Intel® Ethernet 700 Series

Linux Performance Tuning Guide

ID Date Version Classification
334019 12/09/2024 1.1 Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents
Notices and Disclaimers Revision History ​Introduction Initial Checklist ​Baseline Performance Measurements and Tuning Methodology Tuning i40e Driver Settings Platform Tuning (i40e Non-Specific) ​Adapter Bonding Performance Troubleshooting Recommendations for Common Performance Scenarios
Notices and Disclaimers
Revision History
​Introduction
​Introduction ​Related References
​Related References
Initial Checklist
Update Driver/Firmware Versions ​ Read the README ​Check That Your PCI Express (PCIe) Slot Is x8 ​Check System Hardware Capabilities ​Ensure DDP Package is Loading Properly
Update Driver/Firmware Versions
​ Read the README
​Check That Your PCI Express (PCIe) Slot Is x8
​Check System Hardware Capabilities
​Check System Hardware Capabilities ​ Kernel Boot Parameters
​ Kernel Boot Parameters
​Ensure DDP Package is Loading Properly
​Baseline Performance Measurements and Tuning Methodology
​Network Performance Benchmarks ​Tuning Methodology
​Network Performance Benchmarks
​Network Performance Benchmarks ​iPerf2 ​iPerf3 ​netperf
​iPerf2
​iPerf3
​netperf
​Tuning Methodology
Tuning i40e Driver Settings
​IRQ Affinity ​Tx/Rx Queues ​Interrupt Moderation ​Ring Size ​Flow Control ​Jumbo Frames
​IRQ Affinity
​Tx/Rx Queues
​Interrupt Moderation
​Ring Size
​Flow Control
​Jumbo Frames
Platform Tuning (i40e Non-Specific)
​BIOS Settings ​Power Management Intel® Turbo Boost ​Firewalls ​Application Settings ​Kernel Version ​Operating System/Kernel Settings Network Device Backlog Platform-Specific Configurations and Tuning
​BIOS Settings
​Power Management
​Power Management ​C-State Control ​PCIe Power Management ​CPU Frequency Scaling Additional Power Management Guidance
​C-State Control
​PCIe Power Management
​CPU Frequency Scaling
Additional Power Management Guidance
Intel® Turbo Boost
​Firewalls
​Application Settings
​Kernel Version
​Operating System/Kernel Settings
Network Device Backlog
Platform-Specific Configurations and Tuning
Platform-Specific Configurations and Tuning 4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors AMD EPYC
4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors
AMD EPYC
​Adapter Bonding
Performance Troubleshooting
​CPU Utilization ​i40e Counters ​Network Counters ​System Logs ​Intel svr-info Tool
​CPU Utilization
​i40e Counters
​Network Counters
​System Logs
​Intel svr-info Tool
Recommendations for Common Performance Scenarios
​IP Forwarding ​Low Latency
​IP Forwarding
​Low Latency

​Adapter Bonding

Linux bonding is a powerful feature that can significantly improve the network performance, redundancy, and fault tolerance in server environments. However, it is important to note that it requires compatible network hardware and proper configuration on both the server and the switch to function properly.

The bonding driver in Linux allows you to aggregate multiple physical network interfaces into a bonded interface. This bonded interface appears as a single virtual network interface to the operating system and applications.

Note:The bond is a logical interface, so it is not possible to set CPU affinity directly on the bond interface (for example, bond0). That is, it has no direct control over interrupt handling or CPU affinity. CPU affinity must be configured for the underlying interfaces that are part of the bond.

Bonding provides several modes of operations, each with its own characteristics.

Mode Type
0 Round Robin
1 Active Backup
2 XOR
3 Broadcast
4 LACP
5 Transmit Load Balance
6 Adaptive Load Balance

There are different methods to create a bonding in Linux. One of the most common methods is by using network configuration files (for example, /etc/network/interfaces or /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bondX).

Configuration Using Network Configuration Files

The following steps create bonding throught the network configuration files.

  1. ​Select two or more NIC ports for bonding (for example, ethX and ethY)
  2. ​Open NIC Configuration Files under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ for the required NIC Interface (for example, vi ifcfg-ethX and vi ifcfg-ethY) and append the following text: MASTER=bondN [Note: N is an integer to mention the bond number.] SLAVE=yes
  3. ​Create a bond network script file using vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bondN and enter the following text: DEVICE=bondN [Note: N is an integer to mention the bond number] ONBOOT=yes USERCTL=no BOOTPROTO=dhcp (or) none IPADDR=200.20.2.4 [required if BOOTPROTO=none] NETMASK=255.255.255.0 [required if BOOTPROTO=none] NETWORK=200.20.2.0 [required if BOOTPROTO=none] BROADCAST=200.20.2.255 [required if BOOTPROTO=none] BONDING_OPTS="mode=1 miimon=100" Note:​Mode can be any integer from 0 to 6 based on the requirement.
  4. ​Restart the network services using service network restart or systemctl restart NetworkManager.service
​CPU Utilization