[Xen-users] Xen & netperf

First, I apologize if this message has been received multiple times.
I'm having problems subscribing to this mailing list:

Hi xen-users,

I am trying to decide whether I should run a game server inside a Xen
domain.  My primary reason for wanting to virtualize is because I want
to isolate this environment from the rest of my server.  I really like
the idea of isolating the game server from the rest of the service on
the box.  There will only be a single virtual machine, and I am for
all practical purposes, the only person with access to the box.

Anyway, the game server is more network intensive than CPU intensive,
and that will be my primary criteria for decided whether I virtualize.

I ran some naive benchmarks with netperf on my Dom0 (debian lenny w/
xen 3.2.1), DomU, and my Linux box at home.  Dom0 and DomU are
connected by a public network (100 Mbps link) and a private network (1
Gbps link).  All netperf tests were run with defaults (w/o any extra
options).

Dom0 to Dom0 (local)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.00    5859.30

DomU to DomU (local)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.00    3482.77

Dom0 to DomU (via a 100 Mbps uplink)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.09      91.37

DomU to Dom0 (via a 100 Mbps uplink)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.10      91.11

Dom0 to DomU (via a 1 Gbps uplink - private network)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.00    1621.90

DomU to Dom0 (via a 1 Gbps uplink - private network)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.00    8655.93

Home to Dom0 (Home network is 1 Mbps up)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    13.81       0.96

Home to DomU (Home network is 1 Mbps up)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    12.26       0.96

Dom0 to Home (Home network is 10 Mbps down)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.85      16.44

DomU to Home (Home network is 10 Mbps down)
TCP STREAM TEST from 0.0.0.0 (0.0.0.0) port 0 AF_INET to () port 0
AF_INET : demo
Recv   Send    Send
Socket Socket  Message  Elapsed
Size   Size    Size     Time     Throughput
bytes  bytes   bytes    secs.    10^6bits/sec

 87380  16384  16384    10.85      11.03

So, what do these results mean?  Of course, my home network connection
is asymmetrical, so I can guess why any connection with my home
computer was limited at 10 or 1 Mbps speeds.  And, for the 100 Mbps
link between Dom0 to DomU, I can understand a pretty consistent 91
Mbps.  For testing, I included the 1 Gbps private link between Dom0
and DomU, but I will not be using that link for the server.

Does this mean that despite any performance from running netperf from
within a Xen virtual machine, that since my uplink to the Internet is
only 100 Mbps it doesn't really matter (since, both Dom0 and DomU were
pushing the 100 Mbps throughput)?  Are there any other benchmarks that
I should run before making my decision?

Hope someone can help me interpret these results!

Thanks,
Tommy

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

xen-users

[Xen-users] Xen & netperf
