[Pvfs2-users] PVFS2 & Jumbo Frames

[Robert Latham]

On Thu, Nov 02, 2006 at 10:59:51AM -0600, Robert Olson wrote:
> The nodes in my cluster have dual Gig-E nics (tigon3). I'm pondering  
> the installation of a second gigE switch to attach them all with a  
> private storage network, and run it with jumbo frames. Do you think  
> I'd see a significant performance increase with PVFS in this  
> configuration?

Hi Bob

We definitely expect jumbo frames to help out pvfs a lot.  Ti's had
good results on the teragrid, for example [1].  Unfortunately, I don't
think anyone has quantified the benefit.   

> I'm also curious if folks have experimented with the effects of the  
> TCP segment offload stuff that is available on these NICs.

Again, should help PVFS a lot, but we've got no hard data.  

==rob

[1] http://www.teragridforum.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=TG-11

-- 
Rob Latham
Mathematics and Computer Science Division    A215 0178 EA2D B059 8CDF
Argonne National Lab, IL USA                 B29D F333 664A 4280 315B