Wow...

Greenmet29Greenmet29 Member Posts: 240
I finally finished reading my Cisco Press ICND1 book the second time through, and i've started playing a lot more with my lab. Currently I have a 2610xm router with 128/32 and MAN is it slow. haha... I think the main culprit of it's slowness is the serial link that I am connected through. I've got my home router(linksys/cisco) plugged into my 2610xm, via fast ethernet. Then I have my 2610xm plugged into a 2610 via a serial dte/dce. Originally it was running at 56k. I ran the cnet speed test on that and got just over 20k. Then I changed it to 128k and got just about 100k on the cnet speed test. Do corporate companies really still use these sloooooooooooow serial links?

Comments

  • tearofstearofs Member Posts: 112
    Yes, some companies do use serial links.

    Like High-Speed Serial Interface
  • hermeszdatahermeszdata Member Posts: 225
    Most of my work over the past 3-5 years is assoicated with the Retail Industry (I have been independant contracting since 1999.) During the period mentioned I have seen more and more Retailers migrating from frame-relay (serial) to DSL or Cable using VPN for secure P-to-P connections (which does slow the effective connection.) In most cases, speed is NOT a major consideration because these connections are used strictly for database connectivity where sales, inventory, and pricing information are transferred back and forth once daily (normally at closing or in the middle of the night) and for corporate office to store email communication. In these cases bandwidth are not a concern because file sizes are limited or transfers happen in the background without the need for user interaction.

    In cases where retailers offer on-site access to corporate websites, the same still holds true. HTTP files are both small and optimized for the connection and there is limited use over the connection for web browsing.

    I believe, based on the trends I have seen, that serial connections as we know them will disappear in the near future as technology advances and connection costs decrease. There are a number of major retailers (SuperStores) who already migrated to fiber as their ISP connection and in the distribution layer (connecting cash wrap banks) to the core layer where the store has 30+ registers in addition to the necessary management work stations.
    John
    Current Progress:
    Studying:
    CCNA Security - 60%, CCNA Wireless - 80%, ROUTE - 10% (Way behind due to major Wireless Project)
    Exams Passed:
    CCNA - 640-802 - 17 Jan 2011 -- CVOICE v6 - 642-436 - 28 Feb 2011
    2011 Goals
    CCNP/CCNP:Voice
  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    You might think that its crazy to use a slow < 128Kbps serial link but you also have to remember that the fast fiber internet at home you're using has no SLA. The telco can and will just go "Oops! Its broken! We'll tell you when it gets fixed! Next week maybe?"

    The security aspect of having a dedicated P2P link between sites is also beneficial. Unless somebody at the telco screws up or is being malicious, you can be totally isolated from outside traffic.

    Sometimes you just don't need a high speed connection.

    The other thing you have to remember is that you're using a very old WIC in your old Cisco router and that technology has moved on considerably. A T3 is a P2P serial link but that runs at 44.736Mbps in both directions. The physical presentation and the interface hardware necessary is different but with fiber you can push > 38Gbps on a OC-768 as yet another P2P serial link.
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