HP 9304M User Manual

HP ProCurve Switch Routing Switch 9304M HP ProCurve Switch Routing Switch 9308M

Date 4/1/1999 Version 4.0

reviewer’s guide

HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M

HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M

HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M / 9304M Reviewer’s Guide

Table of Contents

1. BACKGROUND................................................................................................................4

1.1 HP’s Proactive Networking ...................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 What is a Routing Switch?........................................................................................................................................ 4

1.3 Hewlett-Packard Switch Products ........................................................................................................................... 4

1.3.1 HP ProCurve Routing Switches Covered in this Guide....................................................................................4

1.3.2 Other Switches Available From HP.................................................................................................................. 5

1.4 HP Switch Positioning ............................................................................................................................................... 7

1.4.1 Positioning for the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M ................................................................................ 7

1.4.2 Positioning for the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M ................................................................................ 7

2. EVALUATION FEATURES AND BENEFITS ................................................................... 8

2.1 Feature Set Summary................................................................................................................................................ 8

2.2 Architecture ............................................................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.1 Hardware Architecture Summary ..................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.2 Packet Processor ............................................................................................................................................... 9

2.2.3 Shared Memory................................................................................................................................................. 9

2.2.4 Forwarding Engine............................................................................................................................................ 9

2.2.5 Priority Queues ............................................................................................................................................... 10

2.2.6 System Management Interface........................................................................................................................10

2.2.7 Backplane Design ........................................................................................................................................... 10

2.3 Layer 3 Services....................................................................................................................................................... 10

2.3.1 IP..................................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.3.2 IPX.................................................................................................................................................................. 11

2.3.3 AppleTalk ....................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.4 QoS............................................................................................................................................................................ 12

2.4.1 IEEE 802.3x Flow Control ............................................................................................................................. 12

2.4.2 IEEE 802.1p Priority Support ......................................................................................................................... 12

2.4.3 Multicast Support............................................................................................................................................ 12

2.4.3.1 DVMRP ...................................................................................................................................................... 12

2.4.3.2 PIM (Dense)................................................................................................................................................ 12

2.4.3.3 IGMP .......................................................................................................................................................... 13

2.4.3.4 IP Tunneling................................................................................................................................................ 13

2.4.4 Layer 4 Features.............................................................................................................................................. 13

2.4.4.1 Priority Queues ........................................................................................................................................... 13

2.4.4.2 Layer 4 Filtering ......................................................................................................................................... 13

2.5 VLANs ....................................................................................................................... ............................................... 13

2.5.1 IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Support ......................................................................................................................... 14

2.5.2 IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol ............................................................................................................ 14

2.6 Port Trunking (Link Aggregation) ........................................................................................................................ 14

2.7 Filtering .................................................................................................................................................................... 15

2.7.1 Layer 2 Filtering ............................................................................................................................................. 15

2.7.2 Layer 3 and Layer 4 Filtering ......................................................................................................................... 16

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2.8 Flexibility.................................................................................................................................................................. 16

2.9 Reliability ................................................................................................................................................................. 16

2.9.1 Lifetime Software Updates (Best in the Industry) .......................................................................................... 17

2.9.2 Warranty - One Year....................................................................................................................................... 17

2.9.3 Availability ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

2.9.4 Service and Support ........................................................................................................................................ 17

2.9.5 Year 2000 Compliance ................................................................................................................................... 18

2.10 Network Management .......................................................................................................................................... 18

2.10.1 MIB Support ................................................................................................................................................... 18

2.10.2 RMON Support............................................................................................................................................... 19

2.10.3 Network Monitoring Port................................................................................................................................ 19

2.10.4 Console Support.............................................................................................................................................. 19

2.11 Some 9304M / 9308M Routing Switch Maximums ............................................................................................ 20

3. PERFORMANCE TESTING............................................................................................ 21

3.1 Throughput/Packet Loss Rate ................................................................................................................................ 21

3.2 Congestion Control.................................................................................................................................................. 22

3.2.1 Head-of-line-blocking..................................................................................................................................... 22

3.2.2 Bi-directional Congestion Testing (X-Stream) ............................................................................................... 22

3.3 Latency ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22

4. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION........................................................................................ 24

4.1 ProCurve Networking Web Site............................................................................................................................. 24

4.2 Reseller Plaza ........................................................................................................................................................... 24

4.3 White papers ............................................................................................................................................................ 24

5. PRICING ......................................................................................................................... 25

6. APPENDIX A: PERFORMANCE FIGURES ................................................................... 26

6.1 HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M.................................................................................................................... 26

6.1.1 IP Routing Throughput Test – Packets Within Module s ................................................................................ 26

6.1.1.1 Gigabit-SX ports ......................................................................................................................................... 26

6.1.1.2 100BT ......................................................................................................................................................... 26

6.1.2 IP Routing Throughput Test – All Packets Across the Backplane.................................................................. 26

6.1.2.1 Gigabit-SX ports ......................................................................................................................................... 26

6.1.2.2 100BT ......................................................................................................................................................... 26

6.1.3 Latency Test - Unicast Traffic – Packets Within the Modules ....................................................................... 27

6.1.3.1 Gigabit-SX ports ......................................................................................................................................... 27

6.1.3.2 100Mbps ..................................................................................................................................................... 27

6.1.4 Latency Test – Unicast Traffic – Packets Across Backplane.......................................................................... 27

6.1.4.1 Gigabit-SX ports ......................................................................................................................................... 27

6.1.4.2 100Mbps

.................................................................................................................................................... 27

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HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M / 9304M Reviewer’s Guide

1. Background

This Routing Switch Reviewer’s Guide will help network testing engineers at computer trade publications, resellers and end-user sites evaluate the merits of the HP ProCurve routing switches.

1.1 HP’s Proactive Networking

HP proactive networking is an extensible line of products working together to provide the control network administrators need to deliver the network uptime and performance that their organizations require. This guide describes one part of HP proactive networking: the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M and HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M products.

1.2 What is a Routing Switch?

A routing switch combines the speed and low cost of a Layer 2 switch, with the ability to route at Layer 3. Unlike traditional routers which are processor based, a routing switch does its routing in hardware at or near wire speed for IP. Some routing switches, such as the HP ProCurve routing switches, also route IPX in hardware. In addition, HP ProCurve routing switches provide processorbased AppleTalk routing. Each port on the routing switch can be routed, or combinations of ports can be switched, with the port groups tied to virtual router interfaces inside the routing switch.

It is this combination of high speed, flexibility, and low cost that make routing switches very attractive for local LAN environments.

1.3 Hewlett-Packard Switch Products

1.3.1 HP ProCurve Routing Switches Covered in this Guide

This guide covers the following Hewlett-Packard routing switch products:

HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M

A feature-rich, modular, 8 slot chassis-based routing switch delivering 96 million pps performance with up to 64 Gigabit Ethernet ports or up to 188 10/100 Mbps autosensing ports. Routes IP, IPX and AppleTalk. This product is ideal for large networks and provides high performance as a collapsed backbone. Modules available are:

•

HP ProCurve 9300 10/100 Module (24 port)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 10/100 Management Module (16 port)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 100Base-FX Module (24 port, MT-RJ connectors)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 Gigabit SX Module (8 port, SC connectors)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 Gigabit SX Management Module (8 port, SC connectors)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 Gigabit SX/LX Module(4 ports SX, 4 ports LX, SC connectors)

•

HP ProCurve 9300 Gigabit SX/LX Management Module (4 ports SX, 4 ports LX, SC connectors)

HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M

A feature-rich, modular, 4 slot chassis-based routing switch delivering 48 million pps performance with up to 32 Gigabit Ethernet ports or up to 88 10/100 autosensing ports. This product is ideal for medium-to-large networks and provides high performance in collapsed backbones, data centers, and server farms. Has the same architecture design and uses the same modules as the 9308M.

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Pricing for each of these switches and modules is given in section 5.

1.3.2 Other Switches Available From HP

Below is a complete list of switches available from HP. Separate Reviewer’s Guides are available for

HP ProCurve Switch 8000M / 1600M, HP ProCurve Switch 4000M / 2424M

the AdvanceStack Switch 2000 / 800T switches.

All managed HP switches include embedded Web-based management and the HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches network management application.

HP ProCurve Switch 8000M

A modular 10 slot mini-chassis backbone Layer 2 switch that provides high 10/100 autosensing port density (up to 80), and also provides multiple Gigabit and 100Base-FX fiber-optic port connectivity. Advanced software features include Switch Meshing and Cisco Fast EtherChannel Excellent as a small backbone switch. Modules available are:

•

HP ProCurve Switch 10/100Base-T module - (8) autosensing 10/100 Ethernet UTP ports

•

HP ProCurve Switch Gigabit-SX module - (1) 1000Mbps multi-mode fiber optic port

•

HP Switch Gigabit-LX module provides (1) 1000Mbps multi-mode or single-mode fiber-optic port. Fully adheres to the IEEE 802.3z specification.

•

HP ProCurve Switch 100Base-FX module - (4) 100Mbps multi-mode fiber optic ports

, and the HP

support.

•

HP ProCurve Switch 10Base-FL module - (4) 10Mbps multi-mode fiber optic ports

HP ProCurve Switch 1600M

A fixed port switch with sixteen fixed 10/100Mbps autosensing ports and one expansion slot, primarily for Gigabit connectivity, but will accept any of the modules listed with the HP ProCurve Switch 8000M above. Same software feature set as the Switch 8000M. Ideal for server farm connectivity.

HP ProCurve Switch 4000M

The HP ProCurve Switch 4000M is a modular switch that comes standard with (40) 10/100 Base-T UTP autosensing ports, with five open slots for additional modules. The HP ProCurve Switch can support up to (80) 10/100 autosensing 10/100Base-T ports, uses the same modules as the Switch 8000M, and is ideal for scaleable/expandable low-cost migration to 10/100 desktop switching for smaller groups of users.

HP ProCurve Switch 2424M

The HP ProCurve Switch 2424M provides 24 fixed 10/100 Base-T autosensing ports and one expansion slot that accepts any of the 8000M/1600M/4000M modules. There is also a HP ProCurve Switch 2424M Stacking Module available that provides two full-duplex transceiver-based Gigabit ports. Transceivers available are Gigabit SX and LX and a Stacking Kit that provides a low cost stacking connection between HP ProCurve Switch 2424Ms. The HP ProCurve Switch 2424M is ideal for low cost migration 10/100 desktop switching for smaller groups of users.

HP ProCurve Switch 2224

Fixed configuration unmanaged desktop switch with (24) autosensing 10/100 Mbps ports, one of the UTP ports can be used as a 100Base-FX port with the addition of an optional transceiver.

HP ProCurve Switch 212M

Fixed configuration top-of-stack switch with (12) 10Mbps Ethernet ports and (2) 100Base-T ports (one fixed TX and one transceiver-based port)

EtherChannel® is a registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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HP ProCurve Switch 224M

Fixed configuration desktop switch with (24) 10Mbps Ethernet ports and (2) 100Base-T ports (one fixed TX and one transceiver-based port)

HP AdvanceStack Switch 800T

Eight fixed autosensing half/full duplex 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports, all transceiver-based for top-ofstack applications.

HP AdvanceStack Switch 2000

A flexible six slot high speed backplane switch for connectivity into legacy LAN environments. Modules available include:

•

Two port 100Base-T module (transceiver-based),

•

Two port 100VG module (transceiver-based),

•

Four port 10Base-T module,

•

Four port 10Base-FL module

•

One port DAS FDDI module, and

•

1 port OC-3 ATM module (co-developed with FORE Systems).

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1.4 HP Switch Positioning

HP identifies three different classifications for switches: node/desktop, top-of-stack and backbone switches. The routing switches are targeted at the medium to large backbone. Requirements in this area are high bandwidth, Layer 3 routing services, VLAN services, quality of service (QoS) controls, flexible filtering, and fault tolerance. The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M and HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M meet all these needs, providing a stable, resilient, non-blocking backbone.

The HP ProCurve routing switches are well complemented by the Layer 2 HP ProCurve switches that do the wiring closet, server farm, and desktop aggregation, uplinking to the routing switch through either Gigabit Ethernet or 100 Mbps links or trunks.

HP ProCurve Product Line

9304M/9308M 10/100/Gigabit

Routing Switches

8000M/1600M 10/100/Gigabit

Switches

Mbps

HP Network Design Center

(factory-based, full-service)

Increasing Performance

4000M/2424M

Mbps

10/100

Switches

with optional

Gigabit uplink

10/100

Switch

Mbps

with 100

uplinks

Hubs

Mbps

Hubs

Wiring Closet

Backbone

1.4.1 Positioning for the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M

The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M is a feature-rich, modular, chassis-based Layer 3 routing switch that delivers 48 million packets per second performance for up to 32 Gigabit ports or 88 10/100 Mbps ports. Layer 4 controls are also available, allowing tuning of packet streams based on Layer 4 information without needing the cooperation of the end nodes. Port flexibility is provided through the modular design, with modules available for 10/100 UTP autosensing connections, Gigabit SX and LX connections, and 100Base-FX connections. Designed for medium-to-large networks, the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M provides non-blocking high performance Layer 3 routing in collapsed backbones, data centers and server farms.

1.4.2 Positioning for the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M

The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M is a feature-rich, modular, chassis-based Layer 3 routing switch that delivers 96 million packets per second performance on up to 64 Gigabit ports or 188 10/100 Mbps ports. Layer 4 controls are also available, allowing tuning of packet streams based on Layer 4 information without needing the cooperation of the end nodes. Port flexibility is provided through the modular design, with modules available for 10/100 UTP autosensing connections, Gigabit SX and LX connections, and 100Base-FX connections. Designed for large networks, the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M provides non-blocking high performance Layer 3 routing at the core of the network.

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2. Evaluation Features and Benefits

2.1 Feature Set Summary

The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M and HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M are store-andforward Layer 3 routing switches that feature:

•

A non-blocking Layer 3 architecture consisting of shared memory on each card, all interconnected via the backplane cross point matrix switch fabric. 9308M: 96 Million pps, 9304M: 48 Million pps.

•

Hardware wire speed routing for IP and IPX. Processor-based 300,000 pps routing for AppleTalk.

•

IP Functionality supported:

�

Routing services: RIP (v1, v1 compatible v2, and v2), OSPF (RFC 1583 and RFC 2178 compliant).

�

DNS Resolver - converts names to DNS server addresses

�

UDP Helper - supports packet relay of UDP packets for certain services

•

IPX RIP/SAP routing supported

•

AppleTalk Routing Table Maintenance Protocol (RTMP) routing

•

Multicast support: IGMP, PIM (dense) and DVMRP

•

Link Aggregation (Port Trunks) – Switch-to-switch and switch-to-server aggregated links allow scalable bandwidth communication. Can be used in many cases to trunk to non-HP devices. Compatible with Cisco Fast EtherChannel (PAgP turned off).

•

Up to (4096) 802.1Q compliant port-based, Layer 2 and Layer 3 VLANs for segmentation of local LANs

•

Extensive filtering capabilities based on Layer 2 addresses and Layer 3 routes or addresses. For IP, Layer 4 port number filtering is supported. AppleTalk zone filtering is available. Filtering (except AppleTalk) is performed at wire-speed.

•

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) – Provides hot standby router services. A second 9300 can be in active stand-by on the network in case of failure of the primary router. VRRP is a proposed standard of the IETF, RFC 2338.

•

One year warranty, support services are available for additional years.

•

Free lifetime software updates (best in the industry)

•

Free end-user telephone support available worldwide during the warranty period.

•

Extensive net management capabilities including:

�

Web-based management for anytime, anywhere configuration access

�

HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches (standalone), seamless integration with HP OpenView/NT

�

Integration into HP OpenView/UX with option HP Hub & Switch Management for HP OpenView/UX.

�

SNMP/MIB II/RMON support on all ports for monitoring and control

�

Ability to configure a network monitoring port for use with external probes or analyzers

•

Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1D) support - one instance per VLAN.

•

Year 2000 compliant

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2.2 Architecture

2.2.1 Hardware Architecture Summary

The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M has 4 identical slots, while the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M has eight. Any of the modules can be put in any of the slots. The only rule is that there must be one, and only one, card with the management function installed in the chassis. While there are managed versions of each of the different modules available (except for the 100Base-FX module), it is best to have management on a Gigabit card as there is no loss of actual ports. The managed version of the 10/100 card, on the other hand, has only 16 ports on it compared to the 24 ports on the unmanaged card.

Each of the modules, which is based on a shared memory structure, is interconnected through a backplane using a crosspoint matrix interconnect. The crosspoint matrix in the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M is twice as large as the HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M to handle up to double the number of packets expected from the eight slots versus the four slots in the 9304M.

The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9304M has two slots for the load-sharing power supplies. One supply ships with the 9304M and can power a fully loaded chassis. The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9308M has four power supply slots available; a minimum of two supplies (supplied) are needed to run a fully loaded chassis. A third and/or fourth power supply can be installed for redundancy and longer expected overall power supply life.

Overall, the hardware is designed to provide a non-blocking architecture, so that the HP ProCurve routing switches can easily sit in the middle of a medium-to-large enterprise campus providing the traffic-forwarding performance needed.

The HP ProCurve routing switches allow 64,000 MAC addresses. Boot time from a cold start is <10 seconds.

2.2.2 Packet Processor

Each port on a module has a packet processor associated with it. The packet processor is responsible for reading into the packet headers so that forwarding decisions can be made based on the Layer 2, Layer 3, Layer 4 and filtering requirements. The packet processor then generates a forwarding identifier (FID) that defines destination port, port mirroring requirements, packet type, VLAN affiliation, prioritization and other parameters. If processor based functions are needed, such as AppleTalk routing, that is also determined. The packet processor also modifies the bits in the packet as required for routing, such as time-to-live (TTL), MAC addresses and checksums. If Layer 4 information is to be processed, that is also determined at this point, with the FID modified as necessary.

Once the FID has been determined for a packet, it is stored in a cache area that is managed by the management board. Actual movement of the packet through the routing switch data pathways is specified by the FID, resulting in the packet making it’s way to the proper output port(s) of the routing switch.

2.2.3 Shared Memory

Modules are based on a shared memory architecture. Packets are buffered on the module in this shared memory area. The pipeline to/from the packet processors to the shared memory has a 64 Gbps throughput. The actual data rate through this switch fabric is 32 Gbps, since in shared memory designs the packet has to travel the fabric twice, once inbound and once outbound. The 32 Gbps is ample, as the maximum data rate the shared memory will see is 16 Gbps, 8 Gbps from the ports, and 8 Gbps from the backplane. The packet is managed in shared memory through a shared memory identifier (SMID).

This shared memory area size on the module is 2 to 8 MB, depending on the module type.

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