The Ngenix provider tested the high-performance Mellanox Spectrum switch. Pilot's results

The Russian CDN provider Ngenix in 2017 one of the first among the domestic companies tested in practice the high-performance Spectrum switches with freely distributed Linux as OS of the switch.

Justification of the choice of a product

Due to growth of number of clients and increase in loading the provider needs to expand the capacity of a content delivery network of CDN (Content Delivery Network) constantly. Presence at the Spectrum switch of a large number of ports allows to increase considerably the capacity of a node and to use 100Gbps for external connections. The big size of a ternary associative memory (Ternary Content Addressable Memory/TCAM) allows to use effectively this switch as the router.

Spectrum SN2410 switch (photo of xcom-hobby.ru)

Installation of the standard Linux distribution kit as OS of the switch saves from need to adapt to the new command line interface (Command Line Interface/CLI) and gives the chance to use the tools and experience received during the work with Linux servers.

It is very convenient to have uniform infrastructure for management, authorization and monitoring of server and network equipment — Dmitry Krikov, the technical director of Ngenix noted

Pilot's results

As of July, 2017 the provider installed the Spectrum SN2410 switch as pilot implementation on one of nodes of a content delivery network (CDN) with the general throughput capability of external connections — 80Gbps.

The switch is connected to several operators and points of exchange of traffic for ensuring good connectivity and to a number of the servers which are traffic generators. In plans of the company — transfer of this node to 100Gbps-connections. SN2410 is L3 switch and executes including a role of the router on this node, supporting several BGP sessions.

In the course of start of the switch in operation some features of its initial setup differing from like those at Linux servers were revealed, however existence in Linux of the developed tools of creation of scripts allowed to cope with this task successfully.

In the whole Mellanox Spectrum SN2410 proved to be as the stable equipment performing the functions of switching and routing interesting us with hardly any trouble at all and serious notes. The device turns out economically more effective in comparison with the main eminent competitors and at the same time gives new opportunities for management that is additional benefit — Dmitry Krikov added

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