IBM Switch 9077 - Manual (Page 33)

Router Node 15
Figure 9. Switched Routers
Other advantages of using GRF are as follows:
• Availability of a redundant power supply
• Availability of a redundant fan
• Availability of a hot-swappable power supply
• Availability of a hot-swappable fan (model 16S only)
• Availability of hot-swappable media adapters (to connect to networks)
• Scalability of up to 4 or 16 media adapters, depending on the GRF model
Perhaps the greatest advantage of using the GRF is improved
price/performance. As previously mentioned, the GRF is a dedicated router,
and as such it is much more cost effective for routing IP traffic than using
dedicated RS/6000 SP node.
2.1.6 Overview of Supported Routing Protocols
In addition to static routes, various routing protocols are available on the
GRF, as follows:
RIPRouting Information Protocol Version 1 or 2 (RIP 1 or 2)
OSPFOpen Shortest Path First
IS-ISIntermediate System to Intermediate System (an OSI gateway protocol)
Layer 3
Layer 2
Switch Switch
..... ..... ..... ..... .........
Process Route Process Route
Router
Router
Router
Unswitched Data
Switched Data
Examples:
Ascend GRF, SP Switch Router
Cisco 12000
1
2
3
4
5
Disadvantages:
Hardware can be hard to upgrade *
Reduced routing functions *
Advantages:
Behave like traditional router
Not dependent on a network architecture
Interoperability