NFS client performance of Gigabit NIC ?
Takashi Ichihara
Hi folks
We have installed PCI Gigabit Ethernet Interface Card (DEGPA-SA)
on our Alpha Server 1200 and DS20 running Digital Unix 4.0E. While
the NETPERF over the Gigabit NIC is about 3 times larger than that
of 100BaseT, the NFS performance over the Gigabit NIC is extraodinaly
slow: NFS read over Gigabit NIC is only 63 kB/s. This seems to be
the problem of the NFS client of Digital Unix with Gigabit NIC,
because the NFS read/write performance at SUN E450 client with
Gigabit NIC interface (SUN Gigabit Ethernet 2.0) for the same
NFS server (AS1200 with Gigabit NIC) seems to be of no problem.
It this a known problem of the NFS client performance with
Gigabit NIC (alt0) on Digital UNIX 4.0E ? Is there anyway
to tune up the NFS client performance for the Gigabit NIC for
Digital Unix 4.0E ? Thank you for the information.
Test Environment
NFS Server : Alpha Server 1200, Digital UNIX V4.0E (Rev. 1091)
100BaseTX(KZPCM-DA) and 1000BaseSX(DEGPA-SA)
NFS Client 1 : Alpha Server DS20, Digital UNIX V4.0E (Rev. 1091)
100BaseTX(KZPCM-DA) and 1000BaseSX(DEGPA-SA)
NSF Client 2 : SUN Enterprise 450 (CPU clock 400 MHz), Solaris 2.6
100BaseTX and 1000BaseSX (SUN Rev 2.0)
100BaseT Switch: Catalyst 2820, 1000BaseSX Switch: Catalyst 4003
Test NFS read/write : fortran, real*4 buff(2500000)
measurement of unformatted read, write time
1. NFS server local disk (Alpha Server 1200)
Local file write (10 MB) 0.40 s 25 MB/s
Local file read (10 MB) 0.41 s 24 MB/s
2. NFS server AS1200-100BaseT, NFS Client DS20-100BaseT(tu0)
netperf TCP STREAM from client to server 90.3 Mbps
NFS file write (10 MB) 4.67 s 2.1 MB/s
NFS file read (10 MB) 1.10 s 9.1 MB/s
3. NFS server AS1200-1000BaseSX, NFS Client DS20-1000BaseSX(alt0)
Netperf TCP STREAM from client to server 239.09 Mbps
NFS file write (10 MB) 15.70s 0.64 MB/s !
NFS file read (10 MB) 158.0 s 0.063 MB/s (63 kB/s) !!!!
4. NFS server AS1200-1000BaseSX, NFS Client SUN E450 -1000BaseSX(ge0)
Netperf TCP STREAM from client to server 242.8 Mbps
NFS file write (10 MB) 2.95 s 3.4 MB/s
NFS file read (10 MB) 1.26 s 7.9 MB/s (63 kB/s)
Takashi Ichihara
(ichihara at riken.go.jp)
Eric Werme - replace nospam with werme
> We have installed PCI Gigabit Ethernet Interface Card (DEGPA-SA)
>on our Alpha Server 1200 and DS20 running Digital Unix 4.0E. While
>the NETPERF over the Gigabit NIC is about 3 times larger than that
>of 100BaseT, the NFS performance over the Gigabit NIC is extraodinaly
>slow:
> It this a known problem of the NFS client performance with
>Gigabit NIC (alt0) on Digital UNIX 4.0E ?
Yes - we got caught by some buffer management issues where we needed to
wait for transmit done processing in the network code and the DEGPA
defers that until several are ready.
Is there anyway
>to tune up the NFS client performance for the Gigabit NIC for
>Digital Unix 4.0E ?
I think there's a sysconfig value for DEGPA to reduce the transmit done
buffering. There should be a patch available for the NFS client to fix
it right. It is fixed in V4.0F, currently in field test but getting
released soon.
Contact Compaq support for the fix.
4. NFS server AS1200-1000BaseSX, NFS Client SUN E450 -1000BaseSX(ge0)
Netperf TCP STREAM from client to server 242.8 Mbps
NFS file write (10 MB) 2.95 s 3.4 MB/s
NFS file read (10 MB) 1.26 s 7.9 MB/s (63 kB/s)
That read speed seems really low. Sun does better readahead than we do.
I forget exactly what I measured on my 500au's, but I'm sure it was
better than that, especially with UDP. It will not be 242.8 Mbps, though!
-Ric Werme
--
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