[c-nsp] Performance: NPE-G2 and 3560

[Michael Giagnocavo]

Hello,

        I have two performance questions.

        First, I heard that the 7200 with a NPE-G2 drops to 10% of spec (from 2Mpps to 200Kpps) with BGP and a few ACLs enabled. Is that accurate? Am I crazy to think I could get 30% of spec out of any software router doing BGP and some ACLs?

        Second, on the 3560, policy based routing isn't done in hardware AFAIK. What kind of impact will this have on performance? Spec says they can do 10s of millions of pps. Will a bit of PBR hurt enough to drop that in a very significant way (say, dropping it under 2Mpps)?

        In general, what's the best way to figure out realistic performance numbers (without testing of course)?

Thanks,
-Michael