Carrier Routing System
Encyclopedia
Carrier Routing System is a large-scale core router
Core router
A core router is a router designed to operate in the Internet backbone, or core. To fulfill this role, a router must be able to support multiple telecommunications interfaces of the highest speed in use in the core Internet and must be able to forward IP packets at full speed on all of them. It...

, developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. It runs IOS XR
IOS XR
IOS XR is a train of Cisco Systems' widely deployed Internetworking Operating System , used on their high-end carrier-grade routers such as the CRS-1, 12000, and ASR9000 series.-Architecture:...

 which is a train of IOS
Cisco IOS
Cisco IOS is the software used on the vast majority of Cisco Systems routers and current Cisco network switches...

 built upon the QNX
QNX
QNX is a commercial Unix-like real-time operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. The product was originally developed by Canadian company, QNX Software Systems, which was later acquired by Canadian BlackBerry-producer Research In Motion.-Description:As a microkernel-based...

 microkernel. A single chassis holds a maximum of 16 line card
Line card
A line card or Digital Line Card is a modular electronic circuit on a printed circuit board, the electronic circuits on the card interfacing the telecommunication lines coming from the subscribers to the rest of the telecommunications access network.A line card commonly interfaces the twisted pair...

s, and can run an OC-768 SONET
Sonet
Sonet may refer to:* Sonet Records, European record label* Synchronous optical networking * Saab Sonett...

 interface. The system has the capability for combining multiple line card chassis using separate dedicated fabric chassis, allowing one system to replace a cluster of Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 core routers in a single site. In this multi-chassis configuration, each line card chassis (LCC) is connected over multiple fabric switching planes with one or more fabric card chassis (FCC). The chassis interconnections are achieved with PAROLI
PAROLI
PAROLI is a propriety protocol used inside a multi-shelf Carrier Routing System from Cisco and stands for parallel optical link-Paroli usage:...

 (parallel optical link) fiber optic bundles.

A fully populated CRS contains over 1000 linecards at 40 Gbit/s each and theoretically can scale to 92 Tbit/s bandwidth via multi-chassis configuration, although multichassis systems of such size were never delivered or shown to public. As of 2009, the largest production CRS-1 system is limited to eight line card chassis, for a total of 10 Tbit/s.

In both single- and multi-chassis configurations, the CRS-1 switch fabrics are based on a three-stage Beneš architecture. In a single-chassis system, the three switching stages—S1, S2, and S3—are all contained on one fabric card. In a multi-chassis system, the S2 stage is contained within the FCCs, with the S1 and S3 stages resident in the LCCs at the egress and ingress interfaces fabric plane interfaces, respectively.

While the device was in development, it was known by the code name of HFR, or Huge Fucking Router. The marketing group later maintained this actually meant Huge Fast Router. This code name was coined in the tradition of Cisco's previous service provider router, the GSR (12000-series), whose development code name was BFR, or Big Fucking Router. BFR even had a logo of a fist punching through a globe. On one of the fingers is a ring with the industry-standard blue router icon, and below the logo it says "BFR" on a banner. This same logo can be seen on the internals of some early GSR line cards. All CRS-1 software package file names start with "hfr-" (e.g., "hfr-fpd.pie-3.4.2" is the FPGA image).

At launch time in 2004, Cisco CRS-1 became the largest production router in existence, although it featured the same 40 Gbit/s/slot density as the first-generation T-series router (T640) launched by Cisco's archrival Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...

 two years earlier (2002). Effectively, CRS-1 16 delivered twice the capacity of competition in twice the space (non-standard full rack). Cisco's new Carrier Routing System included support for hardware-based virtual routers (SDRs) and remote process placement in IOS-XR. Other innovative features announced at launch (i.e. ISSU and self-healing) became significantly delayed. Multichassis version of CRS-1 16 as well as smaller chassis types (CRS-1 8 and CRS-1 4) became commercially available post-FRS.

Model comparison

the CRS has two families (CRS-1 and CRS-3) with each 4 models of main-chassis.
Model # interface-slots maxswitching-capacity
per system
Dimensions in cm.
L x B x H
(excl. front-cover and cable-mgt)
max power consumption
max. capacity power-converters
max. nr. of
10 Gb ethernet
interfaces
Link to product-specs
plus: Overview of the CRS-1 series
CRS-1 4 slot
single shelf
4 320 Gbit/s 76.9 x 44.8 x 76.91 2551 Watt
4 kW
32 Introducing the 4 slots CRS-1
Interactive presentation CRS-1:4
CRS-1 8 slot
single shelf
8 640 Gbit/s 99.06 x 44.45 x 93.0 4834 Watt
7 kW
64 Introducing the 8 slots CRS-1
Cisco CRS-1 8-Slot Single-Shelf System
CRS-1 16 slot
single shelf
16 1.2 Tbit/s 213.36 x 59.94 x 91.44 9630 Watt
13.2 kW
128 Presentation of 16 slots CRS-1
Cisco CRS-1 16-Slot Single-Shelf System
CRS-1 multishelf platform 1152 92 Tbit/s 213.36 x 59.94 x 91.44
dimensions are per shelf
maximum 70 shelves in one system
8,216 General brochure for the CRS-1 series
Cisco CRS-1 24-Slot Fabric-Card Chassis
CRS-3 4 slot
single shelf
4 1.12 Tbit/s 76.2 x 47.12 x 76.91 ?
4 kW
4 slots per shelf x 10 CRS-3 Video datasheet
CRS-3 8 slot
single shelf
8 2.24 Tbit/s 99.06 x 44.45 x 93.0 ?
7 kW
8 slots per shelf x 10
CRS-3 16 slot
single shelf
16 4.48 Tbit/s 213.36 x 59.94 x 91.44 ?
13.2 kW
16 slots per shelf x 10
CRS-3 multishelf platform 1152 322 Tbit/s 213.36 x 59.94 x 91.44
dimensions per shelf
max. 72+8 shelves in one system

CRS-3

In March 2010, Cisco announced the introduction of the CRS-3 family. The switching capacity of this new product-line is increased more than three times as each switch-fabric line card can process 140 Gbit/s instead of 40 Gbit/s as in the old system. According to Cisco, the current users can upgrade to the CRS-3 system step by step and without serious outage as the chassis, interface-cards, management-systems etc. are the same. The main changes are in the switching-fabric and the option to use new interface modules supporting these higher speeds (14 or 20 × 10 Gb interfaces and 1 × 100 Gb ethernet interface).

As of 2010, some 5000 CRS-1 routers are deployed worldwide.

Cisco claims to have the fastest and highest capacity core routing platform in the world with the CRS-3 platform.

CRS-3 as core in new NextGen IP networks

AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 tested the CRS-3 in a live-network using the 100 Gb Ethernet backbone and the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 telco KPN Telecom
KPN
KPN is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations...

 selected the CRS-3 platform for their new NextGen IP backbone.

External links

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