NTttcp 10Gb test settings

nbarsotti · Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:21 pm

Hello,
I am testing the throughput on my Intel 10Gb AF DA nics between my Win2K8R2 sp1 Starwind server and a Win7 x64 sp1 test machine. The two machines are connected with a cross over cable. I cannot get over 2000 Mbit/sec over this connection which is a real disappointment. These are the options I am using with NTttcp:

ntttcpr.exe -m 1,0,10.11.12.1 -a 16 -fr
ntttcps.exe -m 1,0,10.11.12.1 -a 2

I have already enabled Jumbo frames and adjusted the netsh int tcp settings with suggestions in the sticky thread on both computers. Can anyone suggest different settings to produce higher throughput on these 10Gb NICs?

Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:29 pm

For most of the 10GbE cards these settings provided a good throughput picture
Sender: ntttcps -m 1,1,x.x.x.x -l 1048576 -n 100000 -w -v -a 8
Receiver: ntttcpr -m 1,1,x.x.x.x' -l 1048576 -rb 2097152 -n 1000000 -w -v -a 8

nbarsotti · Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:37 pm

Should the "-n" argument be set the same for both the sender and receiver? And should it be 1 million or 100 thousand?

nbarsotti · Fri Apr 29, 2011 6:15 pm

so after matching the -n argument I was only able to get up to about 2700 Mb/s. I think tried running the sender and reciever from the same computer and using the loopback address 127.0.0.1 and I was only able to get up to about 4000 Mb/s. Can someone please let me know the total througput they achieved with NTttcp and 10Gb nic or what you get when you test your loopback address?

nbarsotti · Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:00 pm

I thought I would post my final results. I am quite happy now after a day of pulling my hair out. Using these two commands I can repeatedly get ~9800 Mb/s though my Intel nics. One server is xeon 5500 and the client is core 2 quad on X38.

ntttcps -m 1,0,X.X.X.X -l 1048576 -n 100000 -w -a 16
ntttcpr -m 1,0,X.X.X.X -l 1048576 -rb 2097152 -n 100000 -w -a 16 -fr

The cause of my earlier problems? Symantec Endpoint protection on my C2Q X38 machine. It was installed but disabled. After fully removing it my speeds when through the roof!

Now when my iSCSI target on a 8 SSD raid 0 array fails to reach speed anywhere near the local disk performance it won't be the fault of the NIC.

Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:40 pm

It's a pleasure to hear you've managed to have your 10 GbE running at full wire speed.

Yes, you're correct. Please wait for V5.7 release which has specific performance optimization. It's not going to take a long.

nbarsotti wrote:I thought I would post my final results. I am quite happy now after a day of pulling my hair out. Using these two commands I can repeatedly get ~9800 Mb/s though my Intel nics. One server is xeon 5500 and the client is core 2 quad on X38.

ntttcps -m 1,0,X.X.X.X -l 1048576 -n 100000 -w -a 16
ntttcpr -m 1,0,X.X.X.X -l 1048576 -rb 2097152 -n 100000 -w -a 16 -fr

The cause of my earlier problems? Symantec Endpoint protection on my C2Q X38 machine. It was installed but disabled. After fully removing it my speeds when through the roof!

Now when my iSCSI target on a 8 SSD raid 0 array fails to reach speed anywhere near the local disk performance it won't be the fault of the NIC.

nbarsotti · Mon May 02, 2011 8:15 pm

So now you have me very excited about v5.7. Can you send me or post a list of the new features and or the scheduled release date?

Thu May 05, 2011 8:59 am

Release is planned on the beginning of June.

There will be some features added to monitor your system load, improvement to snapshot management, and other features aimed at improving the simplicity, ease of use and functionality of our software, plus new experimental Deduplication.