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shaw22
shaw22
New Member
April 26, 2023
Question

How to test and compare L2 and L3 switches

  • April 26, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2065 views

Greetings:

Question 1:

I have to deploy 19 L2 switches and 2 L3 switch. Need help in picking the right switch. I am going to use SNMP and Sflow with Auvik.com network management software to manage these switches. So it comes down to the hardware performance of the switch.
I have the three switch models from the manufacturers on trial - need to figure out how to test them. Is there a step by step document to conduct this test ?

 

Question 2:

Switch model 1 - showing switching capacity, forwarding rate and stacking bandwidth in duplex where as other switch manufacturers does not mention duplex. Is switch manufacturer 1 inflating the forwarding rate and stack bandwidth?

See switch details here

https://imgur.com/et9J7oQ

2 replies

ebilcari
Staff
ebilcari
Staff
April 27, 2023

In the datasheet the Specification part it's very helpful to choose a model that fulfill your setup requirements: https://www.fortinet.com/content/dam/fortinet/assets/data-sheets/FortiSwitch_Secure_Access_Series.pdf

The values of the DS are tested values. If you still want to test, iperf is a nice tool to generate test traffic.

Switching capacity counts the traffic as duplex, for example in a 1Gbps port if you want to achieve wired-speed communication it will use 2Gbps switching throughput (1up and 1down).

Emirjon
Johnharper
Johnharper
New Member
April 28, 2023

Look at the product code of the switch. If the switch ends with "EMI" then it's a Layer 3 switch. If it's "SMI" then it could be a layer 2 only switch. TO convert the appliance from Layer 2 to Layer 3, you need to have a hardware upgrade.

 

Greetings,
James

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