10-Gigabit Ethernet Switch Performance Testing - Ixia

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10-Gigabit Ethernet Switch Performance Testing Abstract The first generation of 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) switches, introduced in early 2002 after IEEE 802.3ae standardization, proved to be subpar. Some switches barely reached 50 percent of line rate throughput, even for large packet sizes, and exhibited poor latency, limited feature sets, and high per-port costs. The second generation of 10GE products has arrived, with substantial packet processing capabilities that enable additional services. Key functions in this Introduction Ethernet networking technology is now virtually ubiquitous; it has evolved from 10Base-T (IEEE 802.3) in 1983, Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3u) in 1995, 1-Gigabit Ethernet (802.3z) in 1998 to 10-Gigabit Ethernet (802.3ae) in 2002. The 10- Gigabit Ethernet standard provides a significant increase in bandwidth while maintaining compatibility with the installed base of 802.3-standard interfaces, to protect existing investments in Ethernet technology. The IEEE 802.3ae 10-Gigabit Ethernet standard defines both LAN and WAN physical layers, the latter of which is compatible with existing SONET infrastructure. Ethernet not only dominates the LAN market, but is also taking hold in the Metro Area Network (MAN) market. It has extended into the WAN arena as both its distance and capacity has increased. Ethernet at 1-Gigabit and 10-Gigabit speeds has attracted increasing attention from carriers operating in the MAN and WAN market segments. technology include performing the necessary packet classification, header modification, policing of flows, and queuing/scheduling — all at wire-speed rates. This white paper reviews the common building blocks of a multiple line card 10GE switch, identifies various stress points within the switch, and offers various test methodologies to test these stress points. After nearly two years of slow growth during 2001 and 2002, worldwide Layer 2 and Layer 3 Ethernet switch revenue began to accelerate in mid-2003, and is expected to grow from $11.8 billion in 2004 to $15 billion in 2006, according to Infonetics Research's quarterly market share and forecast service, L2–L3 Ethernet Switches. Worldwide port shipments are predicted to grow 75 percent — from 161 million in 2003 to 279 million in 2006. The strongest growth in the Ethernet switch market has come from 10GE chassis ports and revenue, driven by 10GE deployment in service provider metro networks, and by the proliferation of 1GE to desktops/laptops as a standard interface. 10-Gigabit Ethernet has been developed to support a wide range of applications — from the enterprise network, through the edge and metro network, and into the wide area network. 10-Gigabit Ethernet Switch Performance Testing Copyright © 2004, Ixia 5
10-Gigabit Ethernet LAN The biggest market for 10-Gigabit Ethernet is likely to be in the corporate backbone. The cost of 1-Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet has dropped significantly, which will trigger the demand for 10GE services and products. In the enterprise network, 10-Gigabit Ethernet is used for: • Switch-to-switch links for very highspeed connections within the same wiring closet or data center or between different buildings. • Aggregation of multiple-fiber 1000BASE-X or copper 1000BASE-T segments into 10GE uplinks. Nearly all new desktops and laptops are now shipped with 10/100/1000BASE-T ports. •System Area Networking (SAN) applications providing server interconnects for clusters of servers. 10-Gigabit Ethernet plays a key role in interconnecting the new generation of high-performance servers with multigigahertz 2/4/8-way processors required for moving large amount of data between server farms. 10-Gigabit Ethernet Metro At the Metro Area Network (MAN) level, service providers face tremendous pressure to expand capacity for broadband local access, high-speed WANs, storage, and campus /enterprise grids. Standardsbased 10-Gigabit Ethernet enables service providers to extend their 10GE networks into the metro edge using their dark fiber, especially when 10GE is combined with metro area optical fiber networks based on Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM). 10GE MANs can be deployed in either a star or ring topology. Unlike Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) networks, 10GE networks use the standard Ethernet MAC protocol. The latest 10GE metro switches can provide network reliability similar to that of networks based on SONET/SDH rings. 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN 10GE WAN applications are similar to MAN applications, but leverage existing SONET networks rather than new infrastructure. SONET is the dominant transport protocol in the WAN backbone today, and most MAN public services are offered over SONET networks. The 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface (WAN PHY) is compatible with SONET-based Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and with the payload rate of OC-192c/SDH VC-4-64c. The 10-Gigabit WAN interface facilitates the transport of native Ethernet packets across the WAN transport network, with no need for protocol conversion. This not only improves the performance of the network, but makes it simpler and less costly to manage. Ethernet’s flexibility and universal availability will fuel the demand for 10- Gigabit Ethernet deployment in multiple network segments, from corporate networks, to data centers, and throughout service provider networks. This ongoing demand will require system vendors to deliver high-performing 10-Gigabit systems that meet service providers’ stringent requirements — requirements that ensure high availability to corporate networks and performance that meets service level agreements (SLAs). 6 Copyright © 2004, Ixia 10-Gigabit Ethernet Switch Performance Testing
Page 1 and 2: Enabling a Converged World 10-Giga
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 1998-2004 Ixia. All ri
Page 5: 4 Copyright © 2004, Ixia 10-Gigabi
Page 9 and 10: What Happens to a Packet When It En
Page 11 and 12: Metering and statistics recording P
Page 13 and 14: performing key searches in a matter
Page 15 and 16: Random Early Detection (RED) or Wei
Page 17 and 18: Developing the Right Test Methodolo
Page 19 and 20: Anticipating the behavior of the 10
Page 21 and 22: Ixia’s Test Solution Ixia provide
Page 23 and 24: Appendix: 10GE Testing Examples The
Page 25 and 26: 2. Testing for Latency: RFC 2544 La
Page 27 and 28: Methodology 1. Packets will be sent
Page 29 and 30: Results. The test results provide a
Page 31: Ternary Content Addressable Memory

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