Configuring Your Computer and Network Adapters for Best Performance Application Note

7/26/2019 Configuring Your Computer and Network Adapters for Best Performance Application Note

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Configuring Your Computer and

Network Adapters for Best

Performance

eBUS Universal Pro and User Mode Data Receiver

eBUS SDK Application Note

This application note covers the basic configuration of a network adapter (NIC) to ensure the best possible performance

of the eBUS Universal Pro driver and the eBUS SDKs user mode data receiver. It also covers other factors, like firewall

and antivirus software, which could affect system performance. Finally, it describes the proper IP configuration for

multiple NICs in one PC.

The eBUS Universal Pro driver can be installed on any brand of NIC and hooks itself on top of the manufacturers

driver.

This publication provides configuration guidelines to assist in achieving maximum system performance. However, werecommend that you experiment with the parameters outlined in this publication to select the configuration that

provides you with the best system performance. To simplify this publication, only Intel NICs are covered. Most of these

features can be found in other manufacturers products, and the configuration changes outlined in this publication are

minor. This publication explains how to configure the NIC using either the Windows 7 operating system or Red Hat

Linux.

The following topics are covered in this application note:

Selecting a NICon page2

Selecting the Appropriate Version of the Manufacturers Driveron page2

Configuring Jumbo Packets, Receive Buffers, and the Interrupt Moderation Rateon page2

Configuring Socket Buffer Size (Linux Operating System Only)on page6

Minimizing the Impact of Windows Firewall and Other Filter Driverson page7

Configuring Multiple NICs in a Single Computeron page7

Configuring Power Management (Windows Operating System Only)on page10

Configuring Your Computers Video and Graphic Cardon page12


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EX001-017-0006 Version 1.0 Configuring Your Computer and Network Adapters for Best Performance 2

Selecting a NIC

In general, we recommend the PRO 1000 line of Intel NICs. These NICs are affordable, receive data well, and are easy

to find.

In cases where it is difficult to find an Intel NIC that suits your needs (for example, for some laptops) or

where you already have a non-Intel NIC, we also support all other brands of NICs, with some limitations.

In high data rate applications, for example the total instantaneous bandwidth is larger than100MB/s (possibly from

multiple cameras), we recommended that you to use a PCIe NIC.

Selecting the Appropriate Version of the Manufacturers

Driver

The latest version of a driver is most often the best version, since it has the latest bug fixes from the manufacturer. Thedriver that is distributed with the operating system is often not the most recent and a later version can be obtained from

the manufacturer. We generally suggest using the latest version of the driver provided by the manufacturer.

Configuring Jumbo Packets, Receive Buffers, and the

Interrupt Moderation Rate

You can configure the NIC to ensure the best possible performance. The following table lists the NIC settings that you

can adjust to maximize performance.

Table 1: Configuring Jumbo Packets, Receive Buffers, and Interrupt Moderation Rate

Setting When to change Details Recommendations

Jumbo packets

(jumbo frames)

High data rate Allows for a larger Ethernet frame size,

which corresponds to a larger data

payload per Ethernet frame, and allows

each block to be transferred using fewer

packets. As a result, this setting

decreases the amount of interrupts that

the PC has to service and results in

lower overall CPU usage. When a system

reaches 9K Ethernet frame size, the gain

in CPU savings becomes negligible.

If the image size will be smaller than the

size of the jumbo frame, the use of jumbo

frames should be avoided.

If devices across the network support

jumbo frames, then jumbo frames should

be enabled and configured to support the

desired frame size. Before you enable

jumbo frames, ensure that all of your NICs,

switches, and devices/cameras support

jumbo frames (most new devices do).

Receive buffers

(receive

descriptors)

High data rate or

high frame rate

Sets the number of receive buffers used

by the adapter when copying data to

memory. If the system runs out ofreceive descriptors, the NIC will drop

packets (older packets will be

overwritten).

We recommend that you increase the

receive descriptors to the maximum

possible value.

While an increased number of receive

buffers allows you to store more packets

and improves stability (that is, fewer older

packets are overwritten), more memory is

required.

Note:The number of receive descriptors

does not affect your systems CPU usage.


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Setting When to change Details Recommendations

Interrupt

moderation rate

(interrupt

throttling)

High data rate

and High frame

rate in 10 GigE

system

When a packet arrives, the adapter

generates an interrupt that allows the

driver to handle the packet. At greater

link speeds, more interrupts are created

and CPU usage increases, resulting in

poor system performance. When you

enable interrupt moderation, the

interrupt rate is lower, resulting in better

system performance.

To improve system performance, you can

configure the interrupt moderation rate.

This setting defines the number of

interrupts per second.

For applications where low latency iscritical, this setting should be

approximately 8000 interrupts per second.

Note that this setting increases the CPU

usage. If some latency as a trade-off for

lower CPU usage is acceptable, then set

the number of interrupts per second at

approximately 1000. If you do not know

what to set, you have two options:

Use the default value set by the

manufacturers drivers.

Some NICs support adaptive throttling

mode. This mode allows for good

overall performance based on the NICload.

Experimentation with your system will

provide you with the appropriate value for

this parameter.

To configure jumbo packets, receive buffers, and interrupt moderation rate (Windows operating

system)

1. On the Windows Startmenu, click Control Panel.

2. Navigate to the Device Managersection of the Control Panel.

In Windows 7, you can locate this section by clicking Hardware and Sound.

Alternately, you can open the Device Manager section of the Control Panel by typing the following

command at the Windows command line prompt:

> r undl l 32. exe devmgr. dl l Devi ceManager_Execute

3. Expand theNetwork adapterslist, right click the NIC that you want to configure, and then click Properties.


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4. Click the Advancedtab in the Adapter Propertiesdialog box.

5. In most cases, you do not need to change the network adaptors default settings. However, you can adjust the

following settings depending on your data rate and frame rate. For a description of each setting, tips on when to

adjust it, and recommended settings, see Table 1 on page2.

Jumbo Packets(also known as Jumbo Frames)

Receive Buffers(also known as Receiver Descriptors)

Interrupt Moderation Rate(also known as Interrupt Throttling). The default setting

(Adaptive) adjusts the interrupt rates dynamically, depending on traffic type and network usage.

Choosing a different setting can improve network and system performance.

At higher data rates, a Highinterrupt moderation setting may improve system performance. At

lower data rates, a Low interrupt moderation setting is preferred, since delayed interrupts cause

additional latency.

Because the procedures for configuring these options vary from one manufacturer to another (including

the way the value is interpreted), we recommend that you refer to the documentation accompanying the

NIC for instructions.

6. Click OK.


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To enable jumbo packets (Linux operating system)

You can change the frame size using the following commands:

ifconfig eth[IN X] mtu [SIZ ]

ifconfig eth[IN X] up

where, [IN X]= 0,1,2,,n (depending on the number of NICs present)

[SIZ ]= desired frame size

For example,

ifconfig eth0 down

ifconfig eth0 mtu 8164

ifconfig eth0 up

- Or -

The configuration can be done at boot time by modifying the etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-

eth[INDEX]file with the line:

MTU = [SIZE]

To configure receive descriptors (Linux operating system)

The Intel PCI driver is named e1000 and the PCIe version is named e1000e.

For the PCI version of the driver, for example e1000):

You can customize the Intel driver using the RxDescriptorsparameter on the modprobecommand line. Thiscan be done by loading the driver with:

modprobe e1000 RxDescriptors = 512

If you have more than one NIC that you are configuring, the parameter for each adapter must be comma-

delimited:

modprobe e1000 RxDescriptors = 512, 512, 512

Alternately, the configuration can be performed at boot time by modifying the /etc/modprobe.conffile with

the line:

options e1000 RxDescriptors = 512

For the PCI Express version of the driver, for example e1000e ):

The tool ethtoolprovided by many Linux distributions can be used to configure the number of receive

descriptors (buffers), as per the following command:

ethtool -G ethXrx 512

where, ethXrepresents your NIC (for example, eth0)


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To configure interrupt coalescing (Linux operating system)

You can customize the Intel driver using the InterruptThrottleRateparameter on the modprobecommand

line. This can be done by loading the driver with:

modprobe e1000 InterruptThrottleRate = 8000

If you have more than one NIC that you are configuring, the parameter for each adapter must be comma-delimited:

modprobe e1000 InterruptThrottleRate = 8000, 8000, 4000

The configuration can be performed at boot up by modifying the /etc/modprobe.conf file with the line:

options e1000 InterruptThrottleRate = 8000

Configuring Socket Buffer Size (Linux Operating System Only)

When you configure the socket buffer size, you are increasing the number of UDP datagrams that the operating system

can buffer before delivering them to the network stack.

You must configure the socket buffer size to ensure that it is large enough to allow the application to survive normal

CPU scheduling latency without dropping packets. For high bandwidth applications (for example, streams of 800 Mbps

or higher), the default value is too small and should be increased.

If the value is too small, the side effect is lost packets, which could have negative side effects on your system. This should

be avoided at all times.

If the value is too large, the application may use excessive amounts of memory. It may also increase the latency in the

system after the connection is lost.

Pick this number with caution. In-house testing shows good results when this value is set to 10,485,760. This is a good

starting value if you need to configure the socket buffer size.

Manual configuration of the socket buffer size is not available in the Windows operating system. It is

only used on the Linux operating system.

To configure the socket buffer size (Linux operating system)

You can change the socket buffer size with the following command:

sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=10485760

sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=10485760

The configuration can be performed at boot up by modifying the /etc/sysctl.conffile with the lines:

net.core.rmem_max=10485760

net.core.wmem_max=10485760


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Minimizing the Impact of Windows Firewall and Other Filter

Drivers

Firewalls, anti-virus software, third-party filter drivers, Wireshark, and Windows networking traffic monitoring software

can affect the performance of your system because they monitor the incoming packets at different network stack layers.

For powerful systems or a low bandwidth stream, the impact of these filters may be negligible. For other systems, the

impact can be significant and needs to be handled appropriately.

To minimize the impact of Windows Firewall and other filter drivers, ensure you:

Turn off the Windows firewall.

Disable the anti-virus scan.

Disable third-party filter drivers (on the NICs properties page).

Do not open the Networkingtab in Windows Task Manager.

Do not run the Windows Performance Monitor (perfmon.exe).

Do not run Wireshark. Only use Wireshark when it is needed for debugging purposes.

Configuring Multiple NICs in a Single Computer

When there are multiple NICs installed in the same computer, we recommend that you configure each NIC with an IP

address on a unique subnet. The following scenario shows a computer with three NICs:

NIC #1

IP address:192.168.128.135

Subnet mask:255.255.255.0. For example, an office network.

NIC #2:

IP address:192.168.3.85

Subnet mask:255.255.255.0. For example, connected to one GigE Vision device.

NIC #3:

IP address:192.168.4.10

Subnet mask:255.255.255.0. For example, connected to another GigE Vision device.

With the configuration above, NIC #1 is on an office network with a DHCP server, which provides an IP address on the

192.168.128.x subnet. NIC #2 and NIC #3 use a static IP address.


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To configure a static IP address for a NIC

1. In the Windows Control Panel, click Network and Internet.

2. Click Network and Sharing Center.

3. In the left-hand panel, click Change adapter settings.

4. Right-click the NIC and then click Properties.


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5. Click Internet Protocol Version 4 TCP/IPv4)and then click Properties.

6. Select Use the following IP addressand give the NIC an IP address. We recommend you leave the Default

gatewaybox empty.

7. Close the open dialog boxes to apply the changes.

If NIC #2 and #3 both use Obtain an IP address automatically(the default Windows setting) and there

is no DHCP server on either network, both NICs automatically get an LLA IP address of 169.254.x.y and

a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. In this situation, the IP addresses are on the same subnet, which is anincorrect configuration.

If there is an unused NIC in your computer and it is not connected to a network, then you do not need to

configure its IP address.


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Configuring Power Management (Windows Operating System

Only)

For image streaming applications that run for an extended period of time, we recommend that you change the Windows

power plan settings to ensure the computer and NIC never go to sleep. If you do not change the power plan settings, the

computer or NIC may go to sleep when there is no activity from the keyboard or mouse for certain amount of time and

the image stream may be interrupted.

To configure the power plan settings

1. In the Windows Control Panel, click Hardware and Soundand then click Power Options.

2. Beside the selected power plan, click Change plan settings.

3. In the Put the computer to sleeplist, click Never.


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4. You do not need to change the Turn off the displayoption. You can leave it at its current setting.

To configure the power settings for the NIC

1. In the Windows Control Panel, click Network and Internet.

2.

Click Network and Sharing Center.


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3. In the left-hand panel, click Change adapter settings.

4. Right-click the NIC and then click Properties.

5. Click Configure.

6.

Configure the power management settings for the NIC to ensure the computer does not turn off the device to

save power.

7. Click OK.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for each NIC on your computer.

Configuring Your Computers Video and Graphic Card

It is important that you update the version of the video card adapter driver. This component is often used during the

viewing process and may directly impact the overall system performance through CPU usage and the sharing of buses.


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Copyright Information

Copyright 2012 Pleora Technologies Inc.

These products are not intended for use in life support appliances, devices, or systems where malfunction of these

products can reasonably be expected to result in personal injury. Pleora Technologies Inc. (Pleora) customers using or

selling these products for use in such applications do so at their own risk and agree to indemnify Pleora for any damages

resulting from such improper use or sale.

Trademarks

PureGEV, eBUS, iPORT, vDisplay, and all product logos are trademarks of Pleora Technologies. Third party copyrights

and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Notice of Rights

All information provided in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. No responsibility is assumed by Pleora for

its use. Pleora reserves the right to make changes to this information without notice. Redistribution of this manual in

whole or in part, by any means, is prohibited without obtaining prior permission from Pleora.

Document Number

EX001-017-0006 Version 1.0

Documents

Configuring Your Computer and Network Adapters for Best Performance Application Note