response to pre bid queries request for proposal (rfp) for

Response to Pre bid Queries Request for Proposal (RFP) for SUPPLY, DELIVERY, INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION, COMMISSIONING AND MAINTENANCE OF HARDWARE AND

NETWORK SECURITY COMPONENTS RFP Number: NPPF/ICT/2019-20/7076 dated 09.01.2020

Sl.

No. Section details from the RFP

Page No.

Point No.

Original Clause Query NPPF Response

1 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> General Features & Performance

Sl No. 4

The switch will have at least 200 Gbps switching capacity.

Better throughput will allow more ports to work in non blocking mode. Please change the statement as: "The switch will have at least 600 Gbps switching capacity."

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch architecture will have at least 200 Gbps aggregated switching capacity.


Sl No. 6

VLANs support: 2000 active VLANs

4000 VLANs are industry standard Please change the statement as : "VLANs support: 4000 active VLANs."

RFP requirement stands


Sl No. 8

The switch should be able to support 48 Gbps per slot bandwidth (ie. 48 x 1G ports in Non Blocking mode) even when one CPU goes down.

80Gbps per slot throughput will allow more ports to work in non blocking mode. Please change the statement as : "The switch should be able to support 80 Gbps per slot bandwidth even when one CPU goes down. "

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch should be able to support atleast 48 Gbps per slot or stacking bandwidth (ie. 48 x 1G ports in Non Blocking mode) even when one CPU goes down.



4 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> L3 Switch>> Certification

Sl No. 56

Switch OEM should be in the Gartner’s Leaders or Challengers quadrant for Data Centre networking in latest published report

This is a Campus network switch and not a Data Center Grade switch. Please change the statement as : Switch OEM should be in the Gartner’s Leaders or Challengers quadrant for Wired and Wireless magic quadrant in latest published report

Clause stands deleted

5 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router

Sl No. 6.1

The Service Processor should meet the following performance specifications: Should support 4,000 unique ACLs and 120,000 ACEs per system

48000 ACEs is enough for Router Please change the statement as : "Should support 4,000 unique ACLs and 48,000 ACEs per system"

Revised Clause: Should support 4,000 unique ACLs/Firewall filters

6 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> SAN Switch>> Power

Sl No. 35

● Maximum power consumption: ◦ 100W (on base model config running 16G 100% traffic load at 25C)

Power consumptions differs from OEM to OEM. Please remove this statement


7 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> SAN Switch>> Power

Sl No. 36

● Maximum power consumption: ◦ 125W (on fully populated config running 16G 100% traffic load at 25C)

Power consumptions differs from OEM to OEM. Please remove this statement


8 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> x86 Blade Server>> Network

Sl No. 6

Should be configured with minimum 2 number of RJ45 10GBase-T LAN ports and Two numbers of PCI-e based Dual Port 16 Gbps FC HBA Cards

The proposed solution can use FCoE technology (Unified Fabric) for providing the network and fabric interface. Please change the statement as : "Should be configured with minimum two numbers of 10G network interface and two numbers of 16 Gbps FC HBA or equivalent FCoE technology."

Revised Clause: Should be configured with minimum two numbers of 10G network interface and two numbers of 16 Gbps FC HBA or equivalent FCoE technology



9 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> x86 Blade Server

TOR Switches required to connect the Blade Servers. Please add this Statement : "The bidder should propose two TOR Switches (two for DC, Two for DR) each with 16 x 10G SFP+ ports and 2 x 40G QSFP Ports and necessary cables/transceivers to connect the Blade Chassises. The TOR Switch should be scalable to support additional 32 x 10G SFP+ ports and 4 x 40G QSFP Ports in future."

Bidder may propose ToR switches incase same is required for the architecture proposed by Bidder. Tor Switch to be in HA mode.

10 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> General Requirements

Sl No. 3

Firewall should be ICSA labs certified

Supported by two OEMs only Kindly remove this statement


11 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> Hardware & Interface Requirements

Sl No. 1

The platform must be supplied with minimum 8 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces, 4 x 1GE SFP interface Slots & 2 x 10GE SFP+ interface slots from day one

instead of taking 1G SFP port, please consider all fiber ports as 10G SFP+ from day-1 Please change the statement to : "The platform must be supplied with minimum 12 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces and 4 x 10GE SFP+ interface slots from day one."

Revised Clause: The platform must be supplied with minimum 10 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces, 4 x 10GE SFP+ interface from day one

12 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> Performance Availability

Sl No. 1

Minimum 30 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 5 Gbps, 4 million concurrent sessions, and 250,000 new sessions per second support from day one

Please change the statement to : "Minimum NGFW throughput of 8 Gbps, 3 million concurrent sessions, and 40,000 new sessions per second support from day one".

Revised Clause: Minimum 30 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 5 Gbps, 3 million concurrent sessions, and 100,000 new sessions per second support from day one



13 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 1

Should support Multi-ISP SD-WAN

OEM Specific. Only One OEM can qualify. Kindly remove this statement


14 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 2

Should support Site to site SD-WAN



15 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> DC-DR Firewall>> Antivirus & Antibot

Sl No. 1

Firewall should support antimalware capabilities , including antivirus, botnet traffic filter and antispyware

If all these features are enabled, the performance of the firewall will be degraded Kindly remove this statement


16 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> General Requirements

Sl No. 3


Supported by two OEMs only Kindly remove this statement


17 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> Hardware &

Sl No. 1

The platform must be supplied with minimum 2 x GE RJ45 WAN interfaces, 1 x GE RJ45 DMZ interfaces & 8 x GE RJ45 MZ interfaces

Please change the statement to : "The platform must be supplied with minimum 12 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces and 4 x 1GE SFP interface slots from day one."




Interface Requirements

18 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> Performance & Availability

Sl No. 1

Minimum 10 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 1Gbps, 1.4 million concurrent sessions, and 50,000 new sessions per second support from day one

Please change the statement to : Minimum NGFW throughput of 2 Gbps, 1 million concurrent sessions, and 12000 new sessions per second support from day one."

Revised Clause: Minimum 10 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 1Gbps, 1 million concurrent sessions, and 12,000 new sessions per second support from day one

19 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 1




20 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 2






21 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> HO Firewall>> Antivirus & Antibot

Sl No. 1




22 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> General Requirements

Sl No. 3


Supported by two OEMs Kindly remove this statement


23 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Hardware & Interface Requirements

Sl No. 1

The platform must be supplied with minimum 2 x GE RJ45 WAN interfaces, 1 x GE RJ45 DMZ interfaces & 6 x GE RJ45 MZ interfaces

Please change the statement to : "The platform must be supplied with minimum 8 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces from day one."

Revised: The platform must be supplied with minimum 8 x GE RJ45 inbuilt interfaces from day one.

24 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Performance & Availability

Sl No. 1

Minimum 3 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 250Mbps, 1 million concurrent sessions, and 30,000 new sessions per second support from day one

Please change the statement to : "Minimum NGFW throughput of 600 Mbps, 100K concurrent sessions and 6000 new sessions per second support from day one."

Revised Clause: Minimum 3 Gbps Firewall throughput, Minimum NGFW throughput of 250Mbps, 100K concurrent sessions, and 6,000 new sessions per second support from day one



25 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 1




26 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> SD-WAN Features

Sl No. 2




27 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Antivirus & Antibot

Sl No. 1




28 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Other Support

Sl No. 1

Should support features like Web-Filtering, Application-Control & Gateway level DLP from day one

Specific to Checkpoint Non Compliance

Revised Clause: Should support features like Web-Filtering from day one



29 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Other Support

Sl No. 2

The proposed system should have integrated Enterprise-class Web Content Filtering solution with database which should support over 450 million webpages in 72+ categories and 68+ languages without external solution, devices or hardware modules.


Revised Clause: The proposed system should have integrated Enterprise-class Web Content Filtering solution

30 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Branch Firewall>> Other Support

Sl No. 7

Users of LAN or WAN can go to internet through this firewall using port based proxy and or transparent proxy both feature. Should provide a login facility to the users in accordance with calendar and time wise web filtering control.



31 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Server Config>> CPU

For all DC & DR

Servers

SKL-SP 4112 4C/8T 2.6G 8.25M 9.6GT UPI

Can you please change this format of CPU to a simple format like this, No. of Core, Processor Speed and Memory, Example: Intel 4112 or higher, 4 Core or higher, 8.25M Cache or higher, 2.60 GHz or higher as the original statement is not generic for the other OEMs

Please consider all the processor type as "Intel Skylake Scalable Processor" with the specific four digit processor number, Core count, cache & frequency mentioned. The bidder may quote a higher processor but the core count to be kept unchanged



32 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Server Config>> FC Port

For all DC & DR

Servers

16 GB Dual Port Can you change it as 2X 16Gbps FC HBA ports or equivalent FCoE technology

Revised Clause: 2X 16Gbps FC HBA ports or equivalent FCoE technology

33 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Server Config>> NW Ports

For all DC & DR

Servers

2 RJ45 10GBase-T LAN ports

Can you change it as 2x 10G Network Interface ports Revised Clause: 2x 10G Network Interface ports



34 RFP Document>>

Scope 14 THE SUPPLY, DELIVERY,

INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION, COMMISSIONING AND MAINTENANCE OF HARDWARE AND NETWORK SECURITY COMPONENTS.

Hardware and Network Security has been made has one single package and the bidder has to comply with the entire bill of material of the Hardware and Network Security. General practice in Bhutan for such large project is to keep one RFP., and break the Hardware and Network Security into two packages of the bid eg. PACKAGE I: SERVERS, STORAGE and Associate Software. PACKAGE II: NETWORK SECURITY COMPOMENTS. This is to ensure that many competitive vendors qualify for the bid and the client get best offer. In the market there are vendors who are primarily hardware and there are others who only do networks at higher level. This outcome has been mainly controlled by OEMs through their selective appointments of local dealers. If this RFP is kept as single bid package both for Hardware and Network Security, only one OEM CISCO and its one local partner is likely to qualify and control the entire bid price. CISCO is the only company in the world who is carrying both Blade Servers and Network Security Components specially the firewall and routers given in the RFP. Again, if we dive through the technical specifications of the network security given in the RFP., they are CISCO specific. Unless it is amended, the RFP., technical specification is giving advantage to CISCO., and no other local vendors with other




networking OEM Companies can qualify and NPPF will lose the competitiveness of the bid which it is seeking. In view of above and in fairness to all vendors wishing to bid, request NPPF to kindly break the Bill of Material (BoM) into two packages: Package I. Servers, storages and software. Package II. Network Security. Furthermore, RFP Clause No. 6 Page 14 Under Scope of Work, the Bid Area has broken the BoM into : *Network & Security Component for the head office and branches *DC-DR Solution (Servers with OEM operating Systems, storage, virtualization software, Network & We can assume from above that this Servers, Storages, virtualization software can be made one package and the Network & Security both for DC-DR and for Head office and branch offices into two packages keeping the same RFP. Earnestly requesting NFFP to break this into two packages for the larger interest and bid price competitiveness benefit of the NPPF. Or Make only the Firewalls and Routers which are CISCO OEM specific as one Network Security Package and the rest with more open DC-DR switches, servers, storage and associated software and another Package.



35 RFP Document>>

Scope of work>> DC-DR Solution

16 Sl No. 10

The server sizing must be proposed using Blade Server specification mentioned in Sheet "X86 Blade Server". In case of unavailability of the CPU mentioned in the RFP bidder can proposed better x86 CPU but the Core count per CPU to be kept unchanged.

Servers have been restricted to Blade Servers and even while advice has been given to the bidders to proposed better x86 CPU keeping the CPU unchanged, the servers detailed specifications and detailed study show that the servers are single OEM specific to Supermicro up to the point of spelling out Product Code as reproduced below. SKL-SP 4112 4C/8T 2.6G 8.25M 9.6GT UPI SKL-SP 6138 20C/40T 2.0G 27.5M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 6134 8C/16T 3.2G 24.75M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 8160 24C/48T 2.1G 33M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 5118 12C/24T 2.3G 16.5M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 4114T 10C/20T 2.2G 13.75M 9.6GT UPI SKL-SP 4112 4C/8T 2.6G 8.25M 9.6GT UPI SKL-SP 6138 20C/40T 2.0G 27.5M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 6134 8C/16T 3.2G 24.75M 10.4GT UPI SKL-SP 4114T 10C/20T 2.2G 13.75M 9.6GT UPI All the caps letter followed by 4 digits are the product code number of Supermicro Blade Servers. Request NPPF to remove this Supermicro Blade Server specifications and make the specifications brand agnostic for all aspiring bidders to bid competitive




36 The server

specifications should be limited to only Blade Servers.

i. For the DC-DR size and number of blade servers NPPF has proposed, Rack Severs is best choice economically to lower upfront cost. Even for many times larger size of DC-DR of other financial institutions in Bhutan as banks who are hosting DR at Bhutan Telecom DC are not using Blade Servers. And those that bought for the first time in the past are moving to Rack Servers for the following reasons and benefits Rack Servers provide: ii. For TCO needs, which has been emphasized in the RFP also, Rack Servers are easier to manage, provide more processing power and specifications in less cost. Therefore, if in the future NPPF needs larger capacity of memory database servers because of newer applications demand than envisaged now, the blade servers will also be powerless compared to the newer generation Rack Servers. This is because, rack servers are available with 16 memory slots but most blade servers support only 4-8 memory slots. iii. Blade severs are more expensive than its corresponding rack servers. First there is cost of chassis where the blade server will go in. And each blade server is more expensive than 1U Rack Server. iv. In terms of flexibility, blade servers are less flexible than rack servers. Unless the Blade Server Chassis are fully loaded with blade servers even when not necessary with all the upfront cost, the cost of adding a blade server in the same chassis in future is either not possible or very expensive. This is because, the blade server has to match the chassis and if the chassis is end of life that particular blade server that go into that chassis also go automatically end of life. Therefore, when choosing a specific model of blade servers, customers need to prepare for vendor lock-in, so switching between products is

Bidder is allowed to propose Rack Server based on the minimum specification mentioned in the Corrigendum. The bidder is free to propose only blade server or only rack server or a combination of Blade & Rack servers.



costly as it will involve a complete overhaul of all the equipment. v. Unlike the blade servers, future addition of rack servers in the DC-DR of NPPF need not have to be the same specific models. Thus, addition and upgrade become flexible and less expensive. vi. N+N1 redundancy specified in the RFP are also available in rack servers.



37 RFP Document>>

Scope of work>> DC-DR Solution

16 Sl No. 10

The server sizing must be proposed using Blade Server specification mentioned in Sheet "X86 Blade Server". In case of unavailability of the CPU mentioned in the RFP bidder can proposed better x86 CPU but the Core count per CPU to be kept unchanged.

Considering the actual requirements being Intel Scalable Processor 4112, 4114T, 5118, 6134, 6138 and 8160. And; having more than 2 hard disks per server (ref: UAT Application). And finally; the specifications require dedicated FC and 10Gb Base-T Ethernet Ports which is not normally found in Blade Systems.


38 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Reliability & Availability

Sl No. 1.9

Proposed storage should allow to virtualize 3rd party block storage and leverage software capabilities of base storage system.

This is single OEM NetApp specific. Any particular reason why NPPF is looking into Storage virtualize with the multiple arrays. Request amendment to allow other world leader in Storage and backups as EMC to propose its own OEM software as well.


39 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Data Replication

Sl No. 6.3

The Asynchronous replication feature Should use Disk based journaling to store data changes during extended outages of the Replication Link.

Needs justification and change from being single OEM specific to more generic technical specification to allow other bidders to bid.


40 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Minimum

Sl No. 8.1

Compatibility with the proposed backup server / media servers at customer.

What is the existing backup software? Currently NPPF does not have backup software. Hence, Bidder to propose new backup software.



Technical Specifications for Disk Based Backup

41 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Minimum Technical Specifications for Backup Software

Sl No. 4

The proposed backup solution should support tape mirroring of the same job running concurrently with primary backup.

This is OEM specific. Kindly make it more generic to allow other bidders to quote equivalent


42 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Minimum Technical Specifications for Backup Software

Sl No. 28

In the event of new backup software to be proposed, bidder shall provide complete tape migration to the proposed software for compatibility.

What is the existing backup software? Currently NPPF does not have backup software. Hence, Bidder to propose new backup software.

43 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch

Switch OEM should be in the Gartner’s Leaders or Challengers quadrant for Data Centre networking in the latest published report

Dell is a primary vendor for networking and has a huge install base across the region as well as in Bhutan. DellEMC is in “Visionary” quadrant for the DC Networking. To allow fair competition, kindly remove this requirement and allow vendors in “Visionary” quadrant as well to bid




44 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> General Features & Performance

Sl No. 1

The core switch must have minimum of 6-slot chassis that supports four I/O module slides and two supervisor module/CPU slots.

Can we quote a 1RU based platform in a Spine-leaf architecture which provides complete functionality similar to a chassis but in a more robust and modular fashion. We have high end DC switches which can provide more than 1 Tbps of switching and backplane capacity and can we utilize for cost effective solution

Revised Clause: The core switch/virtual switch must have minimum of 6-slot chassis or stackable upto 6 units that supports redundant supervisor module/routing engine.


Sl No. 2

The proposed switch will have redundant CPUs from day-1. There will be no performance degradation in case of failure of one CPU.

If we propose 1RU platforms, then there is no need for redundant CPU’s. Each switch has its own CPU and redundancy can be provided in form of stacking

Revised Clause: The proposed switch/virtual switch will have redundant CPU/Routing Engine from day-1. There will be no performance degradation in case of failure of one CPU.

46 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> Interface

Sl No. 47 a

and b

The Switch will be populated with: a)At least 96 X 1G ports b)At least 48 X 10G ports

Why such a large port count is requested in the RFP? Is NPPF replacing existing equipment or terminating existing servers / switches on the core switch? If yes, please share the existing network logical diagram so we can propose the best network design. What type of ports NPPF requires i.e., 1G Base-T or fiber? Similarly, for 10G ports, NPPF requires 10G Base-T or fiber-based ports? Can we use a 1/2RU platform and provide breakout cables for the necessary connections.

Revised Clause: At least 80 1G/10G ports based on requirement envisaged by bidder on proposed solution. 20% from each category of 1G and 10G ports to be kept unused for future use.



47 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> L3 Switch

Sl No. 1

The Switch should have minimum 24 x 1G ports

Which one NPPF requires, 1G base-T or 1G based fiber?

The media copper/fiber is based on the architecture proposed by bidder.

48 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> L3 Switch>> Certification

Sl No. 56

Switch OEM should be in the Gartner’s Leaders or Challengers quadrant for Data Centre networking in latest published report

Dell is a primary vendor for networking and has a huge install base across the region as well as in Bhutan. DellEMC is in “Visionary” quadrant for the DC Networking. To allow fair competition, kindly remove this requirement and allow vendors in “Visionary” quadrant as well to bid


49 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Reliability & Availability

Sl No. 1.9

Proposed storage should allow to virtualize 3rd party block storage and leverage software capabilities of base storage system.

Please remove this point as this is a proprietary feature for Hitachi/DellEMC


50 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Solution Scope

Sl No. 2.1

The storage array should be capable to deliver performance of minimum 5,000 IOPS within <10ms of response time considering 70:30 Read: Write ratio I/O profile for proposed usable capacity. The IOPS should be scalable to 10,000 IOPS

As per disk qty (18x1.8Tb) IOPS of 5000 will not be met. Either mention IOPS and usable capacity or number of drives. Again a proprietary feature for Hitachi/DellEMC

Revised Clause: The storage array should be capable to deliver performance of minimum 2200 IOPS within <10ms of response time considering 70:30 Read: Write ratio I/O profile for proposed usable capacity. The IOPS should be scalable to 5,000 IOPS



51 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Solution Scope

Sl No. 2.2

Capacity of the storage: The storage should have at least 18x1.8TB 10K RPM SAS drives. The storage should have at least 15 TB of usable storage in RAID 1+0 configuration

Depends on IOPS calculation or strict to disk Revised Clause: The storage should have at least 15 TB of usable storage in RAID 1+0 configuration

52 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Scalability

Sl No. 3.1

The proposed storage system should be configured with minimum 32GB Cache across dual controllers and scalable to 64GB by upgrading Cache boards / modules in future.

The proposed storage system should be configured with minimum 64GB Cache across dual controllers. Most of the modular storage doesn’t support upgrading cache in the field.

Revised Clause: The proposed storage system should be configured with minimum 32GB Cache across dual controllers and scalable to 64GB.

53 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Scalability

Sl No. 3.2

Proposed Storage should be configured with minimum 12*16Gbps FC ports and 4*10Gbps Network port

Proposed Storage should be configured with minimum 8*16Gbps FC ports and 4*10Gbps Network port

Revised Clause: Proposed Storage should be configured with minimum 8*16Gbps FC ports and 4*10Gbps Network port

54 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Data Protection & Security

Sl No. 4.3

Proposed Storage should provide both Volume Copy (with incremental Resync) and Thin writable snapshots.

Proposed Storage should provide both Volume Copy and Thin writable snapshots.

Revised Clause: Proposed Storage should provide both Volume Copy and Thin writable snapshots.



55 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Data Protection & Security

Sl No. 4.4

The storage array should be able to do point-in-time volume copies of a production volume on internal storage. These point-in-time copies should be able to be synchronized with the production volume for incremental Resync.

The storage array should be able to do point-in-time volume copies of a production volume on internal storage instantaneously.

The storage array should be able to do point-in-time volume copies of a production volume on internal storage instantaneously.

56 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Storage & Backup>> Minimum Technical Specifications for Disk Based Backup

Sl No. 13

The proposed Disk to Disk backup solution has to complete 100% backup within a window of 1 hour.

You not mentioned how many data need to backup everyday or how much throughput required for whole backup. Please mention your destination data size or required throughput.

The approximate daily incremental backup will be 250GB to 350GB.

57 Query For Database Server

Can we proceed with Physical Server (instead of VM)?

Please be guided by RFP.


What network speed is required 1G or 10G? Do you need Network Card Level Redundancy? How many Ports per NIC?



Do you need Fiber Channel HBA Card for SAN Storage connectivity for this server? How many Ports per Card?



Windows Server Enterprise Edition is no longer available – Can we proceed with its replacement – Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition?

Bidder may propose Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition.



61 Query For

Database Server Can we proceed with the latest MS SQL Edition? MS SQL has not been asked as part of

requirement. 62 Query For

Application Server Can we proceed with Physical Server (instead of

VM)? Please be guided by RFP.

63 Query For Application Server




Do you need Fiber Channel HBA Card for SAN Storage connectivity for this server?



Windows Server Enterprise Edition is no longer available – Can we proceed with its replacement – Windows Server 2019 Standard Edition?

Application is required to have RHEL

66 Query For MDM Server


Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP

69 Query for Integration Server


Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP

72 Query for SMS/IVRS Server


Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP



Not part of RFP



75 Query for Mail

Server Can we proceed with Physical Server (instead of

VM)? Not part of RFP

76 Query for Mail Server


Not part of RFP

77 Query for Mail Server


Not part of RFP

78 Query for Backup Server

What are the number of Physical Servers or Virtual Machines to be backed up?

Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum


Description of these Servers and/or VMs. Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum


Total expected Backup Front end Data volume/size – based on 3-5 years Growth.

Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum

81 Query for SAN Storage

Shall we consider 12TB Usable Capacity with SAS HDDs?

Please be guided by RFP. The storage should have at least 15 TB of usable storage in RAID 1+0 configuration


Do you need SSDs? Requirement mentions SAS drives


Do you need Storage level asynchronous replication? Yes

84 Query for Load Balancer

Is there any requirement of WAF? Not part of RFP


Is there any requirement of SSL offloading? Not part of RFP


Port requirement? Not part of RFP

87 Query for Core Switch

Port requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum

88 Query for Distribution/Access Switch

Port requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum

89 Query for Firewall Port requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum 90 Query for Firewall Subscription requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum



91 Query for Firewall Is there any requirement of context? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum 92 Query for IPS/IDS Port requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum 93 Query for IPS/IDS Subscription requirement? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum 94 Query for IPS/IDS Shall we bundle IPS/IDS with Firewall (NGFW)? Please be guided by RFP & corrigendum 95 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> General Requirements

Sl No. 1.2

Router should have a separate data and control plane and should have software redundancy, without any additional hardware module.

Router should have a separate data and control plane and should have software modularity

Revised Clause: Router should have a separate data and control plane

96 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> General Requirements

Sl No. 1.3

Router should support a dedicated Services Processor, independent of the Route Processor, capable of supporting UPTO 15 Mpps (depending on features enabled)

Router should support a dedicated Services Processor, independent of the Route Processor

Revised Clause: Router should support a dedicated Services Processor, independent of the Route Processor


Sl No. 1.4

The Router should support of 5 Mpps for commonly used features: IPv4 forwarding, IP Multicast, ACL, QoS, RPF, load balancing, and Sampled NetFlow

The Router should support of 50 Mpps of forwarding capacity

Revised Clause: The Router should support of at least 5 Mpps for commonly used features: IPv4 forwarding, IP Multicast, ACL, QoS and load balancing


Sl No. 1.5

The Router should support embedded service processor of at least 2 Gbps bandwidth for most commonly used features plus Firewall or NAT

The Router should support service processor for most commonly used features plus Firewall or NAT

Revised Clause: The Router should support service processor for most commonly used features plus Firewall or NAT



99 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> General Requirements

Sl No. 1.9

Route Processor should have at least 1 GB of DRAM

Route Processor should have at least 4 GB of DRAM RFP requirement stands


Sl No. 6.1

Should support 4,000 unique ACLs and 120,000 ACEs per system

Should support 4,000 unique ACL/Firewall Filters Revised Clause: Should support 4,000 unique ACLs/Firewall filters


Sl No. 12

Solution should support HSRP or equivalent technology adoption which shall enable NPPF to create high availability

Solution should support HSRP or VRRP Revised Clause: Solution should support HSRP or equivalent technology

102 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> Interface Support

Sl No. 17.9

The router should support interface processors and should have port adapters installed in the interface processors.

The router should support multi rate interface modules




103 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> Network

Sl No. 19.6

Should support Enterprise Services feature set with support for protocols like Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS), Frame Relay over MPLS (FRoMPLS), ATM over MPLS (ATMoMPLS) & Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF)

Should support Enterprise Services feature set with support for protocols like Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), VPLS & Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF)

Revised Clause: Should support Enterprise Services feature set with support for protocols like Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) & Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF)

104 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> Security

Sl No. 20.4

Should support source and destinations based ACLs, time based ACLs, VLAN / Port-based ACLs & Dynamic reflexive ACLs.

Should support source and destinations based ACLs, time based ACLs, VLAN / Port-based ACLs or firewall filters

Revised Clause: Should support source and destinations based ACLs, time based ACLs, VLAN / Port-based ACLs or firewall filters


Sl No. 20.11

"The Router should support site-to-site and remote-access VPNs includes IPsec, Group Encrypted Transport VPN, Dynamic Multipoint VPN etc.

The Router should support site-to-site VPNs Revised Clause: The Router should support site-to-site VPNs such as IPsec


Sl No. 20.12

The product shall support full mesh tunnel-less IPSec (3DES or AES) VPN with the capacity to encrypt the packets that are transferred over the Network. All encryption supported as a part of

The product shall support IPSec (3DES or AES) VPN with the capacity to encrypt the packets that are transferred over the Network

Revised Clause: The product shall support IPSec (3DES or AES) VPN with the capacity to encrypt the packets that are transferred over the Network



establishing the IPSec shall be hardware based.


Sl No. 20.14

The Router should support Virtual Tunnel Interface (VTI) and VRF-aware IPSec

The Router should support VRF Clause stands deleted


Sl No. 20.16

"The Router shall support Firewall stateful failover facilitates intrabox Route processor-to-Route processor failover and Embedded service processor-to-Embedded service processor failover without losing disrupting active sessions.

The Router shall support stateful failover facilitates of Route processor without losing disrupting active sessions.

Revised Clause: The Router shall support stateful failover facilitates of Route processor without losing/ disrupting active sessions.


Sl No. 20.17

The Router shall be capable of FPM uses flexible and granular Layer 2-7 pattern matching deep within the packet header or payload to provide a rapid first line of defense against

The Router shall be capable of flexible and granular policing of traffic data




network threats and notable worms and viruses.


Sl No. 20.18

The router shall support CoPP which reduces the success of a DDoS attack by policing the incoming rate of traffic to the control plane, helping maintain network availability even when under attack.

The router shall support policies which reduces the success of a DDoS attack by policing the incoming rate of traffic to the control plane, helping maintain network availability even when under attack.

Revised Clause: The router shall support policies which reduces the success of a DDoS attack by policing the incoming rate of traffic to the control plane, helping maintain network availability even when under attack.

111 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Aggregation Router>> Minimum Interface Requirements

Sl No. 23.1

10 x 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port

10 x 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port and 4 x 10G Ethernet Port

Revised Clause: Minimum of 10 x 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port and 4 x 10G Ethernet Port



112 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>>General Features & performance

Sl No. 1

The core switch must have minimum of 6-slot chassis that supports four I/O module slides and two supervisor module/CPU slots.

The core switch/virtual switch must have minimum of 6-slot chassis or stackable upto 6 units that supports redundant supervisor module/routing engine.

Revised Clause: The core switch/virtual switch must have minimum of 6-slot chassis or stackable upto 6 units that supports redundant supervisor module/routing engine.

113 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>>General Features & performance

Sl No. 2

The proposed switch will have redundant CPUs from day-1. There will be no performance degradation in case of failure of one CPU.

The proposed switch/virtual switch will have redundant CPU/Routing Engine from day-1. There will be no performance degradation in case of failure of one CPU.

Revised Clause: The proposed switch/virtual switch will have redundant CPU/Routing Engine from day-1. There will be no performance degradation in case of failure of one CPU.


Sl No. 4

The switch will have at least 200 Gbps switching capacity.

The switch/virtual switch architecture will have at least 200 Gbps aggregated switching capacity.

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch architecture will have at least 200 Gbps aggregated switching capacity.



115 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>>General Features & performance

Sl No. 5

The switch should support at least 100 Mpps Layer 2, 3 forwarding

The switch/virtual switch should support at least 100 Mpps Layer 2, 3 forwarding

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch should support at least 100 Mpps Layer 2, 3 forwarding


Sl No. 8

The switch should be able to support 48 Gbps per slot bandwidth (ie. 48 x 1G ports in Non Blocking mode) even when one CPU goes down.

The switch/virtual switch should be able to support 48 Gbps per slot or stacking bandwidth (ie. 48 x 1G ports in Non Blocking mode) even when one CPU goes down.

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch should be able to support 48 Gbps per slot or stacking bandwidth (ie. 48 x 1G ports in Non Blocking mode) even when one CPU goes down.


Sl No. 9

The switch should be able to support at least 96 Nos 10G Ports in the same chassis

The switch/virtual switch should be able to support at least 96 Nos of non-blocking 10G Ports

Revised Clause: The switch/virtual switch should be able to support at least 96 Nos of non-blocking 1G/10G Ports

118 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>>Layer-II Features

Sl No. 16

Centralized VLAN Management. VLANs created on the Core Switches should be propagated automatically to all the edge switches thus avoiding the overhead of creating VLANs in every switch and avoid

Centralized VLAN Management. VLANs created on the Core Switches should be propagated automatically to all the edge switches thus avoiding the overhead of creating VLANs in every switch and avoid misconfiguration & troubleshooting/IEEE802.1ak MVRP

Revised Clause: Centralized VLAN Management. VLANs created on the Core Switches should be propagated automatically to all the edge switches thus avoiding the overhead of creating VLANs in every switch and avoid misconfiguration & troubleshooting/IEEE802.1ak MVRP



misconfiguration & troubleshooting.


Sl No. 20

Support for the port aggregation to aggregate switch ports across line cards

Support for the port aggregation to aggregate switch ports across line cards/member switches

Revised Clause: Support for the port aggregation to aggregate switch ports across line cards/member switches


Sl No. 22

The Switch should be able to discover the neighboring device of the same vendor giving the details about the platform, IP Address, Link connected through etc., thus helping in troubleshooting connectivity problems.

The Switch should be able to discover the neighboring device using standard protocols like IEEE 802.1ab giving the details about the platform, IP Address, Link connected through etc., thus helping in troubleshooting connectivity problems.

Revised Clause: The Switch should be able to discover the neighboring device of same/different vendor giving the details about the platform, IP Address, Link connected through etc., thus helping in troubleshooting connectivity problems.

121 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> Quality of Service & Traffic Management

Sl No. 30

Shaping and sharing output queue management, Support for Congestion avoidance feature like Dynamic Buffer Limiting or equivalent.

Shaping and sharing output queue management, Support for Congestion avoidance

Revised Clause: Shaping and sharing output queue management, Support for Congestion avoidance



122 Annexure 11.1

'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> Interface

Sl No. 47a

At least 96 X 1G ports At least 96 X 1G non-blocking ports Revised Clause: At least 80 1G/10G ports based on requirement envisaged by bidder on proposed solution. 20% from each category of 1G and 10G ports to be kept unused for future use.

123 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> Core Switch>> Interface

Sl No. 47b

At least 48 X 10G ports At least 48 X 10G non-blocking ports Clause stands deleted

124 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> x86 Blade Servers>> 2 socket Blade servers

Sl No. 3

The server should support SAS, SATA and SSD hard disk drives

For HDD, RPM detail is missing. Please clarify if the requirement is 10K or 15K

Bidder may propose SAS Drive either with 10K or 15K RPM based on their preference

125 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> x86 Blade Servers>> Chassis Specification

SL No 15

The chassis shall be able to support redundant switch modules for fabric connectivity

Is NPPF looking for redundant switch and management modules from day 1

RFP mentions that the proposed chassis should support. However redundant power supplies to be provided from Day1

126 Annexure 11.1 'Minimum Technical Specifications'>> x86 Blade Servers>> Chassis Specification

SL No 19

The chassis should support redundant management modules

Is NPPF looking for redundant switch and management modules from day 1

RFP mentions that the proposed chassis should support. However redundant power supplies to be provided from Day1



127 Overall DC & DR

network architecture

Bidder is free to choose the network media(Fiber/copper) for the DC & DR network architecture involving Core switch, Servers, SAN S/w, Storage, D2D backup etc. and accordingly provide the required transceiver.

response to pre bid queries request for proposal (rfp) for

Documents