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Dell Networking S6000

High-performance 10/40 GbE


Top-of-Rack Switch

Miercom Lab Testing Report

August 2013
Report *******
October
2013
Report 130815

Contents
1.0 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 3
2.0 About the Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch ............................................................. 4
3.0 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Test Bed Diagram ............................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Hardware and Software Featured in Testing ....................................................................... 6
4.0 Performance Testing .............................................................................................................. 7
4.1 RFC 2544 Throughput ........................................................................................................ 7
4.2 RFC 2544 Latency .............................................................................................................. 9
4.3 RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Throughput ................................................................................ 13
4.4 RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Latency ...................................................................................... 15
4.5 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Throughput .......................................................................... 17
4.6 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Latency ................................................................................ 19
4.7 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Group Join Delay and Group Leave Delay .......................................... 20
5.0 Scalability Test ..................................................................................................................... 22
6.0 Power Consumption and Efficiency Test .............................................................................. 23
7.0 VDI Scalability Testing ......................................................................................................... 24
8.0 Features............................................................................................................................... 27
8.1 Tool-less and Hot-swappable Maintenance ...................................................................... 27
8.2 Default Configuration ........................................................................................................ 27

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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1.0 Executive Summary


Dell engaged Miercom to evaluate its Dell Networking S6000 high-performance 10/40 GbE
Top-of-Rack/End-of-Row switch for high-bandwidth, low-latency deployments, such as use in
virtualized data centers.
Comprehensive, hands-on testing assessed performance and energy efficiency as well as
scalability to 10,000 virtual desktop users in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment.
Performance testing, which focused on throughput and latency, utilized RFC 2544, 2889 and
3918 benchmarking methodologies.
Key findings include:

Easily transmits frame sizes of 128 to 12000 bytes at full line rate with low latency and no
loss in RFC 2544, 2889 and 3918 testing

Verified table capacities support high port density and high performance: 16,384 IPv4
routes, 163,836 MAC addresses and 52,251 ARP addresses

RFC 2544 Layer 2 performance testing validated full line rate throughput of 2.56 Tbps
with all ports fully loaded and a forwarding rate of 1,464,007,507 frames per second (fps)

Energy consumption ranged from .25 of a watt per Gbps for the smallest frame size
tested, 64 bytes, to .12 for the largest frame size tested, 12000 bytes

Redundant power supplies and hot-swappable cooling fans and hard drives simplify
ongoing maintenance

With a base configuration of 32 ports of 40 GbE QSFP+, the switch can play an important role as
a spine switch in a leaf-spine architecture that is the foundation of a cloud-based environment. It
also can help to connect physical hardware and virtual machines in a virtualized environment.
The S6000 also can be configured with 96 ports of 10 GbE and eight additional ports of 40 GbE.
This is a migration path as speed in the network core approaches 40 Gbps.
Miercom was impressed with the S6000, which exhibited high performance and low latency in
performance testing while operating in store-and-forward mode and running two different
versions of the FTOS firmware, pre-release 9-0 (2-28) and production 9.0 (2.0). It also exhibited
a high level of scalability in a VDI environment.
The Dell S6000 Top-of-Row/End-of-Rack switch operating in store-and-forward mode has
earned Miercom Performance Verified.

Rob Smithers
CEO
Miercom

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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2.0 About the Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


The Dell Networking S6000 is a Layer 2 and Layer 3 Top-of-Row/End-of-Rack 10/40 Ethernet
switch designed for deployment in scenarios that require a combination of high bandwidth and
low latency.
A key deployment scenario is as a switch in traditional Ethernet and Layer 2 fabrics for virtual
data centers. Others scenarios are:

Aggregation switch for enterprise LAN serving mid-sized and large customers or handling
high-frequency financial trading, Web 2.0, big data and other heavy workload operations

Traditional Ethernet switch with redundant connections to 10 GbE rack and blade servers

The S6000 delivers high performance, 2.56 Tbps of switching I/O bandwidth in full duplex mode,
from a compact 1U form factor, which conserves rack space. The MTU verified in testing is
12000 bytes, a super jumbo frame size.
The primary configuration is 32 ports of 40 GbE QSFP+. An alternate configuration, 96 ports of
10 GbE and eight additional ports of 40 GbE, can create a pathway for the migration of speed in
the network core to 40 Gbps. Configuration of the FTOS switch firmware is done via the CLI. The
default forwarding mode is store-and-forward.
Large tables support the high port density and high performance of the S6000. Testing verified
the following capacities: IPv4 routing table, 16,384; MAC address table, 163,836; and ARP
address table, 52,251. All are beyond the vendor-stated capacity.
Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC), Data Center Bridge Exchange (DCBX) and Enhanced
Transmission Selection (ETS) make the S6000 a good fit for the Data Center Bridging (DCB)
environment and iSCSI storage networking.
Layer 2 multi-path support via Virtual Link Trunking (VLT) is a key feature. A proprietary Layer 2
link aggregation protocol, VLT offers servers connected to different access switches a redundant,
load-balancing connection to the network core in a loop-free environment that has benefits
beyond that of Spanning Tree Protocol.
The S6000 also supports Multi-domain Virtual Link Trunking (mVLT), a proprietary Dell design
for multi-dimensional VLT that allows multiple VLT domains to be linked with a VLT LAG. VLT
and mVLT enable the S6000 to be positioned as core-aggregation layer and to serve as a Layer
2 top-of-rack core or aggregation switch. The combination also provides a robust, multi-chassis
lagging feature that permits the switch infrastructure to maintain high availability even during
chassis upgrade times.
Tool-less mounting kits, redundant power supplies and hot-swappable hard drives and cooling
fans reduce the time and labor needed to install and maintain the S6000.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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3.0 Methodology
The Dell Networking S6000 switch was
evaluated in testing running a pre-release
version of the FTOS firmware, 9-0 (2-28) as
well as a production version, 9.0 (2.0).
In performance testing, throughput and
latency were measured in accordance with
the RFC 2544, 2889 and 3918 benchmarking
methodologies. Layer 2 and/or Layer 3 traffic
was utilized in all performance tests, the
result of which was the average of three tests.
The RFC 2889 test was used to verify the
throughput and latency of fully meshed traffic.
The RFC 3918 test was used to verify the
throughput and latency of Layer 3 IPv4
multicast traffic.
RFC 2544, 2889 and 3918 latency values
were verified utilizing 10 GbE and 40 GbE
ports of the Dell S6000, which was configured
in store-and-forward mode.

Ixia XM12 Chassis

Ixia (www.ixiacom.com) is an industry leader in


performance testing of networking equipment.
Traffic routed through the Dell S6000 switch
was generated by the Ixia XM12 test platform,
which ran the following Ixia test applications:
IxNetwork for RFC 2544 and 2889 testing,
IxAutomate for RFC 3918 and table size
testing, and IxExplorer for power
consumption testing.

In addition, scalability testing verified the IPv4 route capacity and the capacity of the MAC and
ARP tables.
Power consumption was monitored during booting and idling as well as at full line rate with
different frame sizes. The S6000 switch supports fiber optic cable, but does not support the
Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) standard, IEEE 802.az.
The Ixia XM12 chassis running the Ixia IxNetwork application drove network traffic through the
S6000 switch in RFC 2544 and 2889 testing. The combination of the XM12 and the IxAutomate
application was used in the RFC 3918 testing.
Ixia (www.ixiacom.com) is an industry leader in performance testing of networking equipment.
Ixias exclusive approach employs coordination of energy measurements with network traffic
load, allowing energy consumption to be charted against network traffic volume. Real-world traffic
is generated by Ixias test platform and test applications, principally the IxAutomate application
for Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and routing traffic.
The Ixia XM12 also was used to determine the capacity of the MAC address table and the IPv4
routing table.
The BreakingPoint Firestorm chassis was used to determine the capacity of the ARP address
table. The BreakingPoint Firestorm can saturate Class B subnets by injecting traffic that simulates
more than thousands of servers and clients with unique IP addresses and MAC addresses. It is
possible to configure port numbers for traffic injection as well as total and
per-port bandwidth, session counts, and end device counts. The BreakingPoint Firestorm is
managed via multiple interfaces, including a Web-based graphical user interface and a RS-232C
or SSL CLI interface.
The peer mapping function of the WildPackets OmniPeek network analyzer was used to analyze
the characteristics of the VDI traffic.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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3.1 Test Bed Diagram

Ixia XM12

Dell Networking S6000

BreakingPoint FireStorm

Source: Miercom, October 2013

3.2 Hardware and Software Featured in Testing


Hardware
Name

Function

Software Version

Dell S6000

Spine switch

FTOS pre-release 9-0 (2-28), production 9.0 (2.0)

Ixia XM12

Traffic generator

IxOS 6.40.900.6 EA (Chassis: 7.00.395.6)

BreakingPoint FireStorm

Traffic generator

System 3.1.0 Product Build: 116072

Software
Name

Function

Version

Ixia IxNetwork

RFC 2544 and 2889


Testing Tool

7.0.801.25 EA

Ixia IxAutomate

RFC 3918 Multicast


and Table Size Testing
Tool

7.40.123.5 GA-Patch1

Ixia IxExplorer

Power Consumption
Testing Tool

6.40.900 Build 6

WildPackets OmniPeek

Network Analyzer

7.5

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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4.0 Performance Testing


Performance tests focused on throughput and latency and were conducted in accordance with
the RFC 2544, 2889 and 3918 benchmark methodologies.
Configuring the S6000 switch was straightforward. Testing verified that the MTU was 12000
bytes, a super jumbo frame size.
Layer 2 traffic passed through a single VLAN. In order to conduct Layer 3 testing, each 10 GbE
and 40 GbE port was untagged and was assigned to a unique VLAN.
VLAN and IP address configuration also was straightforward.

4.1 RFC 2544 Throughput


This test determines the maximum rate at which the S6000 receives and forwards Layer 2 and
Layer 3 frames without loss.
The Ixia XM12 as the test load generator forwarded traffic to and received it from each directly
connected port. Results from two throughput tests are included in this report, one utilized 10 GbE
ports. The other utilized 40 GbE ports.
Frames generally were sent at the maximum theoretical rate based on the supported port speed.
This test is configured with one-to-one traffic mapping as shown in the figure below.

RFC 2544 Throughput Configuration

The test results will show the maximum throughput the switch is able to achieve without any
frame loss. In addition, a latency value will be captured for each frame size tested.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
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Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2544 Layer 2 and Layer 3 Throughput Test, 96 x 10 GbE and 8 x 40 GbE ports
100
90
80

Line Rate (%)

70
60
50

Layer 2

40

Layer 3

30
20
10
0

128

256

512

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

The Dell S6000 exhibited line rate throughput for Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic using the RFC 2544
benchmarking methodology. The minimum frame size at which the switch handled 100% line rate
throughput was 90 bytes. The maximum was a super jumbo frame size, 12000 bytes. Testing verified a
forwarding rate for 64-byte packets of 1,464,007,507 frames per second (fps) for the switch. 96 x 10 GbE
and 8 x 40 GbE ports were used in testing.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
8October2013

4.2 RFC 2544 Latency


A latency value was captured for each frame size utilized in RFC 2544 Layer 2 and Layer 3
throughput in the two tests, one utilizing 10GbE ports and the other utilizing 40 GbE ports. The
S6000 switch exhibited low latency for all Layer 2 and Layer 3 frame sizes tested.
For 10 GbE ports, there were minor differences in Layer 2 and Layer 3 maximum, average and
minimum latency values for all frame sizes. The largest was .03 s between the maximum Layer
2 (0.88 s) and Layer 3 (0.91 s) for 1024-byte frames.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2544 Layer 2 Latency Test, 96 x 10 GbE ports
1.00
0.90

0.82

0.80

Latency (s)

0.70
0.60
0.50

0.72
0.61

0.80

0.70
0.60

0.84

0.74
0.62

0.85

0.78
0.65

0.88

0.81
0.67

0.90

0.89

0.79

0.79

0.78

0.78

0.79

0.66

0.67

0.65

0.65

0.65

0.88

0.87

0.89

Maximum
Average

0.40

Minimum

0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00

64

128

256

512

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2544 Layer 2 Latency Test
that utilized 96 x 10 GbE ports. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.70 s for 128-byte frames to a
high of 0.81 s for 1024-byte frames. The switch was configured in store-and-forward mode and was
tested with an Ixia XM12 using RFC standard benchmark test suites.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

Page 9

DR130815
8October2013

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2544 Layer 3 Latency Test, 96 x 10 GbE ports
1.00
0.90

0.81

0.80

Latency (s)

0.70
0.60
0.50

0.78

0.72

0.69

0.62

0.60

0.84

0.74
0.62

0.87

0.77
0.65

0.91

0.87

0.90

0.87

0.89

0.89

0.80

0.78

0.79

0.77

0.78

0.78

0.65

0.65

0.65

0.64

0.65

0.65
Maximum
Average

0.40

Minimum

0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00

74

128

256

512

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2544 Layer 3 Latency Test
that utilized 96 x 10 GbE ports. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.69 s for 128-byte frames to a
high of 0.80 s for 1024-byte frames. The switch was configured in store-and-forward mode and was
tested with an Ixia XM12 using RFC standard benchmark test suites.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

Page 10

DR130815
8October2013

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2544 Layer 2 Latency Test, 32 x 40 GbE ports
0.62
0.605

0.581

0.588 0.589

Latency (s)

0.58

0.54

0.604

0.596

0.60

0.56

0.607

0.58
0.565

0.565

0.592

0.603

0.587

0.601

0.584

0.575 0.571
0.563

0.561

0.608

0.587
0.568

0.609

0.611

0.593
0.583
0.564

0.564

9216

11982

Maximum
Average
Minimum

0.549
0.541

0.52
0.50

128

256

512

1024 1280 1518 3054


Frame Size (Bytes)

5120

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2544 Layer 2 Latency Test
that utilized 32 x 40 GbE ports. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.565 s for 128-byte frames to a
high of 0.593 s for 9216-byte frames. The switch was configured in store-and-forward mode and was
tested with an Ixia XM12 using RFC standard benchmark test suites.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
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Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2544 Layer 3 Latency Test, 32 x 40 GbE ports
0.62

0.611

0.591 0.589

0.589

0.570

0.571

0.596

0.60
0.581

Latency (s)

0.607

0.605

0.58
0.568

0.56
0.560
0.54
0.52
0.50

0.567

0.603

0.609

0.587

0.586

0.568

0.569

0.608

0.588
0.568

0.609

0.604

0.594
0.582
0.564

0.571

Maximum
Average
Minimum

0.546
0.534

128

256

512

1024

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

1280

1518

3054

5120

9216

11982

Frame Size (Bytes)

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2544 Layer 3 Latency Test
that utilized its 32 x 40 GbE ports. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.560 s for 128-byte frames to
a high of 0.594 s for 9216-byte frames. The switch was configured in store-and-forward mode and was
tested with an Ixia XM12 using RFC standard benchmark test suites.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
8October2013

4.3 RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Throughput


The objective is to determine the maximum rate of fully meshed traffic the S6000 can handle.
The cross-processor performance of the switch is verified.
With the Ixia XM12 generating test traffic and IxNetwork software conducting traffic analysis,
many-to-many traffic mapping is used. Each S6000 10 GbE port transmits frames to all other
switch ports in an evenly distributed, round-robin manner and receives frames from all other
ports.

RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Throughput Configuration

The maximum throughput the switch can achieve without any frame loss will be verified. In
addition, a latency value will be captured for each frame size tested.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
8October2013

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2889 Layer 2 and Layer 3 Fully Meshed Throughput Test, 96 x 10 GbE
100
90
80

Line Rate (%)

70
60
50

Layer 2

40

Layer 3

30
20
10
0

128

256

512

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)


Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,
October 2013

The Dell S6000 switch exhibited line rate throughput for Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic using the RFC 2889
benchmarking methodology. The S6000 achieved 100% line rate throughput for Layer 2 and Layer 3 fully
meshed traffic for all frame sizes from 128 bytes to 12000 bytes. An Ixia XM12 using RFC standard
benchmark suites conducted the tests, which utilized 96 x10 GbE ports on the switch.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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8October2013

4.4 RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Latency


A latency value was captured for each frame size in the RFC 2889 Layer 2 and Layer 3
throughput testing. The S6000 switch exhibited low latency for all Layer 2 and Layer 3 frame
sizes tested. There was little difference between the Layer 2 and Layer 3 latency values for each
frame size.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Layer 2 Latency Test, 96 x 10 GbE
1.00
0.90

0.82

0.80

Latency (s)

0.70
0.60
0.50

0.80

0.72

0.70

0.60

0.60

0.84

0.74
0.62

0.88

0.78
0.65

0.90

0.89

0.90

0.89

0.81

0.79

0.80

0.78

0.65

0.64

0.65

0.64

0.91

0.90

0.81

0.79

0.67

0.66
Maximum
Average

0.40

Minimum

0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00

64

128

256

512

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Layer 2
Latency Test. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.70 s for 128-byte frames to a high of 0.81 s for
1024- and 9216-byte frames. The S6000 was configured in store-and-forward mode. An Ixia XM12 using
RFC standard benchmark suites conducted the test, which utilized 96 x 10 GbE ports on the switch.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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DR130815
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Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Layer 3 Latency, 96 x 10 GbE ports
1.00
0.90

0.82

0.80

Latency (s)

0.70
0.60

0.72
0.63

0.50

0.79

0.70
0.60

0.84

0.74
0.62

0.88

0.78
0.64

0.91

0.81
0.66

0.90

0.89

0.89

0.89

0.91

0.79

0.80

0.78

0.78

0.79

0.65

0.65

0.64

0.65

0.66
Maximum
Average

0.40

Minimum

0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00

74

128

256

512

1024

1280

1518

2176

9216

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 2889 Fully Meshed Layer 3
Latency Test. Average latency ranged from a low of 0.70 s for 128-byte frames to a high of 0.81 s for
1024-byte frames. The S6000 was configured in store-and-forward mode. An Ixia XM12 using RFC
standard benchmark suites conducted the test, which utilized 96 x 10 GbE ports on the switch.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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8October2013

4.5 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Throughput


The objective of the RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Throughput Test is to validate the maximum
rate of Layer 3 IPv4 multicast traffic that can be handled by the S6000.
A binary or a linear search and one-to-many traffic mapping, minimum of two ports, was used as
shown in the figure below. IGMP snooping, based on the IGMPv2 protocol, was enabled on the
S6000 switch in order to learn multicast groups and their members.
Traffic was transmitted from one port on the S6000 and received on the other ports. The
IxAutomate application running on the Ixia XM12 injected IGMPv2 multicast traffic.

RFC 3918 Multicast Throughput Configuration

The S6000 successfully transmitted traffic to all multicast member ports at 100% line rate for
frame sizes ranging from 68 to 12000 bytes.
Testing verified that the switch was capable of snooping the multicast groups and then properly
transmitting multicast traffic at 100% line rate with zero loss to each multicast group member.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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Line Rate (%)

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Throughput Test, 96 x 10 GbE ports

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

68

128

256

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

512 1024 1280 1518 2176 9216 12000


Frame Size (Bytes)

The Dell S6000 switch exhibited line rate throughput for Layer 3 IPv4 traffic using RFC 3918 standard
tests. The S6000 achieved 100% line rate throughput for Layer 3 IPv4 multicast traffic for all frame sizes
from 68 bytes to 12000 bytes. An Ixia XM12 conducted the test, which utilized 96 x 10 GbE ports on
the S6000.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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4.6 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Multicast Latency


A latency value was captured for each frame size utilized in RFC 3918 Layer 3 throughput
testing. The S6000 switch exhibited low latency for all frame sizes tested.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 3918 Multicast Layer 3 Latency Test, 96 x 10GbE
1.00

Latency (s)

0.90

0.86
0.80

0.80
0.73

0.74

0.87

0.83

0.83

0.79

0.79

0.85
0.81

0.79

0.72

0.70

0.70

68

128

0.78
0.74

0.76
0.72

0.81

0.82

0.82

0.78

0.70

0.82

0.79
0.75

0.78
0.74

0.80
0.75

Maximum
Average
Minimum

0.60

0.50

256

512

Source: Miercom Switch Industry Assessment,


October 2013

1024

1280

1518

2176

9198

12000

Frame Size (Bytes)

The Dell S6000 Switch exhibited consistently low latency values in the RFC 3918 Multicast Latency Test.
Average latency ranged from a low of 0.72 s for 68- and 128-byte frames to a high of 0.83 s for 1024byte frames. The S6000 was configured in store-and-forward mode. An Ixia XM12 using RFC standard
benchmark suites conducted the test, which utilized 96 x10 GbE ports of the switch.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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4.7 RFC 3918 Layer 3 Group Join Delay and Group Leave Delay
The Group Join Delay Test determines how long it takes a switch to register multicast clients to a
new or existing group in its forwarding table.
The duration between the time a switch receives a group of IGMP/MLD Join requests and the
time the multicast clients begin receiving traffic for the groups they joined is measured. The
impact of different frame sizes on the duration is recorded.
The Group Leave Delay Test determines how long it takes a switch to remove a client from its
multicast table.
The duration between the time a switch receives a group of IGMP/MLD Leave requests and the
time the multicast clients stop receiving traffic for the groups they left is measured. The impact of
different frame sizes on the duration is recorded.

RFC 3918 Multicast Group Join Delay and Group Leave Delay Configuration

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

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8October2013

In the Group Join Delay Test, the S6000 exhibited a gradual increase in latency that
corresponded with the increase in frame size.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 3918 Multicast Group Join Delay Test, 10 GbE
Frame Size (Bytes)

Group Join Delay (ns)

68
128
256
12
1024
1280
1518

220.00
223.89
237.22
261.11
306.11
329.44
352.67

In the Leave Delay Test, the S6000 exhibited a fractional decrease in latency
as the frame size increased.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


RFC 3918 Multicast Group Leave Delay Test, 10 GbE
Frame Size (Bytes)

Group Leave Delay (seconds)

68
128
256
512
1024
1280
1518

30.13
30.06
30.01
29.99
29.97
29.97
29.96

With all receivers subscribed to nine multicast groups, the average Group Join Delay
latency of the S6000 was 275.63 nanoseconds compared to an average Group
Leave Delay latency of 30.01 seconds.
Testing verified the maximum multicast group capacity of the S6000 to be the
vendor-stated figure, 8,000.

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5.0 Scalability Test


The Dell Networking S6000 switch has high port density and 2.56 Tbps of bandwidth in full
duplex mode. This requires large Layer 2 and Layer 3 tables. Scalability testing validated IPv4
route capacity and the address capacity of the MAC and ARP tables.
IPv4 Route Capacity
To verify the capacity that the S6000 can sustain, the OSPF route capacity test was conducted.
The switch learned 16,384 IPv4 routes.
MAC Address Table Size
This test utilized two 10 GbE ports on the S6000, one configured to transmit and the other
configured to receive. Random MAC addresses were transmitted to the receive port until the
MAC table was filled. Capacity was verified to be 163,836 addresses.
ARP Address Table Size
The scalability of the S6000 when it interconnects with subnets containing a large number of
nodes was assessed. The capacity of the ARP table was validated to be 52,251 addresses.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


Address and Routing Tables Verification

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


Copyright 2013 Miercom

Table

Verified Capacity

IPv4 Routing

16,384

MAC Address

163,836

ARP Address

52,251

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6.0 Power Consumption and Efficiency Test


Layer 2 traffic was generated for five minutes at 100% line rate using various frame sizes, 64
through 12000 bytes, to determine power consumption of the S6000.
The power efficiency of the switch is based on the watts required to transmit traffic throughput
measured in Gbps. The resulting value measured for power efficiency is in units of watts/Gbps.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


Power Consumption and Efficiency Test, 96 x 10GbE and 8 x 40GbE

Consumption
(Watts)
Efficiency
(Watts/Gbps)

Greater energy consumption is required for a switch to transmit smaller frames. In testing, the S6000
consumed the greater amount of energy to transmit the smallest frame size, .25 of a watt for 64 bytes.
The smallest amount of energy was required to transmit the largest frame size, 0.12 of a watt for
12,000 bytes.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


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7.0 VDI Scalability Testing


Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is being utilized in the IT infrastructure at a rapidly
accelerating rate. Because virtual user desktops are hosted on physical servers inside the
network core, the virtualization technology provides efficient resource utilization for end user
computing and data security. It also facilitates a BYOD environment by offering access from any
client devices, such as a laptop, smart phone, tablet and thin client.
Since the network handles all input to and output from virtual user desktops, its scalability is
crucial in a VDI environment.
The objective of this test was to confirm whether the S6000 can support 10,000 users in a VDI
environment. (10,000 is the maximum number of users that can be supported by the desktop
virtualization software used in testing, Horizon View 5.2 from VMware.)
The simulated traffic was injected using the Ixia XM12 and the BreakingPoint FireStorm. The
scenarios consisted of traffic distribution data, frame size distribution and traffic capture
(payload) that were emulated by both traffic generators.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


VDI Traffic Pattern (Peer and Mesh)

This VDI traffic distribution is the model on which the traffic distribution used in scalability testing was
based. It has a point-to-multipoint appearance.

The VMware designation of a Power User (standard) was selected for the Horizon View clients. It
is the third of four user types in ascending order in the VMware Horizon View Architecture
Planning Guide. Characteristics include a usage level of compute-intensive and a virtual machine
configuration of 1vCPU and 2GB RAM.
Miercom projected prior to testing that in order to accommodate a virtual desktop environment of
10,000 Power Users (standard), the S6000 would have to maintain at least 20 Gbps of traffic.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


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To analyze the characteristics of the VDI traffic, the peer mapping function of the WildPackets
OmniPeek network analyzer was used. The Ixia XM12 injected fully meshed, custom IMIX traffic
that was equal to or more than that needed to support 10,000 VDI sessions.

Fully Meshed Traffic Generated by Ixia XM12

Traffic flow
configuration path of
fully meshed traffic
between the Ixia
XM12 traffic
generation test and a
generic Device under
Test (DUT).

The distribution of frame sizes of VDI traffic generated by the Ixia XM12 and handled by the
S6000 is shown below. Because the VMware default frame size is 1300 bytes, 1024-1518
frames accounts for the largest % of the traffic distribution.

VDI Traffic, Percentage Distribution by Frame Sizes

64 - 127

15.7

128 - 255
256 - 511

48.3

25.7

512 - 1023
1024 - 1518

5.7

4.7

VDI traffic frame-size distribution used in scalability testing for 10,000 users.
Note that large packets, 1024-1518 bytes, make up nearly half of the distribution.

Using just seven 10 GbE ports, the capacity of the S6000 was verified to be 63.2 Gbps of fully
meshed traffic at 99.5% line rate with low latency. There was no frame loss and no network
anomalies. See the table on the following page.

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


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The near-theoretical maximum of traffic throughput for these seven ports was achieved, far
exceeding the amount needed to support a 10,000-user VDI environment. The slight difference
from 100% line rate is attributable to the inter-frame gap (IFG) for the custom IMIX traffic
distribution used in testing.

Dell Networking S6000 10/40 GbE Switch


Verified Throughput of Seven 10 GbE Ports, Fully Meshed Traffic
Tested Ports

Traffic Type

Line Rate (%)

Throughput
(Gbps)

7 x10 GbE

Fully Meshed

99.5

63.20

Dell Networking S6000 Switch


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8.0 Features
8.1 Tool-less and Hot-swappable Maintenance
Once a spine switch is installed in a data center, shutting it down or doing emergency
maintenance on it is not easy. Many switches and other network equipment have removable,
redundant power supplies and hot-swappable hard drives and cooling fans.
The S6000 has six cooling fans that reside on a hot-swappable tray with a quick-remove tab.
This is an advantage that shortens the mean time to repair (MTTR).

8.2 Default Configuration


In the Dell Networking S6000, store-and-forward is the default operating mode. Spanning
Tree Protocol and cut-through mode are disabled. The minimum queue size of the optional
cut-through mode is one.
As mentioned above, the MTU was 12000 bytes, a super jumbo frame size, for both Layer 2 and
Layer 3.
These characteristics, low latency and support for Data Center Bridging (DCB) make the
S6000 well-suited for one of its key applications, an iSCSI storage deployment including
DCB-converged lossless transactions.

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About Miercom
Miercom has hundreds of product comparison analyses published in leading network trade
periodicals including Network World, Business Communications Review - NoJitter,
Communications News, xchange, Internet Telephony and other leading publications. Miercoms
reputation as the leading, independent product test center is unquestioned.
Miercoms private test services include competitive product analyses, as well as individual
product evaluations. Miercom features comprehensive certification and test programs including:
Certified Interoperable, Certified Reliable, Certified Secure and Certified Green. Products may
also be evaluated under the NetWORKS As Advertised program, the industrys most thorough
and trusted assessment for product usability and performance.

Other Notes and Comments


Product names or services mentioned in this report are registered trademarks of their respective
owners. Miercom makes every effort to ensure that information contained within our reports is
accurate and complete, but is not liable for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Miercom is not
liable for damages arising out of or related to the information contained within this report. Consult
with professional services such as Miercom Consulting for specific customer needs analysis.
The tests in this report are intended to be reproducible for customers who wish to recreate them
with the appropriate test and measurement equipment. Current or prospective customers
interested in repeating these results may contact reviews@miercom.com for details on the
configurations applied to the Device Under Test and test tools used in this evaluation. Miercom
recommends customers conduct their own needs analysis study and test specifically for the
expected environment for product deployment before making a product selection.

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