Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers

Introduction

This document describes how to differentiate between Trident-based and Typhoon-based line cards on a Cisco Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 9000 Series and describes some additional types of line cards.

Differences between Trident-Based and Typhoon-Based Line Cards

The terms Trident-based and Typhoon-based are often used in discussions about features, route-scale, architecture, and general troubleshooting of packet flows on an ASR 9000 Series router. This section describes the differences between these two types of ASR line cards. 

Trident-Based Line Cards

The first generation of the Cisco ASR 9000 Series Ethernet line cards are often referred to as Trident-based (or Ethernet) line cards. The term comes from the Network Processors (NPs) that are used on these line cards. 

Note: The Cisco ASR 9000 Series Ethernet Line Cards data sheet provides a list of the first generation Trident-based line cards.

You can easily identify Trident-based line cards, because there are only three types:

• L - Low Queue
• B - Base (Medium) Queue
• E - Extended (High) Queue

These line cards are Trident-based:

• A9K-40GE-L
• A9K-40GE-B
• A9K-40GE-E
• A9K-4T-L
• A9K-4T-B
• A9K-4T-E
• A9K-8T/4-L
• A9K-8T/4-B
• A9K-8T/4-E
• A9K-2T20GE-L
• A9K-2T20GE-B
• A9K-2T20GE-E
• A9K-8T-L
• A9K-8T-B
• A9K-8T-E
• A9K-16/8T-B

Typhoon-Based Line Cards

The second generation of the ASR 9000 Series Ethernet line cards are often referred to as Typhoon-based (or Enhanced Ethernet) line cards. The term comes from the NPs that are used on these line cards.

These data sheets provide additional information about Typhoon-based line cards:

• Cisco ASR 9000 Series Modular Line Cards
• Cisco ASR 9000 Series 24-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Line Cards
• Cisco ASR 9000 Series 36-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Line Cards
• Cisco ASR 9000 Series 2-Port 100 Gigabit Ethernet Line Cards
• Cisco ASR 9000 Series 1-Port 100 Gigabit Ethernet Line Cards

Similar to Trident-based line cards, you can easily identify Typhoon-based line cards, because there are only two types:

• SE - Services Edge Optimized
• TR - Packet Transport Optimized 

These line cards are Typhoon-based:

• A9K-MOD80-SE
• A9K-MOD80-TR
• A9K-MOD160-SE
• A9K-MOD160-TR
• A9K-24X10GE-SE
• A9K-24X10GE-TR
• A9K-36X10GE-SE
• A9K-36X10GE-TR
• A9K-2X100GE-SE
• A9K-2X100GE-TR
• A9K-1X100GE-SE
• A9K-1X100GE-TR

Note: The ASR-9001 and ASR-9001-S have Typhoon-based line cards built into the stand-alone chassis. Reference the Cisco ASR 9001 Router Data Sheet and Cisco ASR 9001-S Router Data Sheet articles for more details.

Additional Types of Line Cards

This section describes other types of line cards for the ASR 9000.

A9K-SIP-700

This line card is based on the Client Provisioning Portal (CPP), and is neither Trident-based nor Typhoon-based. For more information, reference the Cisco ASR 9000 Series SPA Interface Processor 700 Cisco article.

A9K-ISM-100

This line card does not use NPs, and is neither Trident-based nor Typhoon-based. For additional information, reference the Cisco ASR 9000 Series Integrated Service Module Cisco article.