3400CL as a WAN router.

[mark__m]

Cuurently I have space in a datacenter (DC) where the DC supplies a copper crossconnect. The cross connect is attached to a 3400CL switch. The switch is feeding 5 firewalls. I manage the switch via  a private management vlan, the cross connect is on a seperate vlan with the firewalls. Simple.

We are moving locations in the DC, and our network configuration in changing. In the new config the DC will allocate us a /30 network, and our existing IP range will sit behind the /30.

Is it safe to harden the config on the switch and use its layer 3 capabilites to handle this setup. Putting a public ip on a switch feels wrong, but maybe it is okay? It would be preferable to adding a new router or firewall to handle this traffic.

Any thoughts or experience with this?

[Rajendra_Jena]

Hi Mark,

I will advise you to put a router insted of using this switch as WAN router.  As you have already mentioned there are 5 firwalls are connected to this switch. So I assume there will be huge layer3 traffic. If you wil use this switch as L3 then tere may be performance degradation. 

Please let me know if you need any suggestion or want to buy a new WAN router.