*Retix unit performs well; despite setup hassles, Model 7250 excels in network protocol support. (RouterXchange RX 7250 bridge/router)  (includes related article on testing methods) 
PC Week  March 28, 1994 v11 n12 pN5(2)
PC Week  March 28, 1994 v11 n12 pN5(2)

Retix unit performs well; despite setup hassles, Model 7250
excels in network protocol support. (RouterXchange RX 7250
bridge/router)  (includes related article on testing methods) 

by	Blakeley, Michael

Abstract
Retix' RouterXchange RX 7250 provides excellent support for networking
standards, but the administration interface is lacking and its $5,000
price tag may be difficult to justify. The three-port multiprotocol
bridge/router offers high throughput rates across Ethernet, and the
product supports Token Ring, ATM and FDDI with optional plug-in
modules. The administration tools are inferior to competing
bridge/routers from 3Com Corp and HP. The installation and set-up of
the RouterXchange is difficult, but the router supports IPX and IP
networking protocols over Ethernet, as well as Point-to-Point Protocol
serial links, DECnet and transparent bridging, on such media as
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Token-Ring and FDDI as well as
Frame Relay and ISDN. OSPF, a second-generation routing protocol, and
RIP are supported by RouterXchange as well.

Full Text
Network administrators have enough headaches: Dedicated lines go down,
cables break, and users consume all available bandwidth. The last thing
they need is router trouble.

Offering dependable, standards-compliant, highly configurable routing,
Retix's new RouterXchange RX 7250 is a three-port multiprotocol
bridge/router that cures some headaches, but may prompt others.

Based on testing at PC Week Labs, the Model 7250 provides high
throughput rates across Ethernet. The unit also supports Token-Ring,
ATM, and FDDI with optional plug-in modules. However, its
administration tools don't measure up to those offered by rival routers
from 3Com Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

In addition, its $5,000 price may be difficult to justify, and installing
and setting up the RouterXchange is unnecessarily arduous. If you want
an inexpensive, easy-to-use router, look elsewhere.

Networking standards support

Retix is best-known for its X.400-based messaging applications, so the
excellent standards-compliance of the RouterXchange was no surprise.

We tested the RouterXchange RX 7250 with IPX and IP networking
protocols over Ethernet as well as Point-to-Point Protocol serial links.
The Model 7250 supports these protocols, in addition to DECnet and
transparent bridging, on a wide variety of additional media, including
ATM, Token-Ring, FDDI, Frame Relay, and ISDN.

The RouterXchange also supports OSPF and RIP. OSPF, a
second-generation routing protocol, is becoming increasingly important
for administrators of large WANs. The Model 7250 we tested had two
Ethernet interfaces and one V.35 WAN port, but models are available
that support as many as 12 LAN/WAN ports.

The router comes with 4M bytes of RAM, expandable to 48M bytes to hold
extra-large routing tables and filter sets. Such expandability gives the
Model 7250 an advantage over fixed-configuration routers from vendors
such as Cisco Systems Inc., HP, and 3Com.

Administrators who are directly connected to the Internet will
appreciate the RX 7250's IP filtering capabilities. IP itself may be
blocked at the router according to source address or destination. This
flexible feature allows the RX 7250 to act as a fire wall, protecting
your LAN from some of the more dangerous aspects of the Internet. This
important feature, which also appears in Cisco's product line, is hard to
find.

Quality of management tools

The RouterXchange RX 7250's administration console stunned us with its
overabundance of confusing options. Unfortunately, the rich feature set
that we originally liked so much translated into a dizzying array of
configuration options that were illogically distributed throughout a
cryptic menu-based system.

Essentially a menu-based SNMP console, the Model 7250's serial-port
interface lets the user browse through Retix's MIB and change it. This
approach makes sense for interoperability, because SNMP consoles
access the router command set directly. In contrast, many other routers
send each SNMP command through a layer of translation into their native
management language.

Despite its range of choices, the Retix router's menuing system lacked
consistency or organization. There were 54 configuration screens and 26
status screens, but some of the status screens had configuration
options, and many of the configuration screens displayed status
information that was not available on any status screens. In addition,
the RouterXchange's interface onto SNMP reminded us that a poorly
designed menu is worse than a well-designed command line, such as the
command-line interface on Cisco' s Series 2500 routers. The Retix
router didn't even provide a command-line alternative to the menus.

Ease of setup/installation

The RouterXchange lacked a quick configuration screen by which we
could get the router up and running with minimal effort. In contrast, HP
provides an excellent example of this feature in its J2540A Router PR.

Once we began configuring the Retix Model 7250, we found no way to
display the most relevant details of our whole configuration (including
IP addresses, IPX net numbers, and port types) on one screen. Instead,
pieces of data were scattered throughout a dozen screens.

The menu names in the RouterXchange's Quick Start document didn't
match the names on-screen, so we had to hunt through a maze of
similar-sounding menu names. And, adding unnecessary keystrokes to
the entire procedure, every blank in each on-screen form had to be
opened by pressing the Enter key before information could be added.

On-line help was non-existent at best. When we tried to change the IP
address in the "IP Port Addresses" menu, we received the error message
"Could not set management object." From this message, users are
supposed to deduce that they must disable IP routing in the "IP System"
menu, then go back and change the IP address in the original menu.

Overall performance

The performance for both 56K-bps and Ethernet-to-Ethernet routing was
outstanding.

At all packet sizes, the throughput of the Retix RouterXchange RX 7250
ran close to the theoretical maximum, as shown on the benchmark chart,
Page N/5.

The Model 7250 met our expectation that dedicated hardware routers
should forward packets at full media speed. There was some variation
from the theoretical maximum when transmitting 64-byte packets, but
not enough to lower our opinion of RouterXchange's performance.

We did note that IPX performance at 64-byte packets came in behind IP
performance, which suggests that Retix still has some room to optimize
the IPX code.

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Company Data

------------

RETIX

Santa Monica, Calif.

(800) 255-2333 (310) 828-3400

YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1985

TECHNICAL SUPPORT: (800) 255-2333 or (310) 828-3400, 8 a.m. to 6
p.m. PT, Monday through Friday; free unlimited support.

PC Week Labs tested the performance of Retix's RouterXchange RX 7250
by connecting two units over a simulated 56K-bps line and routing
packets between two Ethernet LANs.

We used Alantec Inc.'s PowerBits hub and test scripts developed by
Scott Bradner, of Harvard University's high-speed network lab, to flood
the 56K-bps line with IP and IPX packets that had to be routed to the
RouterXchange's second Ethernet port. Then we ran the same tests to
assess the RouterXchange's performance when configured as a bridge
between two Ethernet LANs.

Our tests included packets ranging in size from 64 bytes to 1,518 bytes;
bandwidth utilization ranged from 10 percent to 100 percent.

Results were compared against the theoretical maximum throughput
offered by Ethernet, which we determined by subtracting the packet
overhead from a 10M-bit bandwidth.