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From: hayes@Apple.COM (Jim Hayes)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: AppleTalk Internet Router Performance (was: Re: phase 2 with CAP/KIP)
Message-ID: <44035@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 16 Aug 90 20:15:58 GMT
References: <2687293@AppleLink.Apple.COM> <1990Aug9.134900.215@cs.utk.edu> <66709@coherent.coherent.com> <1990Aug16.173333.1050@cs.utk.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., ECO Networking Group
Lines: 55

Regarding the Apple Internet Router, Wolfgang Naegeli (wnn@ornl.gov) writes:

>How limited is the throughput if I run it on a IIfx?  I suspect it might 
>beat a FastPath, GatorBox, or MultiGate.

    LocalTalk to LocalTalk -and-
    LocalTalk to EtherTalk -and-
    LocalTalk to TokenTalk on the Mac IIx *and above* route at the same speeds.
    This is simply because LocalTalk is the bottleneck, so an fx is probably
    overkill here...

    You get about 12k/sec routing LocalTalk to LocalTalk
    You get about 22k/sec routing LocalTalk to TokenTalk
    you get about 23k/sec routing LocalTalk to Ethernet

    The ONLY tangible improvement the IIfx gives you is better interactive
    performance if you have a router running in the background.  This is
    because the IIfx uses one of its dedicated I/O processors to do all the
    LocalTalk transmission instead of the 68030.

You start to see some speed improvement when you start routing EtherTalk and
TokenTalk.  Since the TokenTalk card has its own on board I/O processor, you
won't see much improvement from a Mac IIx and up.  Perhaps 3k/sec more as
the processor can set stuff up faster.

    You get about 70-80k/sec routing TokenTalk to TokenTalk

For Ethertalk, the difference is quite significant.

    You get about 100-105k/sec routing TokenTalk to EtherTalk on the IIx and
    above.

    EtherTalk-EtherTalk:
	Mac II:     ~160k/sec.  (We use lots of these at Apple)
	Mac IIx/cx  ~175k/sec.
	Mac IIci    ~200k/sec.  (We use some of these at Apple)
	Mac IIfx    ~250k/sec.

The above numbers are unofficial maximum performance measures.
You milage may vary.

---

Several major high-performance router manufacturers have announced support
for AppleTalk routing in their products.  If your network already has
high-performance routers, adding AppleTalk support should just be a software
upgrade away...  This is by far the cheapest way to add AppleTalk to
an existing high-performance network.


-- 
Jim Hayes, AppleTalk-TCP/IP Weenie
Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer Inc.

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