Subject: Benchmarking 10-base-T to 100-base-TX networks... (fwd)

From: Spatch <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 May 2000 09:38:21 -0700 (MST)

Don't know if anyone would care, but here is a benchmark of network
thruput using 10Base-T and 100Base-TX networks comparing a lot of things
(read the how to read this document).  It does also compare different
versions of Linux/netatalk and compares netatalks 1 file copy thruput
weith Fetchs' and Anarchies' thruput (both FTP programs).

Well anyway, here you go...

How to read this document:
You can use the benchmarks here to do a number of comparisons (in order
of what my goals were):
1)	Network card, hub/switch comparison between 10 and 100base-T
	Compare Table 1 to Table 2
2)	Comparing Mac OS 8.1's thruput to 7.6.1's thruput
	Compare the internal times of any table for this.
3)	Comparing WIndows 95a to WIndows 95b's thruput.
	Use Table 3 between 95a to 95b.
4)	Compare faster server harddrive and updated server software to old.
	Compare Table 2 to Table 3.
5)	Compare Mac thruput to PC thruput.  This is by the way, the least fair
	test since the Mac is so much slower than the PC, at least in
	clock speed, and because the server side apps are written by
	different groups and will likely themselves cause different times
	to come out.  This is why I used the ftp method of copying one
	file in Table 3.  Both the Mac and PC use the same server FTP software.

This is a list of thruput rates measured in seconds (see note at the end
of this document to lean of how this was done) calculated into actual
KB/s.

Table 1:
With the old network cards and the old hub, copying from the server to a
freshly booted client, (server using Conner 540MB CF540A ISA HD, 516MB
w/64kB Cache, PIO Mode 3):
OS-Platform	# files		Size	Time (in seconds)	Thruput
Windows 95a	898 files	48.6 MB	99, 106, 105 = 103	483 KB/s	
Windows 95a	1 file		39.9 MB	63, 64, 63 = 63		648.5 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	898 files       48.6 MB	233, 252, 277 = 254	196 KB/s	
Mac-OS 8.1	1 file          39.9 MB	90, 96, 96 = 94		434.6 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	898 files       48.6 MB	209, 211, 215 = 212	234 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	1 file          39.9 MB	86, 79, 85 = 83		492 KB/s

Table 2:
With the new network cards on the new switch, copying from the server
to a freshly booted client (server using Conner 540MB CF540A, 516 MB
w/64kB Cache, PIO Mode 3):
OS-Platform	# files		Size	Time (in seconds)	Thruput
Windows 95a	898 files	48.6 MB 57, 58, 56 = 57		873 KB/s
Windows 95a	1 file		39.9 MB 24, 24, 25 = 24.3	1,681.4 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	898 files	48.6 MB	194, 207, 213 = 204.7	243 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	1 file		39.9 MB	55, 70, 77 = 67.3	607 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	898 files	48.6 MB	171, 174, 174 = 173	287.7 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	1 file		39.9 MB 51, 59, 57 = 55.7	728 KB/s

Table 3:
With the new network cards on the new switch, copying from the server to a
freshly booted client (IBM-DJNA-351520, 14664MB w/430kB Cache, PIO mode 4):
OS-Platform	# files		Size	Time (in seconds)	Thruput
Windows 95a	898 files	48.6 MB	35, 34, 34 = 34		1,463.7 KB/s
Windows 95a	1 file		39.9 MB	17, 15, 16 = 16		2,553.6 KB/s
Windows 95b	898 files	48.6 MB 35, 34, 35 = 34.7	1,434.2 KB/s
Windows 95b	1 file		39.9 MB	16, 17, 17 = 16.7	2,446.6 KB/s
Windows 95b	1 file ftp'd	39.9 MB	22			1,857.2 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1o	898 files       48.6 MB	111, 118, 110 =	113	440.4 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1o	1 file          39.9 MB	26, 26, 27 = 26.3	1,553.5 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	898 files	48.6 MB	182, 176, 182 = 180	276.5 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	1 file		39.9 MB	55, 57, 54 = 55		742.9 KB/s
Mac-OS 8.1	1 file ftp'd	39.9 MB	25			1,634 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1o	898 files	48.6 MB	144, 142, 142 = 143	348 KB/s	
Mac-OS 7.6.1o	1 file		39.9 MB	23, 23, 22 = 23		1,776.4 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	898 files	48.6 MB	155, 156, 155 = 155	321 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	1 file		39.9 MB	50.5, 50.5, 52 = 51	801 KB/s
Mac-OS 7.6.1	1 file ftp'd	39.9 MB 22.5			1,816 KB/s

Windows 95a Configuration:
Microsoft Windows 95, 4.00.950, Genuine Intel Pentium MMX CPU @ 200 MHz, 
512 KB of Pipeline burst L2 cache, 48 MB 60 ns EDO DRAM, VIA VT 580 ver
4.0 IDE controller running in PIO Mode 4, Maxtor 82160E2 2111 MB HD
Typical role of the machine was set to Network Server, Virtual memory was 
set to Custom: 24 MB Minimum, 48 MB Maximum.
Old network card: Linksys Ether16 ISA LAN Card, file sharing is on.
New network card: D-Link DFE-530TX Dual Speed 10/100 Mbps ethernet PCI
		  adapter running at 100 Mbps in full duplex mode
		  (according to new switch), file sharing is off.

Windows 95b Configuration:
Microsoft Windows 95, 4.00.1111, [same hardware with new network card]
Typical role of the machine was set to Desktop Computer, Virtual memory
was set to Custom: 48 MB Minimum, 96 MB Maximum.  These windows 95 patches
were also installed: w95ws2setup.exe, msdun13.exe, secupd.exe, secupd2.exe

FTP client used was ftp.exe that comes with windows 95.

Macintosh hardware configuration:
Power Macintosh 7200/90, PowerPC 601 @ 90 MHz, 512 K 10 ns External L2
cache, 96 MB 60 ns FPM DRAM, Apple Computer Internal SCSI controller NCR
53c96, Seagate ST15230W SUN 4.2 GB Ultra Wide SCSI SCA Drive, Disk cache
was set to 4 MB, Virtual memory is off.
Old network card: Built in Apple 10Base-T ethernet, file sharing is off.
New network card: AsanteFAST Rev B 10/100 PCI ethernet adapter running at
		  100 Mbps in full duplex mode (according to new switch),
		  file sharing is off.
FTP client used was Anarche 3.7.  Fetch 3.0.3's thruput was worse than
                  Appletalks thruput, and so therefore not tested.

Mac-OS 7.6.1 software configuration:
AppleShare version: 3.6.5, Appletalk driver version:  60.1.2, Open
Transport and TCP/IP version: 1.1.2, Speed Doubler 8.1.2 using faster
network copy protocol, using TCP/IP if available, System Suitcase
version 7.6.1, Finder version 7.5.6.

Mac-OS 7.6.1o (optimized) software configuration:
The only difference is that I installed AppleShare version 3.8.3.

Mac-OS 8.1 software configuration:
AppleShare version: 3.7.4, Appletalk driver version: 60.3, Open Transport
and TCP/IP version: 1.3, Speed Doubler 8.1.2 using faster network copy
protocol, using TCP/IP if available, System Suitcase version 1.0, Finder
version 8.1.

Mac-OS 8.1o (optimized) software configuration:
The only difference is that I installed AppleShare version 3.8.3.

Linux Hardware configuration:
CiruxInstead PR6x86LX 166 at 133 MHz, CPUType=M586, 512 KB of Pipeline
burst L2 cache, 64 MB 60 ns EDO DRAM, VIA IDE controller running at
different PIO Modes for different HD's.

Linux Slackware 4.0 configuration (on the Conner 540MB HD):
16,384 MB of swap, Kernel 2.2.6 (with VIA82C586 chipset support, IP
always defragment), Samba version 2.0.3, netatalk version 1.4b2, wu-ftpd
2.4.2-VR16.
Old network card: Digital Equipment DE201 EtherWorks Turbo ISA.
New network card: D-Link DFE-530TX Dual Speed 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PCI
                  adapter running at 100 Mbps in full duplex mode
                  (according to new switch).

Linux Slackware 7.0 configuration (on the IBM 15GB HD):
65,536 MB of swap, Kernel 2.2.13 (with VIA82C586 chipset support, IP
always defragment), Samba version 2.0.5a, netatalk version 1.4b2, wu-ftpd
2.6.0.
New network card: RealTek 8129/8139 Dual Speed 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PCI
                  adapter running at 100 Mbps in full duplex mode
                  (according to new switch).  I couldn't get the D-Link
                  DFE-530TX adapter working because of an unstable Linux
                  driver.

Old hub:  GallantHUB 8 port 10Base-T Ethernet hub
New hub:  SohoWare 8 port 10/100 auto-sensing switch

General notes on the methods used for timing file transfers:
All file transfer times were gauged by my reaction time and my
stopwatch.  Assuming my reaction time and stopwatch are constant, there
were no unanticipated variables introduced:  Different programs
calculating times differently, etc.  All transfers were timed between my
forefinger letting go of the mouse dropping the file to its new location,
and when the dialog box that says how long the copy operation is going to
take goes away.  All times were clocked at least three times between
successive client reboots.  When there was an anomalous reading, slowest
times were kicked out (one time it took twice as long as all the rest,
etc).  All other computers were unplugged from the network hub/switch
before timing, and connections to the internet were cut off:  turned off
the modem, disconnected the cable modem, etc.

If you must know how I am personally biased, I make no attempt to hide the
fact that I prefer Mac's to Windows.  If there was any unconscious bias
introduced into this testing it would have been pro-mac, however, the
numbers dictate otherwise.  I did have to struggle with getting the Mac
times that I did.  When I installed the 3.8.3 client in Mac OS 7.6.1, I
wasn't getting any better thruput than before, but after I had it
installed for awhile I saw my times for single file transfers almost
double.  I decided to try to do a 7.6.1 benchmark with the appleshare
3.8.3 client.

---

From: Donald Lee <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 6 May 2000 12:29:10 -0500

It would be very interesting to see these numbers with MacOS 8.5+ used
as the OS.  Apple made some dramatic improvements in the interrupt
handling in 8.5, and was fond of running demos of Appleshare that drove
a 100BaseT network at the full 100 MBit/second.  I don't know if the
antique 7200/90 will give you the full effect, but the numbers would be
very interesting...

-dgl-

At 11:38 AM -0500 5/6/00, Spatch wrote:
> [snip the rest...]

---

From: Ron Chmara <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 May 2000 15:07:24 -0700

Spatch wrote:
> (read the how to read this document). 

>         file in Table 3.  Both the Mac and PC use the same server FTP software.

And you used one heck of a slow Mac. Much of the 601 series had motherboard throughput
issues.

> network copy protocol.

This is interfering with (and occasionlly slowing down) your copies as well.
Speed doubler was great for appleatlk, with TCP/IP speed doubler peers/servers,
but now, ouch.

> times that I did.

So fix 'em. Chuck "speed doubler", test with a Mac current to the PC you were
testing. You can get much higher speeds off of mac clients than that:
http://www.opus1.com/ron/asipstats.html

Speed doubler is designed for peer-peer networking, to bypass AppleshareIP,
no?

-Bop

--
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