Disclaimer
The Author of this posting offers the information contained within this posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose. Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of this posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.
Liability Disclaimer
In no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising out of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if Author has been advised of the possibility of such damage.
Posting
It's how many packets-per-second can be forwarded through the device. I.e. the aggregate of all ingress packets across all sources.
In theory, packets-per-second should be independent of packet size but most devices' PPS decrease with larger packets.
Also in theory, packets-per-second should be independent of ingress/egress media but it might not be.
Ideally datasheets would document complete RFC 2544 test results, but often they do not nor do they always make clear what the PPS number truly represents. Often, though, a single number represents maximum rate for minimum size Ethernet.
Keep in mind the PPS rate provided in a datasheet is under perfect conditions, real-world performance is often less, sometime much, much less.
