Internet Router Colocation Tips and Resources

Choosing and setting up a router for colocation failover with BGP or HSRP is easy when you are working with experienced colocation staff.  This page has some very useful tips for routing and setting up your colocation router that any network admin should read before starting the process.

Deciding Between BGP VS HSRP For Failover On Your Colocation Internet Router
The decision to setup failover Internet ports for redundancy can help with failover and with providing alternate routes to your network.  Setting up automatic failover for collocated servers is a smart decision.  The next step is to decide how you want to do this.  Simply running HSRP will provide the failover, but it will not provide the redundant routes announced throughout the Internet.  Also HSRP is proprietary Cisco router communication language.  This is important to consider, because even though Cisco is the top brand right now, there may come a time when you want to replace parts of your network that may not be able to run HSRP.  In fact, many of the Cisco router models are not capable of running HSRP, so even if you did replace your router with another Cisco brand router, it may not be HSRP capable.  On the other hand, BGP is more robust and has many more capabilities.  It is also not proprietary to one brand - it is more universal.  BGP does require an AS or at least a private AS, and it also requires that you router have enough memory to hold all the BGP routing tables.  If you choose BGP often you can have your colocation ISP set BGP up for you on your router so you don't have to figure it out.  Taking all this in mind can help you decide between HSRP and BGP. 

Choosing an Internet Router Brand For Colocation
When preparing to choose and Internet router model for colocation there are several important things to consider.  The first of which is reliability and then features and then price.  As with anything, not all routers are created equal.  Today there are more and more models coming out every day.  Cisco is the mot popular brand and it is also by far the most expensive.  Consider your needs: Do you need memory for BGP routing tables?  Do you need 1 GigE or 10GigE ports?  What other features are important to you?  The best way to make this important decision is to start by making a list of your needs, then your wants.  Listen to the router sales reps, but remember that what is done in the lab does not always translate into real world results.  If this is an important core router, the best way to decide is by testing out the router with the option to return it if it does not work for you.  This is the only real test that will tell you if the router model is right for you. 

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