Full English Description for Cisco 7206VXR

1. Official Short Order Description (Datasheet Standard Format)

7206VXR: Cisco 7200 VXR Series 6RU Modular Multi-Service Provider Edge Router, upgraded high-bandwidth triple PCI VXR midplane variant succeeding the original non-VXR Cisco 7206 chassis, compatible with full NPE lineup including legacy NPE-100/150/200 and high-performance VXR-exclusive NPE-225/NPE-400/NPE-G1/NPE-G2 processing engines, six OIR-capable Port Adapter (PA) slots for multi-media LAN/WAN interfaces, field-replaceable modular I/O Controller FRUs with multi-speed management Ethernet ports, dual hot-swappable load-sharing AC/-48VDC redundant power supplies and hot-swappable fan tray, runs Cisco IOS 12.x enterprise/service provider software stack. It delivers MPLS L3VPN/L2VPN PE aggregation, hardware-accelerated IPsec VPN via VAM modules, TDM VoIP gateway, hierarchical MQC QoS, ATM/Frame Relay legacy WAN convergence and medium-density broadband access aggregation. This EOL/EOS platform was widely deployed for medium ISP POP edge, large enterprise multi-WAN convergence, dense regional voice trunk gateway and legacy telecom migration projectsCisco.

2. Complete Detailed Product Overview

Product Line Positioning

Cisco 7206VXR is the enhanced 6-slot large modular chassis within Cisco classic 7200 Series multi-service router family, released as a major performance upgrade over the original low-bandwidth non-VXR Cisco 7206. It features a redesigned triple independent PCI VXR midplane with bandwidth point scheduling architecture, supporting up to 1 Gbps aggregate throughput and full compatibility with next-generation high-speed NPE-G1/G2 processors unavailable on the baseline 7206 chassisCisco. Targeted at medium-sized service providers and large enterprises, it consolidates data, voice, video and security services on one modular platform, deployed as MPLS provider edge routers, centralized TDM VoIP gateways, DSL/cable broadband concentrators and ATM/Frame Relay migration gateways. The chassis reached End-of-Sale in 2012 and End-of-Support in 2017, fully superseded by ISR 4000/9000 and ASR carrier-grade router seriesCisco.

Modular FRU Hardware Architecture (Key Differences vs Original 7206)

Single Rear-Mount Non-Hot-Swappable NPE Processing Engine Slot

Supports full tiered VXR-compatible Network Processing Engines covering low to carrier-grade performance; chassis power cycle required for NPE replacement (no online swap):

Shared legacy low-tier (works on original 7206): NPE-100 / NPE-150 / NPE-200
VXR exclusive mid-tier: NPE-225 (225 kpps), NPE-400 (400 kpps)
Flagship high-performance exclusive to VXR hardware:
- NPE-G1: 1 Mpps forwarding rate, 3 integrated GE ports, max 1GB DRAM, Compact Flash storage support
- NPE-G2: Up to 2 Mpps forwarding rate, highest performance of the entire 7200 series, expandable to 2GB DRAM, dual Compact Flash slotsCisco
  
  The VXR triple PCI midplane adopts bandwidth point load balancing to eliminate severe oversubscription issues of the original single-bus 600 Mbps 7206 midplane, supporting simultaneous deployment of multiple Gigabit and OC-3 port adapters without performance bottlenecksCisco.

Six Front Hot-Swap Port Adapter (PA) Slots (OIR Supported)

All six PA bays support Online Insertion and Removal for live interface card addition/replacement without power outage, fully compatible with all standard 7200 Series port adapters for mixed-media LAN/WAN convergence:

Ethernet PAs: 10/100 Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Layer 2 EtherSwitch switch modules
Serial/TDM Voice PAs: Multi-channel T1/E1 PRI, T3/E3, HSSI, ISDN BRI/PRI voice trunk adapters
Optical WAN PAs: OC-3 ATM, Packet over SONET POS, ATM-CES voice circuit modules
Service Acceleration PAs: VPN Acceleration Module (VAM) for dedicated IPsec crypto hardware offload, dual-wide high-density voice trunk adapters

Unused empty slots must be covered with blank filler panels to maintain proper chassis airflow and EMI compliance.

Field-Upgradable Modular I/O Controller FRU (VXR Exclusive Upgrade Feature)

Unlike fixed integrated I/O hardware on the original 7206, the 7206VXR supports swappable I/O controller variants for flexible out-of-band management expansion:

Base I/O: 1×10M MII Ethernet + RJ45 RS232 Console + RJ45 Auxiliary dial-up modem port
I/O-2FE: Dual 10/100 Fast Ethernet management ports for redundant remote monitoring
I/O-GE+E: Integrated Gigabit Ethernet management port for high-speed out-of-band accessCisco

Console/Aux ports provide local CLI configuration and dial-up remote maintenance access.

Enhanced Hot-Swap Cooling & Redundant Power Subsystem

Hot-swappable fan tray with side-to-side airflow, replaceable without full chassis power cycle (original 7206 fan tray is non-OIR)
Dual rear power supply bays supporting interchangeable 280W AC (100–240VAC) or 370W DC (-48VDC) power units; single supply supports standalone operation, dual supplies enable N+1 load-sharing redundant power protection; mixed AC/DC power modules are not permitted.

Processor, Memory & Storage

Maximum DRAM Capacity Per NPE Model
- NPE-225: Max 256MB DRAM
- NPE-400: Max 512MB DRAM
- NPE-G1: Default 512MB, expandable to 1GB DRAM, supports Compact Flash + PCMCIA storage
- NPE-G2: Default 1GB, upgradable to 2GB DRAM, dual Compact Flash slots for large IOS image storageCisco
Supported Storage Media
- PCMCIA Type II flash card slots (all NPE generations): Up to 128MB for IOS binaries, configuration archives and logging
- Compact Flash storage support exclusive to NPE-G1 / NPE-G2 for larger capacity image storage
- Onboard small boot flash for bootstrap firmware initialization

Power, Mechanical & Environmental Specifications

Form Factor: Standard 6RU 19-inch four-post rack-mount chassis
Physical Dimensions: 266.7mm H × 426.7mm W × 431.8mm D (10.5 × 16.8 × 17 inches)
Full-load weight: ~27.2kg (60 lbs) with dual power supplies, six fully populated PA slots and top-tier NPE-G2
AC Power Input: 100–240 VAC wide range, 50/60Hz, maximum 280W single supply output
DC Power Input: -24V ~ -60VDC telecom standard, maximum 370W single supply output
Operating Temperature: 0°C ~ +40°C indoor data center / central office environment
Storage Temperature: -40°C ~ +70°C
Humidity: 10%–90% RH non-condensing
Compliance: FCC Class A, CE, UL telecom safety, basic NEBS environmental standards

Official Performance Benchmarks

VXR triple PCI midplane aggregate bandwidth capacity: Up to 1 Gbps full-duplex with bandwidth point scheduling
Maximum packet forwarding rate by NPE tier:
- NPE-225: 225 kpps
- NPE-400: 400 kpps
- NPE-G1: 1 Mpps
- NPE-G2: 2 Mpps (peak performance of the entire 7200 series)
Concurrent hardware-accelerated IPsec VPN tunnels: Several thousand with VAM port adapter installed
Simultaneous VoIP voice calls: Up to 576 with fully populated multi-channel T1/E1 voice PA slots
Native hardware offload capabilities: ATM PVC scheduling, Frame Relay traffic shaping, MPLS label switching, L2TP tunneling, MQC hierarchical QoS policing/shaping, MAC address filtering

Software & Core Supported Capabilities (Cisco IOS 12.x Mainline / T / E Train)

Full Multi-Protocol Routing Suite

IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack forwarding, RIP, EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP-4, VRRP gateway redundancy, complete MPLS stack including L3VPN, EVPN, VPLS for service provider PE edge deployments.
Legacy Circuit WAN Convergence Stack

Native Frame Relay, ATM HDLC, PPP/MLPPP, ISDN, TDM over IP pseudowire functionality for migrating legacy circuit-switched voice and data infrastructure.
Integrated VoIP Gateway Functions

T1/E1 PRI voice trunk termination, H.323, SIP, MGCP call control, dial plan routing, LLQ low-latency queuing for voice/video traffic prioritization.
Integrated Carrier-Grade Security Suite

Hardware-accelerated IPsec DES/3DES/AES encryption via VAM modules, standard ACL filtering, zone-based stateful firewall, uRPF anti-spoofing, AAA RADIUS/TACACS+, SSH encrypted remote management.
Hierarchical QoS & Traffic Analytics

Modular MQC classification, policing, shaping and queuing tools, IP SLA performance monitoring, NetFlow v5/v9 traffic collection for bandwidth planning and subscriber billing statistics.
Network Management & Automation

SNMP v1/v2c/v3, IOS CLI scripting, DHCP auto-install zero-touch deployment, TFTP configuration backup, full compatibility with CiscoWorks centralized network management platform.

Typical Deployment Scenarios

Medium independent service provider POP MPLS provider edge aggregation routers, large enterprise headquarters centralized multi-WAN voice/data convergence gateways, regional carrier dense TDM VoIP trunk gateways, medium-density DSL/cable broadband access concentrators, legacy ATM/Frame Relay network migration edge routers, backup core edge devices for telecom infrastructure modernization upgrade projects.

Critical Note: This platform reached End-of-Sale in 2012 and End-of-Support in 2017; Cisco no longer provides official security patches, bug fixes, TAC technical support or genuine spare hardware replacement partsCisco.

3. E-commerce Short Marketing Description

Cisco 7206VXR Upgraded 6RU Modular Multi-Service Edge Router, enhanced VXR triple PCI midplane with up to 1Gbps aggregate bandwidth via bandwidth point scheduling, compatible with full NPE lineup including high-performance exclusive NPE-G1/NPE-G2, six OIR hot-swappable port adapter slots for Ethernet, T1/E1, ATM and POS WAN interfaces, field-replaceable modular I/O Controller FRU with Console/Aux and multi-speed management Ethernet ports, dual hot-swappable AC/-48VDC load-sharing redundant power supplies and OIR hot-swap fan tray, runs Cisco IOS 12.x multi-service software supporting MPLS PE, hardware IPsec VPN acceleration, TDM VoIP gateway and hierarchical MQC QoS, legacy EOL platform for medium ISP POP and large enterprise converged voice/data WAN aggregation deployments.

4. Product Catalog Keyword Tags

Cisco, 7206VXR, Cisco 7200 VXR Series, 6RU Upgraded Modular Multi-Service Edge Router, VXR Triple PCI Midplane 1 Gbps Aggregate Bandwidth, Full NPE Engine Compatibility (NPE-225/400/G1/G2), Six OIR Hot-Swap Port Adapter Slots, Field-Upgradable Modular I/O Controller FRU, Dual Redundant AC/DC Hot-Swap Power Supplies, OIR Hot-Swap Fan Tray, Cisco IOS 12.x Software, MPLS Provider Edge Router, ATM/Frame Relay Legacy WAN Convergence, Dense TDM VoIP Voice Gateway, Hardware IPsec VAM Acceleration, Large Enterprise Headquarters Aggregation, Medium ISP POP Edge Router, End-of-Sale / End-of-Support Legacy Platform

Naming Rule Explanation

7200: Cisco classic modular multi-service edge router series targeted at enterprise and small/medium service provider markets
7206: Base six-port-adapter 6RU chassis form factor
VXR: Upgraded high-performance midplane architecture identifier, distinguishing from low-bandwidth original non-VXR 7206 chassis; enables compatibility with NPE-G1/G2 high-speed processing engines, hot-swappable fan tray and modular upgradable I/O controller hardware unavailable on baseline 7206.


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