Running in Distributed Mode
The Cisco 7500 Series is Cisco’s high-performance distributed LAN/WAN services
router. It follows its predecessor, the 7000 Series, which has been discontinued
and will not support IOS revisions above version 11.2.The 7500 Series
has architecture quite different from other Cisco router platforms. It is comprised
of one Route/Switch Processor and multiple Versatile Interface Processors. Each
VIP not only provides modular Port Adapter functionality that supports a wide
range of interfaces, but also effectively offloads many tasks from the main RSP.
This leads to scalability and an easy network upgrade path.When more capacity
is required, additional VIPs can be installed.There are a few types of VIPs that
differ in their processing power. In general, higher capacity circuits require faster
processors.The true scalability of this platform is realized only when the VIP
takes on tasks normally run by the RSP.When these services are run on the individual
VIP, the service is said to be running in distributed mode. Let’s look at some
of the features supported in distributed mode.