ERS8600 software version 7.0 is under Controlled Availability

Posted On Dec 24, 2009 at at 4:39 PM by Dophi  

  The software version 7.0 of ERS8600 is on Controlled Availability (CA) stage and can be obtained via form submitting. The draft release note can be downloaded from Nortel official website. I just briefly read the release note and would like to mark some new hardware and software features.

 

Hardware:

Nortel (or Avaya) introduce a new 8695 SF/CPU and 8003-R 3-slot chassis.  8695 SF/CPU module is shipped with 1GB SDRAM and at least 64MB onboard flash memory. In addition, a 2GB compact flash card is provided for logs generated by new software.  Actually, The 8695 SF/CPU module performs the same functions as the 8692 SF/CPU and a super-mezzanine CPU. With dual 8695 SF/CPU switch fabric/CPU modules, ERS8600 can provide a maximum switch bandwidth of 512 Gb/s.  8003-R, a new chassis designed for software version 7.0, is a 3 slots chassis with dual power supply slots. Only R and RS modules are supported in the interface slots.

 

Software:

Except some protocols for IPv6 and troubleshooting tools, ERS8600 only provides some features that edge switches already have for a long time. This is a brief list of some important features.

  1. Enterprise Device Manager: This is a new web-based graphical user interface which replaces Java Device Manager.
  2. IP Multinetting: ERS8600 can support the configuration of multiple interfaces and IP interfaces on a single VLAN.
  3. BPDU Filtering: ERS8600 supports Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) Filtering for Nortel Spanning Tree Groups (STPG), Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), and Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP).
  4. Key Health Indicator: Software 7.0 supports Key Health Indicators that allow for the collection of statistics and information about the system
    for troubleshooting. It includes chassis, CPU, port state, forwarding, and protocols information.
  5. Route Switch Processor Packet Tracing:  This provides support for co-processor (COP) debug commands.
  6. IPv6 RSMLT, IPv6 VRRP, IPv6 RADIUS, IPv6 DHCP Relay, and BGP+: 7.0 extends those protocols’ functionality to support IPv6.

 

The only one consideration of upgrade is hardware compatibility. ERS8600 can only run with R mode, so the legacy I/O modules can not be used anymore. The SuperMezz card must be installed on 8692 SF/CPU in order to run version 7.0, 8690 and 8691 are not supported.

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