1

The Cisco SG300-10 says its forwarding rate is 14.88Mpps with 64 byte packets. I estimated this to be ~ 7 Gb/s.

Does this mean that up to 7 computers can transfer data across VLANs at full 1 Gb/s wirespeed (assuming 64 byte) packets?

How will this vary with packet size? What kind of actual throughput can I expect when multiple computers are transferring files using SMB across VLANs?

1 Answer 1

3

The Cisco SG300-10 says its forwarding rate is 14.88Mpps with 64 byte packets. I estimated this to be ~ 7 Gb/s.

Does this mean that up to 7 computers can transfer data across VLANs at full 1 Gb/s wirespeed (assuming 64 byte) packets?

Why would you ever send line-rate 64 byte packets in any scenario other than a switch drag-race? That said, cisco's data sheet numbers indicate it can do unidirectional 64-byte line rate for at least seven computers.

I'm assuming you understand that ethernet's IFG and SFD mean that you get nowhere near 1Gbps of real data @ 64 bytes.

If you're using FTP, HTTP, CIFS/SMB, H.264 or any other protocol used for data transfer, then yes 7 computers can do bi-directional line-rate based on Cisco's quoted 14.88Mpps and 20Gbps of "bandwidth" in the data sheet

How will this vary with packet size? What kind of actual throughput can I expect when multiple computers are transferring files using SMB across VLANs?

Under normal circumstances the SMB protocol is not limited by the network. It's limited by how fast you can unspool data from your server's disk.

does it do wirespeed intervlan routing?

Yes up to 14.88 Mpps

2
  • I was under the impression that "forwarding rate" meant InterVLAN routing rate. I didn't know that switches actually couldn't switch at their rated capacity of 20 Gb/s. I want to know fast it can perform InterVLAN routing.
    – Monstieur
    Nov 28, 2013 at 13:20
  • If you mean fast in terms of pps, Cisco advertises 14.88Mpps. Cisco isn't breaking out numbers for inter vlan forwarding rate, but I'd be very surprised if it was less than 14.88Mpps because Cisco is advertising "Wirespeed routing of IPv4 packets". If you mean fast in terms of "throughput", that's 20Gbps aggregated across all ports on the switch. FYI, this might be a useful read when considering vendor data sheet figures. Nov 28, 2013 at 13:24

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.