10GbE Linux Networking Performance Between CentOS, Fedora, Clear Linux & Debian

[claytyler]

Which is also why I don't understand why Ubuntu Server/RHEL/SLES isn't on there. Just some random ass desktop OS's thrown together.

&& ClearLinux is an outlier ... great performance but ... who uses it/knows how to secure it ... for now it's just "special," a unicorn

To my [ small ] mind: Debian, Ubuntu (in a couple of server flavors), some *BSD, RHEL, SLES, CentOS (with shipped kernel or newer) and Alpine are the distros folks want to deploy in a server role. &, for some, maybe CoreOS.
But Fedora or ClearLinux? Naahh ... For sure NOT.

[claytyler]

Phoronix: 10GbE Linux Networking Performance Between CentOS, Fedora, Clear Linux & Debian

For those curious how the 10 Gigabit Ethernet performance compares between current Linux distributions, here are some benchmarks we ramp up more 10GbE Linux/BSD/Windows benchmarks. This round of testing was done on two distinctly different servers while testing CentOS, Debian, Clear Linux, and Fedora.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=27415

The recommends - are *MUCH* appreciated!
Switch: Ubiquiti Networks US-16-XG-US
Card: HP NC523SFP (QLogic cLOM8214) - supported by the mainline Linux kernel with the QLCNIC driver
Router though ... would you mention one you've had a good experience with (& that doesn't break the bank)?
Thanks!

[kallisti5]

You forgot to test Haiku (https://haiku-os.org) . They have a 10Gbit network driver now in the latest nightlies :-)

https://git.haiku-os.org/haiku/commit/?id=522d1439207711dc1cd0d09f00a60a4e288b8a31

emulex oce cards (SFP+)

[vazhnov]

Michael, could you run next test also with "Jumbo frames" (big MTU), please?

[jbennett]

The point of testing Fedora, I suspect, is to get a newer kernel. Also, Fedora is essentially RHEL/CentOS-next. CentOS is used because it's practically identical to RHEL. As a starting point, this was a good mix of distros.

[claytyler]

You forgot to test Haiku (https://haiku-os.org) . They have a 10Gbit network driver now in the latest nightlies :-)

https://git.haiku-os.org/haiku/commi...a60a4e288b8a31

emulex oce cards (SFP+)

nightly's are like edge cases (or some such) ... previews (peeks over the horizon) at best
tests of stuff folks will deploy facing the real world are most useful

[kallisti5]

I still don't understand why anyone would run Fedora Server..

Because it offers a CentOS/RHEL server environment with more up-to-date packages vs CentOS/RHEL.

[edwaleni]

Good start here, but it seems some data is needed to get more context:

- Packet or frame sizing (see jumbo request above).
- Forwarding rate of the switch
- Is TCP offload active?
- What was the load on the server at measured connection value?

Perhaps some of the reports that Kevin Tolly does on network benchmarking @ http://reports.tolly.com/LatestReports.aspx might help.
Most of the reports are free and only require an email registration.

I am not asking Phoronix to be as complete at Tolly is as that is not practical in the sense of how PTS is structured.

SmallNetBuilder uses IxChariot by Ixia, but again that is probably beyond PTS since it is a commercial product and not open source.

I just read about the Ethr tool last week for the first time, so I will have to examine it some more.

[edwaleni]

Someone emailed me and suggested

https://ostinato.org

Open source load generation tool. Can be scripted using Python.

I haven't looked at cross platform open source network tools in awhile so this was new to me.

[cb88]

nightly's are like edge cases (or some such) ... previews (peaks over the horizon) at best
tests of stuff folks will deploy facing the real world are most useful

Deploy... do you even know what Haiku is? The nighties are usually pretty stable which is why nobody bother'd to do a Beta release for 7 years.