United States
Q
What is the Cisco 8000 Series Router and who should use it?
A
The Cisco 8000 Series Router is a high-performance, carrier-grade platform optimized for service providers and large enterprises requiring scalable IP/MPLS core and peering infrastructures.
Q
What performance levels do Cisco 8000 Series Routers deliver?
A
Cisco 8000 Series Routers deliver up to 112 Tbps system throughput and sub-3 microsecond port-to-port latency, supporting dense 400 GbE and 800 GbE interfaces for maximum network capacity.
Q
Which deployment scenarios suit the Cisco 8000 Series?
A
The Cisco 8000 Series is ideal for telco core, internet exchange peering, cloud on-ramps, data center interconnect, and large-scale enterprise WAN edge applications.
Q
What line-card and port densities are available on Cisco 8000 Series Routers?
A
Models like the NCS 8002, 8004, and 8006 support modular line cards offering up to 32 ports of 400 GbE or 16 ports of 800 GbE per slot, enabling up to 384 ports in a single chassis.
Q
Which routing software runs on Cisco 8000 Series Routers?
A
Cisco IOS XR 7.x on the 8000 Series delivers modular, microkernel-based control plane software with policy-driven automation, segment routing, and advanced telemetry.
Q
How do Cisco 8000 Series Routers support segment routing?
A
Cisco 8000 Series Routers support Segment Routing over MPLS (SR-MPLS) and IPv6 Segment Routing (SRv6) to simplify traffic engineering, reduce protocol state, and improve scale.
Q
What high-availability features are built into the Cisco 8000 Series?
A
The platform offers redundant control and power planes, hitless software upgrades with In Service Software Upgrade (ISSU), and hardware redundancy for 99.999% uptime.
Q
How does Cisco 8000 Series handle programmability and telemetry?
A
Cisco 8000 Series supports NETCONF/YANG, gRPC, RESTCONF, Python scripts, and streaming telemetry for real-time network analytics and automated workflows.
Q
What security capabilities do Cisco 8000 Series Routers include?
A
Integrated features include IPsec AES-256 encryption, MACsec 256, control-plane policing, and automated threat detection to protect data in transit and at the network edge.
Q
How are Cisco 8000 Series Routers licensed?
A
Cisco’s Smart Licensing for the 8000 Series offers a flexible, consumption-based model covering base IOS XR features and optional value-added bundles for advanced services.
Q
How do I integrate Cisco 8000 Series into an existing network?
A
The Cisco 8000 Series supports standard IGPs (OSPF, IS-IS), BGP-EVPN, MPLS, and segment routing, enabling seamless integration with legacy and modern IP/MPLS infrastructures.
Q
What power and cooling requirements do Cisco 8000 Series Routers have?
A
Chassis are designed for AC (220–240 V) or DC (–48 V) power with hot-swappable fans and PSUs, consuming approximately 2–4 kW per chassis depending on line-card population.
Q
How scalable is the Cisco 8000 Series across multiple sites?
A
With standards-based BGP EVPN multihoming, segment routing, and hierarchical VPNs, the Cisco 8000 Series scales to thousands of nodes for global backbone deployments.
Q
What management tools are available for Cisco 8000 Series Routers?
A
Cisco 8000 Series can be managed via CLI, Cisco DNA Center, Cisco IOS XR RESTCONF APIs, and third-party SDN controllers for centralized provisioning and assurance.
Q
What environmental certifications and reliability ratings do Cisco 8000 Series Routers hold?
A
Cisco 8000 Series Routers are NEBS Level 3 certified, ETSI compliant, and designed for 24×7 operation with an MTBF exceeding 300,000 hours.
Q
How does Cisco 8000 Series compare with other high-end Cisco platforms?
A
Compared to the 9000 and NCS 5000 Series, the 8000 Series offers unmatched packet forwarding scale, lower latency, and optimized power efficiency for carrier core networks.
