reviewer’s guide HP ProCurve Switches & Hubs HP ProCurve Switch 4000M HP ProCurve Switch 8000M HP ProCurve Switch 2424M HP ProCurve Switch 1600M January 15, 2000 Version 3.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide Table of Contents 1. BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................5 1.1 HP’s Proactive Networking...................................................................................................................................5 1.2 What is a Switch?...................................................................................................................
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 2.12 Port Security.........................................................................................................................................................19 2.13 Flexibility ..............................................................................................................................................................19 2.14 Reliability..........................................................................
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.1.3.1 6.1.3.2 100Mbps ...................................................................................................................................................31 10Mbps .....................................................................................................................................................31 6.2 HP ProCurve Switch 2424M...................................................................................
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 1. Background This Switch Reviewer’s Guide will help network testing engineers at computer trade publications, resellers and end-user sites evaluate the merits of the HP ProCurve Switches. Hewlett-Packard Company created this guide to help reviewers understand the benefits of the HP ProCurve Switches. 1.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • HP Switch 10Base-FL module provides (4) 10Mbps multi-mode fiber optic ports HP ProCurve Switch 8000M A modular 10 slot mini-chassis. Essentially the HP ProCurve Switch 4000M without any ports preinstalled. HP ProCurve Switch 2424M The HP ProCurve Switch 2424M is a stackable switch that provides twenty-four 10/100 Base-T autosensing ports and one open slot.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide See the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M/9308M/6308M-SX/6208M-SX Reviewer’s Guide for more details. HP ProCurve Routing Switch 6208M-SX A feature-rich, 8 port wire-speed Gigabit-SX Layer 2/4 switch delivering 12 million pps performance. This product is ideal as a backbone switch for small-to-medium networks, or as a remote building aggregrator switch connected to the larger site switch where full Layer 3 routing is not wanted or needed.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 1.4 HP Switch Positioning HP identifies three different classifications for switches: node/desktop, top-of-stack (both classified as wiring closet switches) and backbone switches. These areas are loosely defined by the number of address table entries a switch supports, the speed at which a switch operates, the flexibility/modularity provided by a switch, and the number of ports supported by a switch.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 1.4.2 Switch 8000M / 4000M / 2424M / 1600M Comparison All four switches run the same software and have the same features. Differences between the switches are largely physical and shown in the following chart. Feature Programmable HP ASICs Automatic Broadcast Control Switch Meshing Port Trunking Fast EtherChannel3 HP Port Trunking Protocol Filtering 802.3x Flow Control 802.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 2. Evaluation Features and Benefits 2.1 Feature Set Summary The HP ProCurve Switch 8000M and the HP ProCurve Switch 1600M are store-and-forward switches that feature: 7 • An innovative backplane design that results in very low latencies of 3.5-12 microseconds (100Mbps streams). Speeds are: 4000M/8000M: 3.8 gigabit/sec, 1600M: 3.5 Gbps, 2424M: 3.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1D) support, including “fast” mode to allow support of IPX client environments (see the application note “HP Switches - Controlling Network Traffic” at http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/solutions/techlib/techlib.htm for more details). • Year 2000 compliant 2.2 Architecture 2.2.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide multimedia data performance, particularly if this data is delivered through multicast mechanisms, it is low variance in latency that is the most important latency measurement for a switch. 2.2.2.1 Backplanes: Chassis vs. Stackable The HP ProCurve Switch 4000M is positioned as a 10/100Mbps desktop or wiring closet switch. Most other products in this category, including the HP ProCurve Switch 2424M, are stackable switches.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide Gigabit connections are available. See the white paper on the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance web site for more wiring details. www.gigabit-ethernet.org 2.2.5 HP ProCurve Switch 2424M Gigabit Stacking Module The HP ProCurve Switch 2424M Gigabit Stacking Module contains two full-duplex Gigabit ports that are transceiver based.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • To prevent broadcast storms, the switch provides broadcast throttling, a filter defined on each port that allows only a user-specified level of broadcast traffic from entering the switch from that port (default is 40%). Actual packet forwarding is handled at layer 2 where high speed and low latency can be economically provided.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide Redundancy is also provided by Switch Meshing. If one of the links fails between switches, traffic is redirected through another path, if available. The switchover time of typically less than 1 second is very fast. Very robust high availability solutions can be implemented with a switch mesh.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • Source or destination IP address (up to 30 different addresses) • IP-ToS or Diff-Serv field – Based on the IP Type of Service or Diff-Serv field • Protocol type of the packet – Priority set based on whether packet is IP, IPX, ARP, DEC LAT, AppleTalk, SNA or NetBeui • VLAN membership • Incoming 802.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide The HP ProCurve Switch 4000M/8000M/2424M/1600M can also be configured through a single check box to automatically promote multicast streams that are part of an IGMP group to the high priority queue, moving these packets through the switch with as little latency as possible. This feature does not depend on 802.1Q packet tagging, so will work with existing IGMP environments.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide Some servers also support link aggregation, allowing multiple links to be interconnected between the switch and server. Up to 4 links of any one type can be used in either the FEC or HP trunk and a total of 10 trunks (FEC, HP Trunk and Switch Mesh) can be configured at one time in the HP ProCurve Switch 4000M/8000M/2424M/1600M. 2.10.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide connected to a specific port, file server traffic can be excluded from other ports of the net manager’s choice, preventing users on designated ports access to the file server. 2.11.2 Broadcast Storm Prevention The HP ProCurve Switches 4000M/8000M/2424M/1600M have a broadcast throttling filter to control high levels of broadcasts leaving the switch.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • • HP ProCurve Gigabit-LX Transceiver HP ProCurve Gigabit-Stacking Kit (allows a low cost Gigabit stacking connection between two HP ProCurve Switch 2424Ms). Includes two transceivers and a .5m cable. Note: The Gigabit Stacking Module only works in the HP ProCurve Switch 2424M. It cannot be used in the HP ProCurve Switch 8000M / 4000M / 1600M.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide or fans, it will be replaced. In most parts of the world, the replacement unit is sent for next business day delivery in advance of the failing unit being returned to HP. Advance replacement gets the unit to the end user as fast as possible and minimizes down time by allowing the impaired unit to continue to be used if possible until the replacement unit arrives.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide • HP OpenView platforms - If management of a generic IP network is needed (i.e. management of HP and other vendor’s devices): NT platform - bridge software to HP OpenView/NT is available so that TopTools can run under HP OpenView/NT. For more details see the TopTools web site at http://www.hp.com/toptools.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide traffic flow analysis for network planning and for top-down network troubleshooting. Problems can quickly be identified so that segment-specific troubleshooting can be performed with a network analyzer. 2.15.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 3. Performance Testing Switches are normally performance tested under a variety of conditions for three main parameters: throughput/packet loss rate, congestion control and latency. Definitions for throughput, packet loss rate and latency are specified in RFC 1242. See http://www.rfc-editor.org/ . Unfortunately, there is no clear definition for congestion control.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide Throughput testing using just the installed 24 10/100 ports of the HP ProCurve Switch 2424M shows it to be media speed under these conditions for all packet sizes. 3.1.3 HP ProCurve Switch 1600M For the HP ProCurve Switch 1600M, where the port count is lower than the Switch 8000M, throughput is at full media speed for all ports.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide while backpressure is an appealing idea, in real-world environments it is not necessary and may actually impede network traffic in times of high segment utilization. In many respects this is true of 802.3u use as well. The one area where 802.3u can be beneficial and simple to implement is on links between the switch and an end node, such as a server.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide For 100Mbps Ethernet the formula is: LIFO = FIFO - (packet-length (bytes) * .08 µsec) At what point latency is measured is also a variable. Some tests show latency based on a single packet sent into the switch. Other testing has latency measured for a packet in the middle of a stream of packets.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 4. Additional Information 4.1 ProCurve Networking Web Site Additional information, including the latest data sheets, design guides, white papers, product documentation and support information can be obtained through the HP ProCurve Networking web site. HP ProCurve Networking can be reached at: http://www.hp.com/go/procurve 4.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 5. Pricing All HP switches ship with HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6. Appendix A: Performance Figures These numbers have been generated by Hewlett-Packard, using the SmartBits tester and the SmartApplications (revision 1.70) software suite, both from NetCom Systems. This combination is used by most network testing houses and the press to determine basic performance numbers for networking equipment. The maximum number of test ports with SmartBits at 10Mbps or 100Mbps is 80. SmartApplications v1.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.1.3 Latency Test - broadcast traffic In this SmartApplications test a 64 byte broadcast packet is sent into port 1 of the switch. The FIFO18 time it takes for the packet to emerge from the different ports is then recorded. The important measurement here is the variability between ports. 6.1.3.1 100Mbps 64 byte broadcast packet Port 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Latency 9.7 µs 9.8 µs 9.9 µs 8.9 µs 9.2 µs 9 µs 9.2 µs 9.4 µs 9.5 µs 9.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.2 HP ProCurve Switch 2424M These numbers have been generated by Hewlett-Packard, using the SmartBits tester and the SmartApplications (revision 3.01) software suite, both from NetCom Systems. This combination is used by most network testing houses and the press to determine basic performance numbers for networking equipment.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.2.3 Latency Test - broadcast traffic In this SmartApplications test a 64 byte broadcast packet is sent into port 1 of the switch. The FIFO20 time it takes for the packet to emerge from the different ports is then recorded. The important measurement here is the variability between ports. 6.2.3.1 100Mbps 64 byte broadcast packet Port 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Latency 13.5µs 12.0µs 12.5µs 13.0µs 13.5µs 13.0µs 13.3µs 11.7µs 12.2µs 12.7µs 13.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.3 HP ProCurve Switch 1600M 6.3.1 Throughput test 6.3.1.1 100BT Port pairs active: 12, (24 ports) = 1.2Gbps data out of the tester21 Test length: 60 seconds Packet size (bytes) Total Packets Percentage 64 1785720 100.0 128 1013508 100.0 256 543480 100.0 512 281952 100.0 1024 143676 100.0 1280 115380 100.0 1518 97524 100.0 512 28200 100.0 1024 14364 100.0 1280 11544 100.0 1518 9756 100.0 6.3.1.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.3.3 Latency Test - broadcast traffic In this SmartApplications test a 64 byte broadcast packet is sent into port 1 of the switch. The FIFO23 time it takes for the packet to emerge from the different ports is then recorded. The important measurement here is the variability between ports. 6.3.3.1 100Mbps 64 byte broadcast packet Port Latency 2 9.0 µs 3 9.4 µs 4 9.6 µs 5 9.7 µs 6 9.9 µs 7 10.0 µs 8 10.2 µs 9 9.0 µs 10 9.4 µs 11 9.7 µs 12 9.
HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 8000M / 2424M / 1600M Reviewer’s Guide 6.4 HP ProCurve Switch 100/1000Base-T Module The HP ProCurve Switch 100/1000Base-T Module was tested by Hewlett-Packard using the IXIA Communications tester with the 1000Base-T Modules running the RFC 2544 Throughput Test. 6.4.1.
