Abstract

New H3C Technologies commissioned Tolly to evaluate the performance and feature set of the H3C S6850 series data center switches. The main focus of the project was to validate forwarding performance, energy efficiency, high-availability virtualization capabilities, overlay networking, routing, automation, and data-center-specific features across the S6850 family for high-density 25GE switching, 100GE aggregation, and ToR access roles in cloud and data center networks.  

The report applies to both S6850 models shown: the S6850-56HF and the S6850-2C. Tolly used the S6850-56HF model for performance testing, configured with 48 x 25GE and 8 x 100GE ports. In RFC2544 testing with Spirent TestCenter, the switch delivered 100% Layer 2 and Layer 3 line-rate throughput for frame sizes of 105 bytes and above, including jumbo frames, with zero frame loss in a dual-snake topology. This represented 2Tbps of maximum demonstrated throughput. Tolly also measured energy efficiency using the ATIS methodology, producing an ATIS weighted power value of 205.9W and a TEER of 9.7Gbps per watt.  

A major theme in the report is resiliency and network virtualization. Tolly verified support for IRF2, which virtualizes multiple physical switches into a single logical fabric for simplified management, scalability, and redundancy. The report also validated ISSU for IRF2 fabrics and GIR for M-LAG systems, both delivering software upgrades with no packet loss. H3C S6850 also supported M-LAG, static and dynamic LAG with LACP, and load balancing for unicast, multicast, and broadcast traffic.  

Feature testing highlighted broad data center networking support. Tolly verified VXLAN Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity, EVPN VXLAN with distributed gateways, centralized VXLAN Layer 3 gateway support, VXLAN OAM, and capacity for 15,000 IPv4 VXLAN tunnels. The platform also supported OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, OSPFv3, IS-IS for IPv6, BGP4+, graceful restart, non-stop routing, 3ms BFD, MPLS VPWS, VPLS, L3VPN, MPLS TE, and MPLS MCE. Operations and automation features included gRPC-based Telemetry, INT, Telemetry Stream, Mirror on Drop, PTP, Ansible, Puppet, NETCONF, SNMP, ZTP, ERSPAN, RSPAN, iNQA, and NetStream. Capacity validation included 289,149 MAC addresses, 272,000 ARP entries, 136,000 ND entries, 324,000 IPv4 FIB routes, and 162,000 IPv6 FIB routes. Tolly also verified DCI for VXLAN fabrics, ECMP and link-aggregation dynamic load balancing, Transient Capture Buffer, FCoE, micro-segmentation, service chaining, PFC deadlock detection, DCBX, PFC, ECN, RoCE lossless Ethernet with AI ECN and one-click PFC, optional MACsec on the S6850-2C with the LSWM124XGT2Q card, and redundant fan and power operation without packet loss. Overall, the report presents the H3C S6850 series as a high-performance and resilient data center switch family with broad support for modern overlay, routing, automation, and lossless Ethernet environments.  

Switches tested:

• H3C S6850-56HF — S6850 series data center switch model used for the performance and energy-efficiency testing, with 48 x 25GE and 8 x 100GE ports.  
• H3C S6850-2C — Compact S6850 series switch model with expansion capability and optional MACsec support using the LSWM124XGT2Q card.