® 10 Gigabit Server Adapter

Getting the Most From Your PCI-E Intel® 10 Gigabit Server Adapter

NOTE:  These adjustments should be performed by a highly skilled network administrator. They are not guaranteed to improve performance. Not all settings shown here may be available through your BIOS, operating system or network driver configuration. Linux users, see the README file in the Linux driver package for Linux-specific performance enhancement details.

  1. Install the adapter in a PCI-E x8 slot.

    NOTE:   Some PCI-E x8 slots are actually configured as x4 slots. These slots have insufficient bandwidth for full 10Gbe line rate with dual port 10GbE devices. The driver can detect this situation and will write the following message in the system log: “PCI-Express bandwidth available for this card is not sufficient for optimal performance. For optimal performance a x8 PCI-Express slot is required.”
    If this error occurs, moving your adapter to a true x8 slot will resolve the issue.

  2. Use the proper cabling for the adapter you have. See Attach the Network Cable for details.

  3. Enable Jumbo Frames, if your other network components can also be configured for it.

  4. If your BIOS has an MMRBC (Maximum Memory Read Byte Count) adjustment, change it from its default (usually 512) to 4096 (maximum).

    5. NOTE:  Some systems may set the adapter's MMRBC to 4096 by default.

  5. Increase the number of TCP and Socket resources from the default value. For Windows based systems, we have not identified system parameters other than the TCP Window Size which significantly impact performance.

  6. Increase the allocation size of Driver Resources (transmit/receive buffers). However, most TCP traffic patterns work best with the transmit buffer set to its default value, and the receive buffer set to its minimum value.

Getting the Most From Your PCI-X Intel® 10 Gigabit Server Adapter

NOTE:  These adjustments should be performed by a highly skilled network administrator. They are not guaranteed to improve performance. Not all settings shown here may be available through your BIOS, operating system or network driver configuration. Linux users, see the README file in the Linux driver package for Linux-specific performance enhancement details.

  1. Install the adapter in a PCI-X bus slot with no other devices installed in the same bus segment.

  2. Use the proper fiber cabling for the adapter you have. See Attach the Network Cable for details.

  3. Enable Jumbo Frames, if your other network components can also be configured for it.

  4. If your BIOS has an MMRBC (Maximum Memory Read Byte Count) adjustment, change it from its default (usually 512) to 4096 (maximum).

    5. NOTE:  Some systems may set the adapter's MMRBC to 4096 by default.

  5. Increase the number of TCP and Socket resources from the default value. For Windows based systems, we have not identified system parameters other than the TCP Window Size which significantly impact performance.

  6. Increase the allocation size of Driver Resources (transmit/receive buffers). However, most TCP traffic patterns work best with the transmit buffer set to its default value, and the receive buffer set to its minimum value.

Last modified on 12/07/10 4:48p Revision