Evidence by the research organisation, The Tolly Group, into Fast Ethernet and High-Speed Token Ring (HSTR) technology provides evidence that larger frames not only result in higher aggregate server throughput - but are more resource-efficient than their smaller frames.
This was revealed when Tolly testers examined Olicom`s new standards-based HSTR PCI server network interface card and HSTR switch module and comparable products from a Fast Ethernet vendor.
The report is available at www.tolly.com, Document No. 8292.
Commenting on the test, Olicom SA country manager Nick Mulller, said the premise of the test was to use HSTR`s support for large frame sizes to show how effectively and rapidly HSTR can move bulk data from one point in a network to another.
"The test revealed that, unlike opening the throttle on a powerboat, where added speed has a high cost in fuel, large frames actually deliver more value per CPU cycle spent than small frames.
The Tolly test had 10 switched clients conducting bi-directional file transfers with a server connected to the same switch via a single 100 Mbps connection.
In order to make certain the server was not a bottleneck, Tolly employed a Compaq Prolinea, dual-Pentium 400-MHz system.
Depending on the specific test being run, the clients were either 10M bit/sec Ethernet stations or 16M bit/sec token-ring stations. The full-duplex server connection was Fast Ethernet or HSTR.
"To provide an `apples-to-apples` comparison, Tolly ran a file transfer test with Token Ring`s frame size scaled back to Fast Ethernet`s maximum, 1 518 bytes," explained Muller.
"The aggregate throughput of the HSTR server outpaced the Fast Ethernet configuration by about 20%. HSTR delivered 150 Mbps of aggregate throughput, compared with Fast Ethernet`s 126 Mbps.
"As the Token Ring frame size increased, aggregate throughput continued to increase: 4 Kb, 8 Kb and 17 800-byte frames delivered 163 Mbps, 167 Mbps and 168 Mbps throughput, respectively."
Ultimately, HSTR showed close to a 40% performance improvement over Fast Ethernet.
"Throughput results alone don`t tell the whole story," adds Muller. "The CPU resource figures were even more revealing. While 1 518-byte HSTR frames delivered 3,21 Mbps for every 1% of server CPU consumed, at 8K-byte frames, for example, throughput doubled to 6,32 Mbps," added Muller.
The Tolly Group is a strategic consulting and independent testing firm in Manasquan, N.J.
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