Quantum 6-01376-05 User Manual

  StorNext File System Tuning

File Size Mix and Application I/O Characteristics

StorNext File System Tuning Guide

6

 on page 16). So, it is typically most important to 

optimize the RAID cache configuration settings described earlier in this 

document.
It is usually best to configure the RAID stripe size no greater than 256K 

for optimal small file buffer cache performance.
For more buffer cache configuration settings, see 

0

It is best to isolate NFS and/or CIFS traffic off of the metadata network to 

eliminate contention that will impact performance. For optimal 

performance it is necessary to use 1000BaseT instead of 100BaseT. When 

possible, it is also best to utilize TCP Offload capabilities as well as jumbo 

frames.
It is best practice to have clients directly attached to the same network 

switch as the NFS or CIFS server. Any routing required for NFS or CIFS 

traffic incurs additional latency that impacts performance. 
It is critical to make sure the 

 settings are correct, because 

this severely impacts performance. Most of the time 

auto-detect

 is the 

correct setting. Some managed switches allow setting 

 (for 

example 

1000Mb/full

,) which disables 

 and requires the host to 

be set exactly the same. However, if the settings do not match between 

switch and host, it severely impacts performance. For example, if the 

switch is set to 

auto-detec

t but the host is set to 

1000Mb/full

, you will 

observe a high error rate along with extremely poor performance. On 

Linux, the 

 tool can be very useful to investigate and adjust 

 settings.

A higher performance alternative to NFS and CIFS is ISCSI. If 

performance requirements cannot be achieved with NFS or CIFS, SCSI 

should be considered.
It can be useful to use a tool such as 

 to help verify network 

performance characteristics.