Slow Network Transfer between KVM Guests

[jrpereira]

Hello all.

I am new to proxmox and am having a problem. I have two Windows 2003 servers as KVM guests (SBS 2003 and Terminal Server). File transfer between them is slow and large file copies slow the guest's performance greatly. As an example, a 2GB iso takes about 4 minutes to go from one of my guests to a physical box. Same file between them takes over 20 minutes. I have tried this tweak as recommended with no improvement in results.

http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/kvmnet/registry

Here is some of the information I often see requested, I would appreciate any guidance from the gurus.

proxmox:~# pveversion -v
pve-manager: 1.7-11 (pve-manager/1.7/5470)
running kernel: 2.6.32-4-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.32: 1.7-30
pve-kernel-2.6.32-4-pve: 2.6.32-30
qemu-server: 1.1-28
pve-firmware: 1.0-10
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-16
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.24-1pve4
vzdump: 1.2-10
vzprocps: 2.0.11-1dso2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm: 0.13.0-3
ksm-control-daemon: 1.0-4

name: STUTERM
ide2: none,media=cdrom
bootdisk: ide0
ostype: w2k3
memory: 4096
sockets: 2
boot: dca
freeze: 0
cpuunits: 1000
acpi: 1
kvm: 1
onboot: 1
cores: 1
vlan0: e1000=FA:A1:E0:F9:C3:FA
ide0: local:101/stuterm.raw
args: -cpu host

name: STUSBS
ide2: none,media=cdrom
bootdisk: ide0
ostype: w2k3
memory: 4096
sockets: 2
onboot: 1
cores: 1
ide0: local:102/stusbs.raw
boot: dac
freeze: 0
cpuunits: 1000
acpi: 1
kvm: 1
vlan0: e1000=8E:BB:0B:CF:AE:50
args: -cpu host

 

[udo]

Hi,
perhaps it's your IO-system (disk?) look with iostat (apt-get install sysstat).

Try to messure the networkperformance in both direction with iperf.
The iperf-binary (its included with jperf) for windows can you find here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/iperf/files/jperf/jperf%202.0.0/jperf-2.0.0.zip/download

Udo

 

[jrpereira]

Ok will try this and report back.

 

[jrpereira]

Hmmm not really sure I understand what I am looking at, what are numbers I should be seeing or what patterns I can identify. This is a brand new out of the box Dell R510. I will ask my client to forward me the invoice with the exact details.

 

[tom]

Hello all.

I am new to proxmox and am having a problem. I have two Windows 2003 servers as KVM guests (SBS 2003 and Terminal Server). File transfer between them is slow and large file copies slow the guest's performance greatly. As an example, a 2GB iso takes about 4 minutes to go from one of my guests to a physical box. Same file between them takes over 20 minutes. I have tried this tweak as recommended with no improvement in results.

http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/kvmnet/registry

Here is some of the information I often see requested, I would appreciate any guidance from the gurus.

proxmox:~# pveversion -v
pve-manager: 1.7-11 (pve-manager/1.7/5470)
running kernel: 2.6.32-4-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.32: 1.7-30
pve-kernel-2.6.32-4-pve: 2.6.32-30
qemu-server: 1.1-28
pve-firmware: 1.0-10
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-16
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.24-1pve4
vzdump: 1.2-10
vzprocps: 2.0.11-1dso2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm: 0.13.0-3
ksm-control-daemon: 1.0-4

as we plan to move the latest kernel/kvm packages from pvetest to pve stable next week I suggest you install the latest packages from pvetest (new kernel and new kvm)

name: STUTERM
ide2: none,media=cdrom
bootdisk: ide0
ostype: w2k3
memory: 4096
sockets: 2
boot: dca
freeze: 0
cpuunits: 1000
acpi: 1
kvm: 1
onboot: 1
cores: 1
vlan0: e1000=FA:A1:E0:F9:C3:FA
ide0: local:101/stuterm.raw
args: -cpu host

disable cache for the disk

> ide0: local:101/stuterm.raw,cache=none

and if you do not get good results, think of changing from ide/e1000 to virtio.

finally, if you do not need openvz think of moving to the 2.6.35 kernel branch.

name: STUSBS
ide2: none,media=cdrom
bootdisk: ide0
ostype: w2k3
memory: 4096
sockets: 2
onboot: 1
cores: 1
ide0: local:102/stusbs.raw
boot: dac
freeze: 0
cpuunits: 1000
acpi: 1
kvm: 1
vlan0: e1000=8E:BB:0B:CF:AE:50
args: -cpu host

 

[escoreal]

Hi jrpereira,

we use for our R510 the following configuration with good results:
- hard disk with virtio (cache=none or cache=writeback)
- network with e1000 (driver from intel)
- 2.6.32 kernel
- tablet: no

esco

 

[jrpereira]

Thanks for all the tips gentlemen, I will report back with results!

 

[jrpereira]

Added the cache=no to each conf file, changed both network and disk to virtio and the results were amazing!

Great work proxmox community!

 

[jrpereira]

Ok, new issue. Performs great but if I tell windows to reboot it shuts down instead. What exactly does tablet: no do?

 

[jrpereira]

Found my own answer. The boot order for my guests did not include the VirtIO drive.

 

[yggcuba]

Hi jrpereira,

we use for our R510 the following configuration with good results:
- hard disk with virtio (cache=none or cache=writeback)
- network with e1000 (driver from intel)
- 2.6.32 kernel
- tablet: no

esco

How can I do the same but for a CT, I´m running several CT on my proxmox and I have the same trouble of the network (very slow).