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From: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin
Subject: Re: IRC Net Bandwidth (was IRC and Security)
Message-ID: <11378@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 23 Mar 91 08:24:21 GMT
References: <703@seqp4.UUCP> <16929:Mar2121:19:0091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <704@seqp4.UUCP>
Reply-To: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Lines: 22
X-Local-Date: Sat, 23 Mar 91 00:24:21 PST

In article <704@seqp4.UUCP> jdarcy@seqp4.UUCP (Jeffrey d'Arcy) writes:
>Chris, do you know if the NSFnet routers can handle 3600pps in loopback?

This is all from my memory of one conversation on a noisy bus (the kind
that carries people around cities, not the kind you find in a computer)
from almost a year ago, and I understand things have been improved (I
certainly hope so!).  In other words, do not assume that this number
represents reality:  At the time the NSS routers peaked out at not much
over 300 packets per second, and certainly under 1000 packets per second.

Another word of warning: this is probably a deduction from a measurement
showing that each NSS hop added an otherwise unaccountable 2 to 4 ms. of
latency to each packet (regardless of packet size).

At the time (and perhaps still), getting a packet from one end of an
NSS to another actually involved sending it through 3 to 5 separate
machines.  There was also mention of someone `getting the packet
forwarding cost down to about 14,000 instructions' (these being on IBM
ROMPs)---apparently this was an improvement that was not yet in place.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Lawrence Berkeley Lab CSE/EE (+1 415 486 5427)
Berkeley, CA		Domain:	torek@ee.lbl.gov