To make you more familiar with the concepts of network routing and to get acquainted with the reputable vendors of network routers, we have prepared a number of blogs as a series, the different parts of which are as follows:

Part 1 – What is a Network Router? Routing Terms (Such as Routing Protocols, and Types of Routers)

Part 2 – Cisco Routers: Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization

Part 3 – Other Cisco Routers:  Service Provider, Small Business, Virtual, WAN)

Part 4- Mikrotik Routers: RB Routers, CCR Routers, PowerBox Routers and hEX Routers

Part 5- HP Routers: Branch, Campus, Data Center, Virtual and Small Business

In these posts we have a mental premise: Everyone who reading these posts has enough understanding and knowledge about the different layers of OSI and TCP/IP architectural models and especially knows the difference between the roles and function of layers two and three.

In this series of blogs you will come across a variety of terms, abbreviations, concepts, and technologies. We have tried to explain the general concepts and terms as much as possible in the first part of this series. In the following sections, we assume that you have read first part and therefore we will not re-explain these concepts and terms in the following sections. Of course, each vendor also has a number of specific terms and concepts that are explained in blogs related to the same vendor’s products.

Last note, all the content as well as the images used in this series of blogs are taken from the official websites of the reviewed vendors (Cisco, Microtik, and HP).


 

 

Part 2 – Cisco Routers: Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization

 

In this blog (and next blog) , we are going to discuss the routers of the famous Cisco Company. Cisco is the most famous seller and manufacturer of switches and routers in the world of computer networks.

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate that it develops, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. This company was founded in December 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two Stanford University computer scientists who had been instrumental in connecting computers at Stanford. (Source: en.wikipedia.org)

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, concepts

  • Trustworthy Solutions 2.0 infrastructure: You can read about this Cisco technology here.
  • Cisco Quantum Flow Processor (QFP): Even in the recently years, many of the mutli-core network processors available offered high throughputs but limited service flexibility with fixed feature pipeline processing and inflexible classification and packet-processing programming languages. The Cisco Flow Processor takes network-processor technology to the next level by moving away from other rigid forms of processing technology to one of true massively parallel and flexible flow processing for classification, services integration, and traffic management. The processor powers this advanced feature set with hundreds of customized network-processor resources, each capable of flexible flow processing for many applications into more than 100,000 queues anywhere in the network. Cisco Flow Processors can provide a range (5 to 100+ Gbps) of packet-processing bandwidth inside the chip itself.
  • Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE): It bridges voice and video connectivity between two separate VoIP networks. The CUBE connects VoIP networks to other VoIP networks and is often used to connect enterprise networks to Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs).
  • Cisco Zone-Based Firewall: It is the successor of Classic IOS firewall or CBAC (Context-Based Access Control). It primarily deals with the security “zones”. We can assign router interfaces to various security zones and control the traffic between them. The firewall dynamically inspects traffic passing through zones. In addition to all the features available in classic IOS firewall, the Zone-Based Firewall supports application inspection and control for: HTTP, POP3, Sun RPC, IM Applications, and P2P File sharing. (Source: plixer.com)

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, all cisco routers

All routers made by Cisco fall into these categories:

  • Branch Routers
  • Cloud Edge
  • Data Center Interconnect Platforms
  • Industrial Routers
  • Mobile Internet Routers
  • Network Functions Virtualization
  • Service Provider Core Routers
  • Service Provider Edge Routers
  • Service Provider Infrastructure Software
  • Small Business Routers
  • Virtual Routers
  • WAN Aggregation and Internet Edge Routers
  • Wireless WAN

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, branch routers

These routers are made in various series, which include:

  • Cisco 800M Series: This series Integrated Services Router (ISR) is a modular platform in the Cisco 800 Series ISR product family. Intended for small to medium sites. This series is a good suitable for the following uses: (1) Secure WAN connectivity for branches, (2) Transmitting transactional data from ATM machines, point-of-sale terminals, and kiosks, (3) Locations with WAN services requiring serial connectivity. This series supported RIPv1, RIPv2, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS. These routers have maximum 8 10/100/1000 LAN ports LAN, and 2 10/100/1000 WAN ports onboard, and two WAN Interface Slots. Some models in this series are also equipped with a serial port WAN Interface Module, or a 4G/3G WAN Interface Module. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 800M Series
  • Cisco 860 Series: This series delivers features, including firewall, IPSec VPNs, and WLANs, at broadband speeds to small offices. This series routers have 4-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet managed switch with VLAN support, and CON/AUX Port for console or external modem, and finally Secure 802.11g/n access point option based on 11n draft 2.0 standard. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 860M Series
  • Cisco 880 Series: This series ISRs combine Internet access, security, voice, and wireless services onto a single, secure device that is simple to use and manage for small businesses and enterprise small branch offices and teleworkers. Cisco 880 Series Integrated Services Routers are fixed-configuration routers that provide collaborative business solutions for secure voice and data communication to small businesses and enterprise teleworkers. They offer concurrent broadband services over third-generation (3G), Metro Ethernet, and multiple DSL technologies to provide business continuity. Wireless 802.11n and 3G offer LAN and WAN mobility. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 880M Series  
  • Cisco 890 Series: This series routers deliver integrated security and threat defense, protecting networks from both known and new Internet vulnerabilities and attacks. These powerful, fixed-configuration routers provide secure broadband, Metro Ethernet, and Wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity. Service providers offering managed Ethernet WAN services can deploy them in customer locations as CPE. These routers come with an 8-port managed switch, providing LAN ports to connect multiple devices. An optional PoE capability can also supply power to IP phones and other devices. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 890M Series
  • Cisco 900 Series Integrated Services Routers: These ISRs provide secure broadband and Metro Ethernet and wireless LTE WAN connectivity. Service providers offering both managed Ethernet and wireless LTE WAN services can deploy them in customer locations as CPE. The Cisco 900 Series ISRs come with a 4-port managed switch, providing LAN ports to connect multiple devices. You can read more about this series: Cisco 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
  • Cisco 1000 Series: These Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) combine Internet access, comprehensive security, and wireless services (LTE Advanced 3.0 wireless WAN and 802.11ac wireless LAN) in a single, high-performance device. These ISRs are well suited for deployment as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in enterprise branch offices, in service provider managed environments as well as smaller form factor and M2M use cases. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 1000 Series
  • Cisco 4000 Series: This series specifically addresses the growing need for application-aware networking in distributed enterprise sites. The Cisco 4000 Family contains the following platforms: the 4461, 4451, 4431, 4351, 4331, 4321 and 4221 ISRs. You can read more about this series: Cisco Router 4000 Series     
  • Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms: These routers are well suited for small and medium-sized enterprise branch offices at optimal price/performance with integrated SD-WAN services. The Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms are 5G-ready, cloud edge platforms designed for SASE, multi-layer security and cloud-native agility to accelerate our journey to cloud. Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms also come with Trustworthy Solutions 2.0 infrastructure that secures the platforms against threats and vulnerabilities by an advanced integrity verification and remediation of threats. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms
  • Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms: Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms (Catalyst 8300) are well suited for medium-sized and large enterprise branch offices for high WAN IPSec performance with integrated SD-WAN services. These routers have a wide variety of interface options to choose from—ranging from lower and higher module density with backward compatibility to a variety of existing WAN, LAN, voice, and compute modules. Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms also come with Trustworthy Solutions 2.0 infrastructure that secures the platforms against threats and vulnerabilities with integrity verification and remediation of threats. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, Cloud Edge

These routers are made in various series, which include:

  • Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms: These routers are compact 1RU devices with flexible interface options, including 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE ports. Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms (Catalyst 8500 and Catalyst 8500L) feature the all-new third-generation Cisco Quantum Flow Processor (QFP), the Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms are built for services from the ground up. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms
  • Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms: Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms (Catalyst 8300) are well suited for medium-sized and large enterprise branch offices for high WAN IPSec performance with integrated SD-WAN services. These routers have a wide variety of interface options to choose from—ranging from lower and higher module density with backward compatibility to a variety of existing WAN, LAN, voice, and compute modules. Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms also come with Trustworthy Solutions 2.0 infrastructure that secures the platforms against threats and vulnerabilities with integrity verification and remediation of threats. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8300 Series Edge Platforms
  • Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms: These routers are well suited for small and medium-sized enterprise branch offices at optimal price/performance with integrated SD-WAN services. The Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms are 5G-ready, cloud edge platforms designed for SASE, multi-layer security and cloud-native agility to accelerate our journey to cloud. Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms also come with Trustworthy Solutions 2.0 infrastructure that secures the platforms against threats and vulnerabilities by an advanced integrity verification and remediation of threats. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8200 Series Edge Platforms

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, Data Center Interconnect Platforms

These routers are made in various series, which include:

  • Nexus 7000 Series Switches: The modular Cisco Nexus 7000 and 7700 switches deliver a comprehensive Cisco NX-OS feature set and open-source programmable tools for software-defined networking (SDN) deployments. They are a modular data center-class product line designed for highly scalable 1/10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet networks with a fabric architecture that scales beyond 17 terabits per second (Tbps). You can read more about this family: Nexus 7000 Series Switches
  • Cisco 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers: These routers provide a Software Defined WAN platform that aggregates multiple WAN connections and network services including encryption and traffic management, and forward them across WAN connections at line speeds from 2.5 to 200 Gbps. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Embedded Services Processors (ESPs), which are based on Cisco Flow Processor technology, accelerate many advanced features such as crypto-based access security; Network Address Translation (NAT), thread defense with Cisco Zone-Based Firewall (ZBFW), Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE), and a diverse set of Data-Center-Interconnect (DCI) features. You can read more about this series: 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, Industrial Routers

These routers are made in various series, which include:

  • Cisco 500 WPAN Industrial Router (IR500): This series provides unlicensed 915-MHz, ISM-band wireless personal- area network (WPAN) communications to diverse Internet of things (IoT) applications. Among the IoT apps supported are smart grid, distribution automation (DA), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). It takes full advantage of world-class Cisco networking capabilities in IPv6, security, legacy (serial) protocol transport, and network management. You can read more about this series: 500 WPAN Industrial Router (IR500)
  • Cisco 800 Series Industrial Integrated Services Routers: These Routers offer highly secure connectivity across 4G LTE wireless networks. All 800 Series routers offer integrated 4G LTE wireless WAN connectivity. These routers supported Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN), QoS, and Multi-Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF) for cellular. You can read more about this series: 800 Series Industrial Integrated Services Routers
  • Cisco 2000 Series Connected Grid Routers: This series is designed specifically for the harsh, rugged environments often found in the energy and utility industries. Built to help ensure a highly secure, reliable, and scalable infrastructure, the Cisco 2000 Series provides industry-leading routing capabilities to support the Smart Grid and other energy delivery communications needs. These routers have continuous operating temperature range from -40°C to +60°C. They support for a low-voltage DC power supply (24-60 VDC) and a high-voltage AC/DC power supply (88-300 VDC, 85-264 VAC). You can read more about this series: Cisco 2000 Series Connected Grid Routers

 

 

ITperfection, Cisco Routers Branch Routers, Industrial Routers, and Network Functions Virtualization, Network Functions Virtualization

Cisco Virtual routers are made in various series, which include:

  • Cisco Integrated Services Virtual Router: or ISRv, is a virtual form-factor Cisco IOS XE Software router that delivers comprehensive WAN gateway and network services functions into virtual environments. The physical underlying hardware can be Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) servers or Cisco Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS) platforms. This virtual router enables enterprises to deliver WAN services to their remote locations using the Cisco Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization (Enterprise NFV) solution. You can read more about this series: Cisco Integrated Services Virtual Router
  • Catalyst 8200 Series Edge uCPE: First of all, uCPE stands for Universal Customer Premises Equipment. This series is the next generation of the Cisco Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS) 5100 Series. The platform is foundational for branch virtualization, combining routing, switching, and application hosting into a compact, One Rack-Unit (1RU) device for the small and lean virtualized branch. With eight x86 CPU cores with hardware acceleration for IPsec crypto traffic, the Catalyst 8200 uCPE enables branches to run multiple VNFs (Virtual Network Functions). Also, this platform includes one Network Interface Module (NIM) slot for additional WAN and LAN modules as well as a Pluggable Interface Module (PIM) slot for wireless WAN modules for LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro capabilities. You can read more about this series: Catalyst 8200 Series Edge uCPE
  • Cisco 5000 Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS): This series is a compute appliance family designed for a virtualized, Software-Defined Branch (SD-Branch) network architecture. The 5000 ENCS is a hybrid platform that combines the best attributes of a traditional router and a traditional server and offers the same functionality with a smaller infrastructure footprint. Offered with the Cisco Integrated Services Virtual Router (ISRv) and NFV Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) as the hosting layer, the platform offers a complete solution for a simplified deployment. The Cisco 5400 ENCS consists of three models: the 5412, 5408, and 5406. The Cisco 5100 ENCS consists of one model: the 5104. It is available in three storage-capacity variants (64G, 200G, and 400G). You can read more about this series: Cisco 5000 ENCS

 

 

 

 

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Sources

en.wikipedia.org

plixer.com

 

In preparing this blog, we have tried to use the documents and content available on the Cisco official website, namely the website cisco.com. All information is based on the contents of this website.

 

 

Read other blogs related to this series:

Part 1 – What is a Network Router? Routing Terms (Such as Routing Protocols, and Types of Routers)

Part 3 – Other Cisco Routers:  Service Provider, Small Business, Virtual, WAN)

Part 4- Mikrotik Routers: RB Routers, CCR Routers, PowerBox Routers and hEX Routers

Part 5- HP Routers: Branch, Campus, Data Center, Virtual and Small Business