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Executive Summary: Layer 3 Switches How We Tested Layer 3 Switches

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Fixed-Configuration Layer 3 Switche Features How We Tested QoS Test Results and Filtering Test Results

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King of The Road: Central Site Routers, Features, January 15, 1998 Bringing Prioritization Services To Ethernet, Workshops, August 1, 1998 Gigabit Ethernet Switches Set To Take On The Enterprise, Reviews, September 1, 1998 The Backbone of Your Business, Features, January 25, 1999

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We invited vendors to submit fixed-configuration Layer 3 products. The products had to support 10/100 Fast Ethernet interfaces, as well as the OSPF routing protocol. We received switches from Allied Telesyn International, Compaq Computer Corp., Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks.

To view the Report card on Fixed-Configuration Layer 3 Switches
We also received responses from several other major players. Cisco Systems said it didn't have a fixed-configuration Layer 3 switch at the time of our tests. Nortel Networks' Bay Networks division was hesitant to participate after our last review (see "Gigabit Ethernet Switches Set To Take on the Enterprise," at www.networkcomputing.com/916/916r1.html), claiming that its first-generation silicon didn't stack up against some of the competition's newer hardware. The Alcatel-Packet Engines merger was cited as the reason for Packet Engine's lack of a product. Cabletron Systems stated it didn't have the necessary resources to participate. Holontech and CNET submitted products, but they didn't meet our entry requirements.

Are all Layer 3 switches created equal? At first glance, they all offer the similar bells and whistles: 802.1Q VLANs (virtual LANs), 802.1p QoS (Quality of Service) and 10/100 autonegotiation are common to most Layer 3 switches. All the Layer 3 switches we tested claimed to support 802.1p and 802.1Q priority and VLAN tagging standards. However, these products have been around longer than the ratified standards, so we were suspicious. We found that Foundry's NetIron router did not properly support 802.1p tagging. The company's engineers confirmed that the NetIron router's hardware was designed before the standard had been ratified and did not fully support the final standard. Foundry's FastIron II also did not fully support 802.1p-tagged frames, though a software update will correct the problem. Extreme's products honored 802.1p frames perfectly.

Each of the products we tested also support QoS on a per-port basis. We were able to configure all switches to provide this type of QoS. Moving up the OSI model, we also tested each product's ability to assign QoS based on MAC (Media Access Control) address. Both Foundry and Extreme supported this feature. The Extreme product supported QoS based on destination address, while the Foundry products supported QoS based on source or destination IP address. Both vendors' products successfully assigned QoS based on IP address.

Foundry also supported the ability to classify traffic based on Layer 4 TCP and UDP port numbers. We tested this functionality and found that it worked on Foundry's FastIron II, but caused serious performance degradation on its NetIron product. Extreme did not support this traffic classification.