How to determine the right router processing capability

[khairula]

My boss asked me this question & I simply do not know hoew to answer this.

Given a router processor speed & RAM size, how much traffic can it handle/process ? before we need to upgrade ?

For a router handling web applications, how to determine how many users can access the webserver via the router without affecting the router processing & memory capability?


Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'm not an expert, but I think it depends on what the router is doing. If the router is just routing (as it should be), even the lower end models should be able to handle a decent amount of bandwidth (despite the anemic processors Cisco uses). If you start giving it the duties other machines should be performing (firewalling) you'll need to beef things up a bit.

 

[JackMDS]

Welcome to the network forum.

Assuming that you are talking about Entry Level cable/DSL Router and a regular broadband Internet connection.

The switch part of the Router is like any other LAN's switch.

The Routing part of the router Routes the Internet connection. The bandwidth of the router is usually larger then the bandwidth of regular Internet connection (Most Routers are rated 10Mb/sec at the WAN side.

I.e. the users will "eat" the Internet bandwidth before they "eat" the Router capacity.

How many users will take in order to make the Internet connection None functional Slow depends on how users are using the Internet. Too many people download at the exact same time and the bandwidth will go fast.

:sun:

 

[khairula]

Thanks for the replies. Basically, that were my ansmwers to my boss. But the thing is how we connect the the router specs to the explanation?

Say, we use router cisco 1600 series with:

Motorola 68360 at 33MHz processor

8MB DRAM

& we throw in say, 128k WAN connection?

 

[n0cmonkey]

An old 486 can do a heck of a lot of routing. It could easily handle a T1 (1.544mbps), and probably more (if you get a quality 486 ).

EDIT: Oh, and m68k processors are generally comparible to at least 486s in most things.

 

[randal]

yea, a 1600 will have no problem handling a 128k wan link. I think the 1600 can do something like 2x T1s full blast, or am I thinking of the 2501. Dunno, been a long time since I used a 1600.

 

[nightowl]

Both a 1600 and a 2500 can route a little over 2Mbps with out any services running (ACLs, encryption, compression, etc.). So in your case, the 1600 will be more than enough.