Announced less than 24 hours ago at the Warsaw MUM, comes the first (and hopefully not the last) MikroTik shot at high end routing.
Update 2012-07-16: Tilera has made a press release confirming their processors will be used in the CCR-1036. You can read the full thing here.
Mikrotik CLOUD CORE Router CCR-1036
- 36 core networking CPU (1.2Ghz per core)
- New 64bit processor – assuming this one
- New Future models will support 10Gig SFP+ configurations
- 12 Mbytes total on-chip cache
- High speed encryption engine
- 4 x SFP ports
- 12 x Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Colour Touchscreen LCD
- 1U Rackmount case
- 16 Gigabit throughput
- 15 Million+ Packets Per Second on Fast-Path
- 8 Million+ Packets Per Second on Standard-Path
- All ports directly connected to CPU (We assuming this means no switch chips will be present)
The release date is said to be sometime this summer however given previous releases the authors opinion is to take this with a grain of salt. A redundant PSU version is also said to be planned for those requiring higher reliability given the high performance/throughput of the device. The router is suspected to be based of the TILE-Gx8036 processor, a 36 core beast built for networking applications. 
Here’s Gregs take on it all: http://gregsowell.com/?p=3625
My Opinions (Andrew Cox / Omega-00)
While I’m super excited about the prospect of something that’s able to handle routing at wirespeed + likely a bunch of firewall, filter and QoS settings; I’m also a little concerned about how the CPU loading will take place and if there will be any additional failsafes put in place to make this product as reliable as it needs to be.
Given we’re still at a place where we can’t get support and maintenance contracts from MikroTik, the platform needs to be as stable as a rock and while I find this is pretty much the case with all basic features there’s still some overlooked issues that pop up over time with specific features causing memory leaks and the like.
At present I’ve taken a liking to running systems either with:
a) a remote access card allowing direct console input and the ability to power cycle the router independently of it being responsive.
b) ESXi as the base OS and RouterOS running on top of this to allow an extra layer of protection and management (also gives the ability to backup and restore in the event a version upgrade goes bad) c) Dual boot loader, allowing fallback to a previous working version in the event of some sort of bootup failure. My guesstimate on pricing: $1500-$1800USD
My Opinions (Andrew Thrift):
This is a move in the right direction for Mikrotik. The Cloud Core product line will provide a viable alternative to the Juniper MX5 and Cisco ASR-900x series of routers for ethernet based enterprise and small ISP networks. It will also provide users with a Mikrotik supported platform that can provide over 10gigabit of throughput, where previously they were forced to use a 3rd party x86 server.
Based on the information released so far, this product appears to be:
– Using the new Tilera GX8036 processor
– Using the 6windgate software a replacement for the Linux networking stack Confirmed false by 6windgate.
These will allow Mikrotik the following features
Edit: While 6windgate software is not being used for this, it is likely we may see some of these features regardless from MikroTik direclty.
– Allocation of Tiles to different functions e.g. 1st tile can be used for “Control” while next 6 tiles are used for packet processing
– Fast Path packet processing, on the first pass packets are inspected (slow path), while subsequent flows do not need to be inspected so do not reach the CPU. This will boost raw throughput, and will integrate with Queue Trees, allowing for very efficient traffic shaping systems.
– Hardware based “virtualisation” – Multiple instances of RouterOS will be able to run on a group of Tiles at native speed, no hypervisor required. This allows for native performance as there is no hypervisor.
A design change with the new Cloud Core Routers, Mikrotik look to have FINALLY moved to using a standard metal casing with a printed plastic sticker with cutouts for the connectors. I hope this is adopted across the RB2011 line, it makes the products look far more professional, and will of course lower manufacturing costs due to not needing to retool for different model variations.
In the future I hope to see a modular Cloud Core Router product that can take two PSU’s, either AC or DC and has flexible module bays, with options such as 2x SFP+, 8x SFP, 8xRJ45 this will allow providers to build resilient MPLS networks on modern high speed links, find use in the modern data centre, and allow use for Metro Ethernet applications.
I’m with you on the reliability guarantees.
I like your notes about ESXI and the like, but this means that we have to leave these devices exposed to the internet or put another piece of network equipment in between them.
I see this positioned at the core device at a colo facility or ISP that hopefully can support a small out of band backup connection. I’m guessing these guys will be able to boot crazy fast, but I’ve no idea what the post sequence will be like?
For this to be really useful, it needs more SFPs and a 10GigE interface or two. This would go into a carrier hotel, have multiple GigEs to upstreams and then 10GigEs out to your network.
I’m not sure what the use is to have 16x GigEs in one spot. What are you going to do with it?
This would be more useful to some, but given this is the first (IMO) truly enterprise router from MikroTik I can understand why they would want to take it in steps.
Not everyone is doing multiple gigabits of traffic through their network and if they are they probably aren’t the type to be using MikroTik throughout (yet).
That and given the progression of moving services to run on multiple cores it makes sense to me that rather than jumping into a multi-10GigE device they would start at something like this (16Gbit/s) and gauge the interest/takeup before moving any further.
For me this would work as an awesome state pop router, given 2 or 3 Gigabit feeds between one state and another this would be the perfect device to handle
a) Local peering at an IX
b) routing of my clients over link a,b,c depending on congestion and outages
c) local firewalling and QoS management before heading back to our core and out via multiple upstream carriers.
Супер. Наконец то микротик с SFP портами))
я даже на русский эту новость перевел в своем блоге http://itsettings.blogspot.com/2012/03/mikrotik-cloud-core-router-ccr-1036.html
Приятно! Я видел, мы не связывался с другого сайта в вашей стране на этой неделе тоже, они, имеющие хорошую дискуссию там 🙂
http://habrahabr.ru/post/140504/
Sorry about the terrible translation if I’ve said anything wrong. >_<
One small clarification:
Your first bullet at the top says
• 36 CORE PPC CPU (1.2Ghz per core)
but the Tilera processor isn’t a PowerPC architecture – although similar in capabilities to a 64-bit RISC MIPS or PowerPC CPU.
Hi Bob,
Corrected, sorry the information was taken directly from Mikrotik’s presentation.
At this point it has not been confirmed that the CCR-1036 is a Tilera based system, but based on the information available to us this seems highly likely.
Please note that this router does NOT use the 6WINDGate packet processing software, as stated in one of the comments.
Hi Charlie, thanks for the confirmation. Our assumptions were based on some of the terms used however I will update the entry to void this info and reflect your comment.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and let us know.
I dont see any ram specs anywhere?
There are no specific details yet but unless MikroTik have converted to 64-bit somewhere then it’ll be under 4GB of Memory; likely 2GB.
useful
Congratulations MikroTik,
this is the way you should go in the future, now
you will serve all peoples wishes and needs.
From lowest bottom to the highest top, from home
to business network environments.
My Best wishes and regards
Fränki
HI!!!
where i can find the 64bit OS for my x86(PC) system???
now i use v6rc11, but it is 32 bit… i see the new CCR user 64bit OS!!!?…..
THX!
Hi plx10,
MikroTik have said there is no 64bit version for servers etc at present, I would imagine either they will chose to release this in the future or will retire the x86 option eventually in favor of more high end Routerboard models like the CCR.