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dharr33
New Contributor

Firewall throughputs listed in datasheets

Hi, can anyone tell me if the firewall throughputs listed in the datasheets are aggregate throughputs?

Meaning, the combined upload + download speed in Mbps or Gbps?

 

Or are they actually listing full duplex throughputs, meaning that the firewall can do the speed specified

in both directions (upload and download). Any input here is greatly appreciated!

4 REPLIES 4
lobstercreed
Valued Contributor

I'm fairly certain they are aggregate.  Unless you're an ISP your traffic is probably highly asymmetrical and this is sort of a moot point anyway, no?

dharr33

Let's say I have a customer that has a hard requirement for a 10 Mbps download speed.

If I choose a device that is 10 Mbps aggregate, even if it's 8 Mbps down/ 2 Mbps up, highly asymmetrical as you said, this is still not meeting their strict requirement for a 10 Mbps download speed.

 

My company does have a customer that has a strict requirement for download speed, so this was my reason for the original question.

lobstercreed

Yeah, you always want to oversize them some anyway.  As you probably know the features you turn on bring the numbers down quite a bit.  They do provide a pretty good "Enterprise throughput mix" value that is pretty safe to look at when sizing.

dharr33

Appreciate your input here! I think I have a much better idea how to size Fortinet for the customer now.

 

By the way, I would typically oversize the customer enough to where this distinction between full duplex and aggregate doesn't matter. However, this customer requires that we quote the absolute bare minimum, lowest cost solution to meet their requirements.

 

Because of this requirement, this distinction between full duplex and aggregate becomes more of a factor when determining the bare minimum device needed. But your input specifying that these are indeed all aggregate numbers is a big help here.

 

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