application.
Some install pictures.
Look nice. On thing, all the ethernets are in the back! Thats the hardest thing to fix too!
In this install all of the racks are prewired with a 48port Cat6 patch panel to central wire management racks. All switching is located in the wire management racks. The patch panel is mounted at the very top, rear of the rack; so the rear Ethernet is suited for this type of install. You can almost see it in the top picture behind the modem sitting on the top unit. This room has 10 racks for equipment and then 4 wider racks with additional wire management space that houses the main patch panels, fiber patch panels to IDFs, switching, other routers, etc..
Which OEM unit were you looking at?
Keefe
Hi and thanks for updating this thread 
Ive ordered a couple PE860 and a couple other servers that are a little bigger, like R200 that we are gonna do some testing on.
Ive also been looking at http://www.commell.com.tw/ and find their product somewhat interesting. Have any of you done some testing of these products and can state their opinion about them? I see they have som nice MBs without fan and cooling and that might be well suited in many installations since the mechanik parts are not there to fail.
regards,
Stig
Check out the NA-1801 under network appliances:
http://www.axiomtek.com
Here’s a few good sources for rackmount stuff:
http://www.win-enterprises.com
http://www.advantech.com
http://www.logicsupply.com
The R200 is replacing the PE860 and should be fairly close; we should have our sample from Dell next week. I think he said the biggest change is quad core and larger ram support.
I’ve looked at the Commell stuff; but not tested any personally. A friend of mine built an under seat mp3 player for his truck and besides running hot he’s never had a problem.
Do you have any good online shops in USA where we can buy Quad-cards? I guess they will be alot cheeper there.
Stig
We’ve been ordering Intel EXPI9404PT PCI-E from Dell with the PE860’s.
This graph is from an HP DL140 that’s serves our streaming.
It went live the 1st of the year.
These actually work out to be very similar in price to the powerrouters. (the Dell PowerEdge860)
Hi!
We have now installed the system but we cant get the Quad Card up running.
We have this card:
Its an Intel Pro 1000 VT Quad Port GB NIC
(Intel PCI express GX750)
CHIP: WE-MIDCOM 7412-35 PM750LF1
SN: MY-0YT674-12402-819-00WR
Anyone know what driver will work or will this card not work at all with Mikrotic?
Regards,
Stig
http://www.mikrotik.com/testdocs/ros/3.0/guide/driverlist.main.php – there should be a list of drivers there but the link doesn’t work. Perhaps in responding a mikrotik rep can fix this too?