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  Cisco Raises Stakes In Fast Ethernet Switching |
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By Mark Degner
Looking for a sure-bet Fast Ethernet switch that combines versatility and manageability in a cost-effective, easily deployed unit? Cisco Systems ups the ante with its Catalyst 2916M XL, a member of the new Catalyst 2900 XL line of Fast Ethernet switches. Cisco's latest product is an autosensing 10/100TX Ethernet switch with a rich features set, 16 10/100TX ports and two bays that can accept optional modules. With its ports independently negotiating speed, this product is ideal for networking your desktops or for aggregating 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps workgroups. I was positively dazzled by the product's innumerable options and ability to switch at wire speed.
What a Player! I connected this Cisco unit to a Netcom System's Smartbits performance analyzer in Network Computing's lab at the University of Wisconsin to test its performance. The switch proved its mettle by forwarding packets ranging from 64 bytes to 1,518 bytes. It also successfully passed the packet-loss test, transmitting the same variety of packet sizes at wire speed without dropping any packets. If you're looking to upgrade to Fast Ethernet, these switches offer Cisco's proprietary Fast Ether-Channel architecture. Also called port grouping, Fast Ether-Channel is a low-priced alternative for increasing your backbone's speed. Using full-duplex communication, you can configure any combination of ports to create up to four channels of up to four ports each for a theoretical throughput rate of 800 Mbps. I was curious to find out just how fast Fast Ether-Channel is. I configured the four-port 10/100 module on my switch as a Fast Ether-Channel to simulate a backbone and connected six Pentium workstations to act as clients. I connected the switc h to an identical switch with a similarly configured four-port module, and I connected six Pentium Pros to that switch to act as servers. Using Ganymede Software's Chariot on our clients and servers for benchmarking purposes, I configured the test to simulate large file transfers from the servers to the clients and vice versa on a one-to-one basis. I first set up a connection between one server and one client to get some control benchmarks. Transmitting at full-duplex, the client and server transferred information at about 30 Mbps each. Next, I configured the switch to run the same test among all 12 machines. I transmitted an average of 364 Mbps of information between the two switches over our full-duplex Fast Ether-Channel. After examining the data, I confirmed that the transmission limitation pertained to the machines--not the switches. Management for the Masses One of the most interesting features of Cisco's line of switches is a new Web-based management interface. Using a clever mixture of H TML and Java with an integrated Web server, the Catalyst 2916M provides you with access to many of its options via a familiar Web browser. Its easy-to-follow hierarchy and instructions make managing the switch a breeze. Make sure your Web browser is at least Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0; the JavaScript from the Web utilities will not run on older versions of these browsers. If you're more interested in the power of a command line, you will be happy to learn that the command-line interface found in Cisco routers is also present in the switch. Cisco's IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is a bit cryptic, so if you are not familiar with it, it may take some time to adjust to it. Mark Degner is a network engineer at the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering. He can be reached at mdegner@cae.wisc.edu. |
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NetWare5: NOS Battle Renews By Lames Drews VitalSigns' VitalAnalysis Brings Network Bliss By Richard Hoffman Wall Data Dishes Up Spicy SALSA for the Web By Barry Nance |
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