Power Profiling of Network Switches

Abstract: Context In the present world, there is an increase in the usage of the telecommunication networking services, as there is a need of efficient networking services in various fields which can be obtained by using the efficient networking components. For that purpose we have to know about the components parameters. One of the most important parameter is the energy usage of networking components. Therefore, there is a need in power profiling of the network switches. Objectives The objective of this research is to profile the power usage of different network components(Switches) for various load scenarios. Power measurements are done by using the open energy monitoring tool called emonpi. Methods The research method has been carried out by using an experimental test bed. In this research, we are going to conduct the experiments with different configurations to obtain different load conditions for sources and destinations which will be passed through DUT(Device Under Test). For that DUT’s we will measure power usage by monitoring tool called emonpi. Then the experiments are conducted for different load scenarios for different switches and results are discussed. Conclusion From the results obtained, the Power profiles of different DUT’s are tabulated and analyzed. These were done under different ports and load scenarios for Cisco2950, Cisco3560 and Netgear GS-724T. From the results and analysis it can be stated that the power usage of Cisco 2950 is having the maximum power usage in all the considered scenarios with respect to packet rate and also number of active ports. The Netgear-GS724T is having the minimum power usage from the three switches as it having the green switch characteristics in all scenarios. And the Cisco 3560 is in between the above two switches as it is having energy efficient management from Cisco. From this we have proposed a simple model for energy/power measurement.