Test Systems, Software, & Methodology
Testing the performance of a switch is a relatively easy task with our network benchmark apps. Connect two systems to the switch and send data from one system to another and measure the performance. By adding 10GbE network cards to each of the systems, I also make sure that my network controllers won’t bottleneck the tests.
I will be using PassMark’s PerformanceTest 8.0 and its built-in network test. With this, I can easily specify the transfer protocol, packet sizes, and duration of the test and I get a minimum, an average, and a maximum speed in return. I will run tests with both TCP and UDP and I will run tests with fixed and variable packet sizes and with that, we get a broad view on the switch’s performance.
I’ve also added LAN Speed Test here as it gives a straightforward test with customization ability on a network drive. I’ll set the app to packet sizes of 1GB and send 10 packets to gain the minimum, average, and maximum performance.
Client-side Hardware
- Supermicro C7Z97-OCE
- Intel Xeon E3-1230Lv3
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1866MHz DDR3
- Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD
- Sapphire R7 240 2GB
- be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850W
- Thermaltake Water 3.0 Performer
- Lian Li PC-T60
- D-Link DXE-820T Dual Port 10Gbase NIC Adapter
Server-side Hardware
- Gigabyte Z79X UD5H-BK
- Intel Core i7-4790K
- G.Skill Ares DDR3 1866MHz (2x4GB)
- OCZ Vertex4 256GB
- CoolerMaster Silent Pro Hybrid 850W
- NZXT Kraken X60
- Dimastech Easy V3
- TN9210: Triple-speed 10GBase-T Network Adapter Card
Software
- Lan Speed Test
- Passmark PerformanceTest 8: Advanced Network Test
