A Thorough Performance Evaluation of L2 Non-Broadcast Network Protocols

Non-broadcast protocols are a new trend to achieve large-scale high-performance layer two networks such as in metro area scenarios. There are two main approaches to materials non-broadcast L2 networks, namely Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) and ARP-Path approach. To help evaluate the pros and cons of these approaches and in particular in comparison to traditional STP-based networks, in this paper, we have conducted a thorough performance evaluation considering new metrics such as convergence time, load balancing, and link utilization under these protocols that are not considered in previous studies. Other metrics used also include packet latency, protocol overhead, and computational complexity. Based on the results, the convergence time in ARP-Path is much lower than SPB and STP, has the minimum latency, and distribute the load more evenly but the number of broadcast replicas and hence the protocol overhead in ARP-Path is higher than SPB and STP.