RFC 3222 (rfc3222) - Page 3 of 15
Terminology for Forwarding Information Base (FIB) based Router Performance
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3222 FIB based Router Performance December 2001
2. Overview
In order to measure the forwarding information base-based router
performance, different forwarding information bases (5.3) are
installed in the router. The two key elements describing the FIB are
the FIB size (5.5) and FIB prefix distribution (5.7). The forwarding
performance of a router may be dependent upon these two primary
factors, particularly if FIB prefix distributions tend towards longer
network prefixes (5.1). The FIB-dependent throughput, latency and
frame loss rate (6.3, 6.4, 6.5), measured with fully meshed traffic
flows [2], will reflect the change in performance of the router.
Tests may need to be performed up to the maximum FIB size (6.1).
When configuring the router for these measurements, the routes need
to be manually entered into the router, or advertised via a routing
protocol. It may take some period of time (the FIB learning time
(6.2)) before the router learns all the routes.
When routes are advertised into the router, the routes should be
advertised in such a way so that route aggregation (5.10) does not
occur. Also, the effect of a per-interface FIB cache (5.9) needs to
be taken into account.
3. Existing Definitions
[3] should be consulted before attempting to make use of this
document. [2] contains discussions of a number of terms relevant to
the benchmarking of network interconnect devices and should also be
consulted.
4. Definition Format
The definition format is the equivalent to that defined in [3], and
is repeated here for convenience:
X.x Term to be defined. (e.g., Latency)
Definition:
The specific definition for the term.
Discussion:
A brief discussion about the term, it's application and any
restrictions on measurement procedures.
Measurement units:
The units used to report measurements of this term, if applicable.
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