We tested Quagga 0.99.4 on Gentoo Linux (kernel v2.6.15) running on both a Dell 2850 and a Dell 1550.
The Dell 1550 has a single PIII 933MHz processor with 256MB of RAM and two 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports. We also ran the tests on a Cisco 2621 with two 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports and a Nortel 5520 with 48 1000Mbps Ethernet ports for comparison.
We used a Spirent Communications Smartbits 6000 chassis load with 3301A Terametrics 10/100/1000Base-T cards for all test runs. We used Smartflow for most tests and TeraRouting Test v5.0 for all the routing convergence tests.
We measured Layer 3 throughput by finding the maximum throughput without loss in a bidirectional two port-pair with all ports in full duplex mode at the fastest supported link speed. The test is repeated for seven packet sizes (64 bytes, 128 bytes, 256 bytes, 512 bytes, 1,024 bytes, 1,280 bytes and 1,518 bytes).
We measured Layer 3 packet loss by sending bidirectional traffic streams through a two-port pair with all ports in full-duplex mode at the fastest supported link speed. The traffic stream rates are increased from 10% load to 100% load in 10% increments. The test is repeated for seven packet sizes (64 bytes, 128 bytes, 256 bytes, 512 bytes, 1,024 bytes, 1,280 bytes and 1,518 bytes).
We measured Layer 3 latency at the maximum throughput with no loss across a bidirectional two port-pair in full-duplex mode at the fastest supported link speed. The test is repeated for seven packet sizes (64 bytes, 128 bytes, 256 bytes, 512 bytes, 1,024 bytes, 1,280 bytes and 1,518 bytes). The latency values referenced in the article are for 10% load with 1,280-byte packets.
The maximum number of OSPF routes was found by loading the routing table with advertised routes until the routing table could not hold any more.
Route convergence was tested by the following procedure:
* Send 80% of max number of supported routes.
* Send traffic over those routes to verify the routes.
* Withdraw 20% of the advertised routes to measure the amount of time for the router to adjust and to confirm that the router adjusted properly.
* Readvertise the withdrawn routes to verify that the routes are added to the route table, how long it takes to add the routes, and if the router can properly handle the route operations.
