Abstract

3Com Corporation commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate the performance of the 3Com NETBuilder II’s 100Mbit/s Fast Ethernet (100Base-TX and 100Base-FX) and FDDI modules. Tests were conducted for bridging and routing performance. Results show that the integration of Fast Ethernet modules into a NETBuilder II network is a simple and effective way to boost performance. Existing 10Mbit/s client segments can be leveraged by adding 100Mbit/s Fast Ethernet modules to the NETBuilder II for server segments. Further, the NETBuilder II achieves aggregate throughput of over 70Mbit/s when both clients and servers reside on 100Mbit/s segments. Tests also proved that the NETBuilder II delivers nearly identical performance for bridging and routing of network traffic. 

Additional tests demonstrated the use of Fast Ethernet 100BASE-FX and FDDI modules as high-speed links between routers. Results prove that the NETBuilder II provides high performance across either link type, allowing network designers a flexible choice in connecting network segments.

Tolly Group Report #5284 (December 1995) evaluates 3Com NETBuilder II Fast Ethernet (100Base-TX/FX) and FDDI modules for bridging and routing performance, and finds integration boosts throughput while keeping bridging and routing speeds essentially the same .

Key results

• 10 Mb clients → 100 Mb server. With 1,516-byte packet-burst traffic, NETBuilder II used >80% of bandwidth, reaching 25 Mbit/s aggregate and removing the prior 8.15 Mbit/s server bottleneck once the server moved to 100 Mb .

• 100 Mb clients ↔ 100 Mb server. Packet-burst tests delivered 70.92 Mbit/s bridging and 74.77 Mbit/s routing, roughly a ninefold gain over 10→10 Mb baselines .

• Backbone links between routers. Performance over FDDI vs 100Base-FX was similar: 61.55/72.73 Mbit/s (bridging/routing) on FDDI and 62.57/70.11 Mbit/s on 100Base-FX .

• Overall guidance. Moving servers to Fast Ethernet, and eventually clients, is a simple way to raise throughput; NETBuilder II reached >70 Mbit/s when both sides were 100 Mb, with bridging and routing behaving nearly identically .

Test method

Novell PERFORM3 generated 64, 512, and 1,494-byte frames and 1,516-byte packet-burst windows in a NetWare 4.1/IPX setup; scenarios covered 10→100 Mb, 100↔100 Mb, and NETBuilder-to-NETBuilder via FDDI or 100Base-FX backbones .

Bottom line

NETBuilder II’s Fast Ethernet and FDDI modules deliver 70+ Mbit/s on 100 Mb segments, >80% utilization in 10→100 upgrades, and near-parity between bridging and routing, giving network designers flexible, high-throughput options for incremental or full Fast Ethernet deployments .