Skip to main content

Configure your network for best performance

Contributors netapp-aherbin netapp-dbagwell
PDFs

Ethernet networks vary greatly in performance. You can maximize the performance of the network used for iSCSI by selecting specific configuration values.

Steps

  1. Connect the host and storage ports to the same network.

    It is best to connect to the same switches. Routing should never be used.

  2. Select the highest speed ports available, and dedicate them to iSCSI.

    10 GbE ports are best. 1 GbE ports are the minimum.

  3. Disable Ethernet flow control for all ports.

    You should see Network management for using the CLI to configure Ethernet port flow control.

  4. Enable jumbo frames (typically MTU of 9000).

    All devices in the data path, including initiators, targets, and switches, must support jumbo frames. Otherwise, enabling jumbo frames actually reduces network performance substantially.