Performance/Network Throughput

Benchmark Description

In this benchmark we measure throughput over 10 Gbit network connection in two directions:

• from VM/CT to physical client
• from physical client to VM/CT

Implementation

To measure network throughput we use standard performance test netperf. Host with VM/CT and physical client connected are interconnected directly (without switches, etc.)

Testbed Configuration

Server: 4xHexCore Intel Xeon (2.66 GHz), 32 GB RAM, Intel 82598EB 10-Gigabit network card

Client: 4xHexCore Intel Xeon (2.136 GHz), 32 GB RAM, Intel 82598EB 10-Gigabit network card

Network: 10Gbit direct server<>client optical connection

Virtualization Software: ESXi4.1upd1, XenServer5.6fp1, HyperV (R2), OpenVZ (RH6) 2.6.32-042test006.1.x86_64

Guest OS: Centos 5.5 x86_64

Software and Tunings:

• netperf v2.4.5
• one VM/CT with netperf configured with 4 vCPU, 4 GB RAM
• where it was possible, we set offloading & hardware checksumming (gro, gso,etc...) and jumbo frames (MTU=9000) features
• netperf run string:
  • Server: netserver -p PORT (5 instances)
  • Client: netperf -p PORT -HOST -t TCP_SENDFILE -l 300 (several instanes)
• Firewall was turned off
• All other tunings were left at default values

Benchmark Results

Summary

• OpenVZ support near native 10Gbit network throughput: 9.70Gbit in receive and 9.87Gbit in send tests
• OpenVZ shows the best network throughput over all the solutions tested
• In Receive performance test (physical client-> VM/CT) OpenVZ shows great benefits over hypervisors: x2 Times faster than ESXi4.1 and x5 Times faster than XenServer5.6