Looking for switch recommendations ...

[Bakul Shah]

> What is the difference between Layer2 and Layer3, and what does that
> affect?

Layer3 == routing (based on IP destination address)
Layer2 == switching (based on enet dest. address)

Layer3 is probably not important for you.

> HP:
> Throughput: 2650 - 10.1 mpps (64-byte packets) 2626 - 6.6 mpps (64-byte packe
> ts)
> Switching capacity: 2650 - 13.6 Gbps 2626 - 9.6 Gbps
> 
> Dell:
> 	Switch Fabric Capacity 8.8 Gb/s
> 	Forwarding Rate 6.5 Mpps
> 
> So, in both cases, the HP  is faster, but ... is that 6.6mpps "per port"
> (ie. the pp?) ... right now, I'm seeing max of around 3Mps going out a
> server, with average being well below 1 ... so I can't see hitting that
> high any time soon ...

For 100Mbps ports, the max packet rate in one direction is
10^8/672 == 148809 pps (packets per sec) per port.  So for 24
port full duplex ports you get an aggregate maximum
throughput of 148809*24*2 = 7738068 = 7.14Mpps (Million pps).
For a 48 port switch it is 14.29Mpps.