Need help finding a fast router for a server rack

[ThePhoenix546]

Hello!

so my friend is selling a Cisco 7609 router for $200 and I didn't know if this was overkill for a server rack that's running two dell m100e blade centers and 5 dell r710 servers along with 2 dell r610 servers. I was looking at 10gbe routers that work with fiber optics and couldn't find much that worked for my needs if anyone knows of any good 10gbe sfp+ routers that would be helpful. because the Cisco 7609 is very big but it can provide the speed for sure. please give me some feed back on what you think I should do it would be greatly appreciated.

[Windows7ge]

Did you consider building your own router? Then you can use SFP+ interfaces.

[ThePhoenix546]

you can build your own router?

 

[Windows7ge]

Yep. If you're looking to push 10Gig worth of throughput across multiple networks I've been told pfSense can struggle but if you don't plan on maxing out the available bandwidth it should do just fine with appropriate hardware. You could build it into a 1U enclosure if you like.

 

Do note though it's only a router. You would still need a connection from your modem and that's usually RJ45.

[ThePhoenix546]

ill half to take a look into that thanks

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

What does this router need to do? What speeds does it need to route? What features do you need? What ports do you need?

 

Im guessing your have a switch in the rack aswell, right? Probably  only want to have the router dealing with the traffic leaving the rack, and not the traffic between the servers.

[Lurick]

A Cisco 7609 is going to pull thousands of watts of power and take up a LOT of space (21RU iirc), I really hope you're ready for a TON of noise and power draw. You'll also need linecards for it as well.