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Gigabit Ethernet Performance in rp7410 Servers 

 

introduction 

HP leads the industry in PCI Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) performance, reliability, and supportability.  With 
the introduction of the second generation PCI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters, HP extends its leadership 
position. 

HP’s new 1000Base-SX NIC solution (using multi-mode fiber cable and supporting distances of up to 
550m) and 1000Base-T NIC solution (using CAT5 UTP cable and supporting distances of up to 100m) 
both offer the same level of performance with the only difference being cost and distance.  

This paper provides basic I/O performance information for the A6825A 1000Base-T and A6847A 
1000Base-SX Gigabit Ethernet LAN Adapters when installed in the hp server rp7410. This paper is not 
an exhaustive source for HP LAN adapter performance information.  It provides a guideline for expected 
performance from the A6825A and A6847A Gigabit Ethernet LAN Adapters. 

Both the A6825A and A6847A Gigabit Ethernet adapters are designed to maximize server CPU 
efficiency with advanced features such as protocol offloading through on-board TCP, UDP, and IP 
checksum calculations and optional jumbo frame support (9000 byte maximum transfer unit, MTU) for 
improved efficiency and performance with bulk data transfer. 

The hp server rp7410 is a highly dependable, adaptable, and efficient midrange server for the data center.  
The rp7410 brings added efficiency and economy of operation to the midrange server market. 

This paper addresses the performance capabilities of the A6825A 1000Base-T and A6847A 1000Base-SX 
Adapters when used in the hp server rp7410. 

summary 

The hp server rp7410 is an excellent midrange server, and with the HP Gigabit Ethernet NICs provides a 
winning combination of capabilities. 

The HP Gigabit Ethernet adapters together with the 8-way rp7410 provide outstanding networking 
performance, with linear scaling of Transmit data and Receive data for up to 4 cards.  Additional cards 
may also be added to provide greater connectivity. 

 

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Summary of Contents for A6825A

Page 1: ...a6825a a6847a using hp server rp7410 pci gigabit ethernet performance paper the design makes the difference September 2002 U S A 2002 Hewlett Packard Company ...

Page 2: ...ry 1 test details 2 products used in testing 2 test configuration 3 gigabit ethernet performance data 4 throughput 5 average throughput per card 6 cpu utilization 7 performance highlights 8 additional information 8 taking the next step 8 ii ...

Page 3: ...rnet LAN Adapters Both the A6825A and A6847A Gigabit Ethernet adapters are designed to maximize server CPU efficiency with advanced features such as protocol offloading through on board TCP UDP and IP checksum calculations and optional jumbo frame support 9000 byte maximum transfer unit MTU for improved efficiency and performance with bulk data transfer The hp server rp7410 is a highly dependable ...

Page 4: ...sion Gigether 01 B 11 11 04 Sixteen j6000 workstations Two 552 MHz CPUs each Operating System HPUX 11i version B 11 11 0112 6 Clients generating the test load Odd numbered j6000 s One A6847A PCI 1000Base SX Adapter LAN Driver version GigEther 01 B 11 11 04 Even numbered j6000 s One A4926A PCI 1000Base SX Adapter LAN Driver version GigEther 00 B 11 11 14 Benchmark software Netperf is the benchmark ...

Page 5: ...e tests were repeated with different configurations of cards and the results in all cases were very similar The test load was generated by 16 2 way j6000 s each containing a single 1000Base SX Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Each NIC in the rp7410 was connected to two j6000 s through a switch NOTES The networking performance of the HP PCI 1000Base SX NICs and PCI 1000Base T NICs is identical The observed...

Page 6: ...using netperf with socket size of 128K bytes and message size of 32K bytes Receive RX using netperf with socket size of 128K bytes and message size of 32K bytes Bi directional BD running the TX and RX tests concurrently NOTE The A6749 60001 core LAN SCSI card in the rp7410 had only minimal site LAN traffic during performance testing Page 4 ...

Page 7: ... 1895 99 Mbps Four NICs scale at 4x the performance of a single NIC transmitting a total of more than 3792 Mbps of user data On the receive side one NIC receives up to 948 13 Mbps of user data Two NICs scale to approximately 2x the performance of a single NIC receiving 1853 09 Mbps Four NICs scale at approximately 4x the performance of a single NIC receiving up to 3325 21 Mbps The chart demonstrat...

Page 8: ...monstrated in the chart above the average throughput per card for transmit data is the same for two cards and four cards as it is for a single card The average throughput per card for receive data on two and four cards compared to one card is exceptional as well The decline in average bi directional throughput as the number of cards increases results from the rp7410 nearing the limit of its CPU ca...

Page 9: ...t NICs can be operated at full link rate carrying unidirectional data without driving the CPU utilization to the limits of its capacity With two NICs running at link rate and carrying bi directional traffic the rp7410 had over 31 of its CPU cycles available for other applications As illustrated in the above chart when four NICs are carrying bi directional traffic the CPU utilization is very close ...

Page 10: ...s1 servers rackoptimized index html For more information about HP s super scalable superdome server go to http www hp com products1 servers scalableservers index html For more information about the hp server rp7410 go to http www hp com products1 servers architecture pa_risc and click on rp7410 to see the product brief The product brief provides an overview of the rp7410 and access to additional i...

Page 11: ...not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing performance or use of this material Copyright 2002 Hewlett Packard Company all rights reserved HP UX is a registered trademark of the Hewlett Packard Corporation All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of the respective corporations...

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