9.0 Scalability and Capacity
The capacity of the switches was compared by focusing on the number of IP static routes,
ACLs, configurable VLANs, as well as maximum MAC table size. The capacities varied by
switch and vendor. MAC tables, ACLs and VLANs are supported by Layer 2 switches, while IP
routes are supported on Layer 3 switches.
Switch Capacity
Layer 2 Layer 3
Configuration Model MAC Table VLANs ACL Rules IP Routes
24-port
10/100
Cisco SF300-24 16,000 4,000 512 32
HP E2620-24 16,000 512 2048 256
48-port
10/100
Cisco SF300-48P 16,000 4,000 512 32
HP E2620-48 16,000 512 2048 256
D-Link DES-3052 8,000 200 256 NA
D-Link DES-3052P 8,000 200 256 NA
24/28-port
Gigabit
Cisco SG200-26 8,000 256 NA NA
Cisco SG300-28 16,000 4,000 512 32
Cisco SG200-26P 8,000 256 NA NA
Cisco SG300-28P 16,000 4,000 512 32
Netgear GSM7224P 16,000 1,000 512 16
Netgear GS724TP 4,000 128 128 NA
HP V1910-24G-PoE 8,000 256 32
HP V1810G-24 8,000 64 NA NA
HP E2520G-24 8,000 256 NA NA
48/52-port
Gigabit
Cisco SG300-52 16,000 4,000 512 32
HP E2510G-48 8,000 64 NA NA
HP E2810-48G 8,000 256 96 NA
8-port
Gigabit
Cisco SG200-08 8,000 128 NA NA
HP V1810G-8 8,000 64 NA NA
The MAC table size ranged from 4,000 to 16,000. ACL rules ranged from 96 to 2,048, VLANs ranged
from 64 to 4,000, and IP routes ranged from 16 to 256 across all switches.
The Cisco SG200 series switches and HP E2510, E2520, V1810-Series switches do not
support IP routes because they are Layer 2 switches. The lack of ACL support indicates that
they fall into the category of smart switches (managed switches with limited features), rather
than fully managed switches.