[c-nsp] CPU comparison - bridge vs. route on 7206?

Michael Ulitskiy mulitskiy at acedsl.com
Thu Jul 2 16:58:22 EDT 2009


 Rodney,

Thanks for the reply. Please let me clarify it a little.
So you're saying that switching packets through PA-GE involves 3.5 times more processing overhead
compared to switching them through native port (btw, by native port you mean G1/G2 builtin one, right?),
hence pps goes down from 470kpps to 127kpps. Is that right?
I actually always thought that for the software-based platform max pps is a function of CPU.
Do you think that these figures can be improved in G2 chassis?
Thanks,

Michael

On Thursday 02 July 2009 11:48:26 am you wrote:
> I found what I was looking. The test was on older code but in concept it
> still applies.
> 
> Bi-directional going native gige port to another native gige port on the
> G1 you are looking at around 470 kpps (double 940 kpps bi-directional)
> at 64 byte packets with NO features.
> 
> At 1500 byte packets it can pretty much fill up the gig in both directions
> without dropping frames...again with no features.
> 
> It appears from the tet you can just about fill up the links with 256 byte
> packets for native gige to native gige.
> 
> However, with the PA-GE it appears it's around 127 kpps in one direction (double
> to get bi-directional) at 64 byte packets. Which ends up being about 400 Mbps
> total (200 M tx and 200 M rx) going from a native Gig port to the PA-GE.
> 
> These are rough numbers from a lab test with absolutly nothing configured.
> 
> And also this is from a test set where there are no micro-burst from the
> real world traffic flows. We've seen that way too many times where some
> L3 forwarding switch is connected and it overruns the GigE ability on the
> connecting device. That's why the ASR1k is the suggested platform for that
> space now as it can do linerate Gige.
> 
> Hope this helps. As always with performance numbers YMMV depending on actual
> code and configuration and design.
> 
> Rodney
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jul 02, 2009 at 11:26:33AM -0400, Rodney Dunn wrote:
> > Michael,
> > 
> > I can't find the performance document I saw once before now. I'm still trying
> > to find it.
> > 
> > If you want real Gige you should go with the ASR1000. Even the G1 GE ports
> > will have problems at high rates with any features enabled.
> > 
> > Rodney
> > 
> > On Thu, Jul 02, 2009 at 11:00:29AM -0400, Michael Ulitskiy wrote:
> > > Could you please elaborate on the PA-GE issues? Or may be you could provide some pointers to where they're described?
> > > We're using quite a few of those with traffic rate anywhere from 50M to 100M and I didn't notice
> > > any issues so far, but traffic rate is increasing and I'd really like to know what to expect in the future,
> > > especially if there are any known caveats.
> > > Thank you,
> > > 
> > > Michael
> > > 
> > > On Wednesday 01 July 2009 01:41:44 pm Rodney Dunn wrote:
> > > > The PA-GE has issues at higher speeds.
> > > > 
> > > > You should move to L2TPV3 and see if it's better in regards
> > > > to performance. Your best would be pure L3 forwarding.
> > > > 
> > > > If the PA-GE is the issue you will have to get off that PA.
> > > > 
> > > > What happens if you move it to one of the onboard GigE ports on the NPE-400?
> > > > 
> > > > Rodney
> > > > 
> > > > On Wed, Jul 01, 2009 at 12:56:39PM -0400, Chris Hale wrote:
> > > > > We have a set of 7206VXR's, NPE400 CPUs on each end of a point to point OC3
> > > > > using PA-POS-OC3 cards.  We bridge these circuits through a PA-GE interface
> > > > > (essentially turning the 7206's into a OC-3 to GigE converter) with a single
> > > > > bridge group.
> > > > > 
> > > > > We are trying to push nearly 130-140Mbps, but per the MRTG graphs, we seem
> > > > > to be capping @ ~110Mbps.  The CPU is also averaging 80-90%.  We're seeing a
> > > > > large number of input errors (ignored, total of 5% of input packets) and a
> > > > > fair amount of output pauses (0.12% of output packets).
> > > > > 
> > > > > GigabitEthernet1/0 is up, line protocol is up
> > > > >   Hardware is WISEMAN, address is 0016.46e6.1c1c (bia 0016.46e6.1c1c)
> > > > >   MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 10 usec,
> > > > >      reliability 255/255, txload 36/255, rxload 16/255
> > > > >   Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
> > > > >   Keepalive set (10 sec)
> > > > >   Full-duplex, 1000Mb/s, link type is autonegotiation, media type is unknown
> > > > > media type
> > > > >   output flow-control is XON, input flow-control is XON
> > > > >   ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
> > > > >   Last input 00:00:00, output 00:00:00, output hang never
> > > > >   Last clearing of "show interface" counters 12w0d
> > > > >   Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 208
> > > > >   Queueing strategy: fifo
> > > > >   Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
> > > > >   30 second input rate 66046000 bits/sec, 29231 packets/sec
> > > > >   30 second output rate 141617000 bits/sec, 31690 packets/sec
> > > > >      2816822087 packets input, 1367339773 bytes, 0 no buffer
> > > > >      Received 7138653 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
> > > > >      143326584 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 481945 overrun, 142844639
> > > > > ignored
> > > > >      0 watchdog, 4536607 multicast, 0 pause input
> > > > >      0 input packets with dribble condition detected
> > > > >      3993978307 packets output, 979813878 bytes, 0 underruns
> > > > >      0 output errors, 0 collisions, 0 interface resets
> > > > >      0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
> > > > >      4 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 4808187 pause output
> > > > >      0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
> > > > > 
> > > > > If we move this to a routed infrastructure with CEF, can we expect the CPU
> > > > > to drop considerably?   The routing will be static only, very simple config
> > > > > with no ACLs, no policy maps, etc.  We're just trying to get the routers to
> > > > > let us push as much of the OC3 bandwidth as possible.
> > > > > 
> > > > > We would rather not upgrade the NPE400's if possible.  The internal LAN
> > > > > equipment is Nortel L3 switches which don't seem to support flow-control.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Thanks in advance for any ideas.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Chris
> > > > > 
> > > > > -- 
> > > > > ------------------
> > > > > Chris Hale
> > > > > chale99 at gmail.com
> > > > > _______________________________________________
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