Informal performance tests of network disk access times. by Joe Doupnik, 23 July 1993 Client PC is a 486-66/DX2 with an NE-2000 board. Main server is a 486-33 EISA bus NW 3.11 (fully uptodate), NE-3200 EISA Ethernet, Adaptec 1742A EISA SCSI disk controller. NW 3.11 server has security set to level 1. Direct Ethernet connection (no bridges/routers which slow down things a lot). Testing program is "iozone", a simple sequential write/read program available publicly and on netlab2.usu.edu, cd APPS. This gives the same results as Novell's Perform2 and Perform3. Tests were terminated early in most cases, but the trends are clearly shown. Detailed results are listed after the comments. Only the changes to net.cfg are shown. Summary of results. 1. Regular ODI shells. Bnetx vs netx: about the same for small request sizes, but bnetx is superior for larger sizes. The VLMs can now beat these shells. 2. VLM ODI shells. The lastest issue is about 10% faster than the first and second issues and the defaults of some items change between issues. The test results below are from the second issue. The adjustables (of many): PB buffers=6 PBurst read window 4096 PBurst write window 4096 checksum=off ; speedup high quality links true commit=off ; off=let server buffer writes cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache load low conn=off load low ipxncp=off signature level=0 ; 0=don't load security.vlm Summary of adjustables. PB buffers and Pburst read/write have no noticable effect and may be omitted. Checksum now has little noticable effect and may be left ON. True commit has little effect and may be left ON. Cache buffers has a marked effect on small request sizes and should be left at the default (not 0). Load low conn and ipxncp have dramatic effects. These should be loaded low for best performance. Signature level = 2 is now about 10% slower than security level = 0; use which ever suits local security needs. 3. NW 3.11 EISA bus on a 486-33 versus NW 4.00 on a 386-16/SX (NE-2000). Not all that much different, but the SX machine is slower. Large request sizes reached saturation on the SX box. Server utilitization was about 10% on the EISA bus and 30% on the ISA bus box. 4. NetWare vs Unix. Memory caching under Unix is dramatically better than under NW up to the point where Unix memory is exhausted and the disk must be accessed. The first test involved no networking. The second test used NW 3.11 (via NFS) as the disk drive and similar caching comments still apply. 5. Packet Driver versus ODI. The results are not shown here, but the NE2000.COM packet driver and Bnetx was markedly slower than the ODI material. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bnetx shell # File NET.CFG, from Joe Doupnik PB buffers=6 show dots=on signature level=0 Link Support Buffers 7 1500 MemPool 2048 IOZONE: auto-test mode MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 293718 258269 1 1024 406424 374491 1 2048 532272 453929 1 4096 635500 579323 1 8192 765383 659481 2 512 296207 268865 2 1024 406424 366634 2 2048 530924 459901 2 4096 647269 569878 ----------------------- Netx rather than Bnetx, regular shell MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 293718 268865 1 1024 406424 374491 1 2048 406424 374491 1 4096 444311 414456 1 8192 453929 406424 2 512 293718 266813 2 1024 406424 367277 2 2048 410401 370521 2 4096 450032 410401 2 8192 449068 406424 4 512 293513 268006 4 1024 385505 366955 ----------------------- load conn and ipxncp low # File NET.CFG for NW 4.0, from Joe Doupnik # Don't forget to say lastdrive=z in config.sys! Netware dos requester PB buffers=6 PBurst read window 4096 PBurst write window 4096 checksum=off ; speedup high quality links true commit=off ; off=let server buffer writes auto reconnect=off ; off=do not load auto.vlm cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache average name length=24 ; shrinks connection table ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off signature level=0 ; 0=don't load security.vlm read only compatibility=on MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 254508 233016 1 1024 366634 335008 1 2048 516539 466033 1 4096 703742 579323 1 8192 825650 635500 -------------------------- Load conn high, load ipxncp low. Netware dos requester PB buffers=6 PBurst read window 4096 PBurst write window 4096 load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 187245 176825 1 1024 288863 268865 1 2048 501711 455902 1 4096 680893 560735 1 8192 794375 639375 2 512 186247 175935 --------------------- Load conn high. Netware dos requester PB buffers=6 PBurst read window 4096 PBurst write window 4096 ;; load low conn=off load low ipxncp=off MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 167504 157918 1 1024 265462 250855 1 2048 516539 453929 1 4096 708497 576140 1 8192 825650 659481 2 512 166705 158514 2 1024 265126 251155 ------------------- PBurst, no qualifiers. Netware dos requester PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 254508 235635 1 1024 366634 335008 1 2048 516539 455902 1 4096 680893 579323 1 8192 832203 635500 2 512 256062 235635 2 1024 370521 335008 2 2048 516539 453929 2 4096 683111 569878 2 8192 809711 647269 ------------------------------- No PBurst, load conn, ipxncp high. Netware dos requester ; PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 257635 233016 1 1024 366634 341555 1 2048 516539 453929 1 4096 685343 576140 1 8192 832203 635500 2 512 256062 235900 2 1024 370521 335008 2 2048 516539 453929 2 4096 683111 569878 ------------------------ Cache buffers test. Netware dos requester ; PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 374491 353055 1 1024 398698 433295 1 2048 501711 442437 1 4096 659481 576140 1 8192 832203 635500 2 512 378547 353055 2 1024 401753 434192 2 2048 495780 438734 2 4096 657414 569878 2 8192 812849 659481 4 512 376170 353353 ----------------------- Signature level = 2 test. Netware dos requester ; PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off signature level=2 ; 0=don't load security.vlm MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 293718 264791 1 1024 313007 328707 1 2048 389805 347210 1 4096 529583 489988 1 8192 708497 616809 2 512 293718 265126 2 1024 310229 329223 2 2048 386215 346636 2 4096 483214 501711 2 8192 694421 606113 ----------------------- True commit test. Netware dos requester ; PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; true commit=off ; off=let server buffer writes ;; cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off signature level=2 ; 0=don't load security.vlm MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 293718 265462 1 1024 293718 329740 1 2048 389805 354248 1 4096 532272 501711 1 8192 708497 616809 2 512 293718 265126 2 1024 313007 329223 2 2048 385505 347210 2 4096 530924 495780 2 8192 708497 606113 ----------------------- Checksum test. Netware dos requester ; PB buffers=6 ; PBurst read window 4096 ; PBurst write window 4096 ;; checksum=off ; speedup high quality links ;; true commit=off ; off=let server buffer writes ;; cache buffers=0 ; 0=removes cache ;; load low conn=off ;; load low ipxncp=off ;; signature level=0 ; 0=don't load security.vlm signature level=2 ; 0=don't load security.vlm MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 374491 353055 1 1024 398698 433295 1 2048 489988 444311 1 4096 659481 560735 1 8192 794375 659481 2 512 374491 298314 2 1024 401753 434192 2 2048 495780 438734 2 4096 659481 569878 2 8192 812849 635500 4 512 376508 351871 4 1024 401753 433743 ----------------------- Bnetx, to NW 4.00 server (386-16/SX, NE-2000 board), bindery emulation mode. MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 251457 242165 1 1024 340446 307500 1 2048 398698 366634 1 4096 516539 501711 1 8192 563750 616809 2 512 232758 249660 2 1024 321156 317750 2 2048 381994 385505 2 4096 539113 466033 2 8192 546133 501711 4 512 230709 184934 4 1024 314180 175567 4 2048 367277 238719 4 4096 486578 220057 4 8192 533626 170085 8 512 237907 186247 8 1024 309200 182480 8 2048 360955 233926 8 4096 480172 230329 8 8192 517495 171231 --------------------------------------- Iozone run on a 16MB Unix machine (SVR4.04, Dell issue 2.2) Note the effects of real Unix caching affecting the 16MB file transfers. Unix does caching very well for both reading and writing; NetWare does not use the same schemes. There is no networking in this test because the program is running on the Unix system. Operating System: POSIX 1003.1-1988 MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 606113 1807889 1 1024 812849 3084047 1 2048 1028015 4369066 1 4096 1205259 4194304 1 8192 1344328 4032984 2 512 624152 1839607 2 1024 838860 2995931 2 2048 1038194 4462025 2 4096 1255779 4279902 2 8192 1327311 4369066 4 512 624152 1855886 4 1024 861253 3084047 4 2048 1048575 4609125 4 4096 1274864 4660337 4 8192 1353001 4993219 8 512 571042 1835581 8 1024 801204 3118441 8 2048 990390 4821039 8 4096 1090846 6403517 8 8192 1106676 7108989 16 512 559987 636223 16 1024 776363 607210 16 2048 957057 637190 16 4096 1065896 630248 16 8192 1085201 630485 -------------------------- Running on Unix but the disk is NFS mounted NW 3.11. Note extremely rapid reads from Unix regular caching, until it's flushed when we run out of real memory (16MB overall). MB reclen bytes/sec written bytes/sec read 1 512 305707 1416994 1 1024 327679 2496609 1 2048 353055 4032984 1 4096 365357 5825422 1 8192 367921 8065969 2 512 300451 1407484 2 1024 321649 2496609 2 2048 341555 4112062 2 4096 369216 5991862 2 8192 365357 7767229 4 512 303056 1407484 4 1024 321649 2467237 4 2048 339344 4072139 4 4096 361577 5991862 4 8192 365039 7767229 8 512 301748 1368451 8 1024 309086 2474515 8 2048 342671 4052467 8 4096 362046 5785246 8 8192 356810 6260155 16 512 301965 299165 16 1024 319079 336486 16 2048 338182 355826 16 4096 356355 381127 16 8192 357494 308802 =============================================================================