Ethernet Tuning: Optimize for Performance with ATTO

Optimizing your storage network is more popular today because of the demand for higher performance caused by unstructured data which is increasingly difficult to work with. In a network-attached Ethernet storage network, each system, whether it’s a client or a server, should be fine-tuned for your particular workflow.

You may be familiar with the old paradigm of having to accept that half of your bandwidth is taken away by overhead with misfires and packet loss which slow network operations to a crawl. When attempting to regain some speed by optimizing the system manually, the sheer number of file-sharing protocols and workflow requirements can be overwhelming.

The good news is that there are a number of methods available today to optimize throughput and tune Ethernet adapters for highly intensive workloads. Hardware drivers now come with built-in algorithms that improve efficiency and TCP offload engines reduce overhead coming from the network stack.

Large Receive Offload (LRO) and TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO) can be implemented in both hardware and software to aid in the transfer of large unstructured data. Adding buffers like a striding receive queue that paces packet delivery increases fairness and improves performance. Newer technologies like RDMA allow direct memory access bypassing the OS network stack and virtually eliminate overhead.

Software can help navigate the large number of options and settings that can befuddle the most adept administrator. We have an advanced application called ATTO 360™ Tuning, Monitoring and Analytics Software. It’s completely free and works with ATTO FastFrame™ SmartNIC adapters, simplifying everything for the end-user.

ATTO 360 optimizes for performance depending on the workflow, file sharing protocol, and in several cases, what brand of storage you’re connecting to. It can diagnose bottlenecks automatically, saving potentially massive troubleshooting headaches. It features built-in intelligence and metrics collection, among many other attributes but its power is in how the application integrates with our drivers.

We build very specific settings into our code that can be turned on or off automatically by ATTO 360 depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Push a single button in ATTO 360 and up to 70 adjustments are made instantly resulting in performance increases of up to 30%. It’s pretty amazing what ATTO 360 can do!

Visit the ATTO 360 Software page to learn more.