Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

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WebGuy
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:08 am

Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by WebGuy » Sat Dec 12, 2009 8:55 pm

Trying to understand the huge difference in performance in my testing between istorage and another ISCSI san. Have both SANS attached to a server and copied an identical huge file to both and the iStorage server really lags. I know for sure the other SAN supports Jumbo Frames which we employ, but was wondering if iStorage takes advantage of it as well.
Test environment is Windows 2008 Standard Server x64 with iStorage 1.43 and using windows 2008 Datacenter 2008 x64 for the initiator with MS MPIO. Jumbo Frames throughout and dedicated VLAN for ISCSI traffic.

Thanks!

Olivia (staff)
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:52 pm
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Re: Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by Olivia (staff) » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:59 pm

Hi, it is irrelevant to our software, you can enable Jumbo frame from Advanced Setting of the NIC:
•Go to Network Connections
•Right-Click on the LAN connection > Properties
•Click on Configure > Advance Tab
•Select jumbo frame from the list
•On the right right select Max Value (Default value is 4K)
•Click ok and reset your LAN connection (Disable and Enable)
KernSafe Support Team
iSCSI SAN, iSCSI Target, iSCSI initiator and related technological support.
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WebGuy
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:08 am

Re: Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by WebGuy » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:18 pm

I already had Jumbo Frames enabled. Trying to understand the difference in performance between different SANS and wanted to make sure that Jumbo Frames ( or lack of them ) on iStorage server was not an issue.

WebGuy
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:08 am

Re: Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by WebGuy » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:16 am

Just downloaded the latest iStorage 1.55 and in the new HELP docs noticed a section on TCP/IP tuning. After implementing this my performance on large file transfers improved dramatically. I need to do some more tweaking but I think thats where I need to concentrate on getting better performance. Our current SAN is linux based and it came with all parameters already tuned and thats probably why I was seeing such a large difference in performance.

The Help file is getting better so kudos for that!

Olivia (staff)
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Re: Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by Olivia (staff) » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:46 pm

Thank you for your suggestion, we will continue to improve performance in a future version of the iStorage Server. :D
KernSafe Support Team
iSCSI SAN, iSCSI Target, iSCSI initiator and related technological support.
[email protected]

WebGuy
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:08 am

Re: Does iStorage use Jumbo Frames if it exists in nic/switch?

Post by WebGuy » Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:11 am

My read performance is good now, fix the write performance of large files and it will be usable. :P

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