bad network performance with virtio driver Windows 2016

[cybermcm]

I'm playing around with proxmox in my lab. I migrated a Windows server 2016 from vmware to proxmox.
During migration I removed all VMWare drivers and installed all virtual drivers from fedorapeople.org. Everything worked but then I noticed a strange behavior with the virtio network driver (tried stable 126 and beta 141 drivers).
On my server 2016 VM are some media files (.mkv for my kids). If I copy the files from or to the server the performance seems correct but If I try to watch the files (MediaPlayer, Kodi,...) the video stutters and is not playable. It seems that the files are delivered to slow.
For now I switched to the Intel E1000 driver, no problem with it (copying and watching).

Is this a normal behavior (I think not) and any hints where I can tweak my system?
The host is an old PC (no server hardware), maybe it is related to the onboard nic?

 

[TheFunk]

Hardware sounds possible to me since virtio is paravirtualized, but what I would recommend is doing a fresh install of 2016 on a new VM and trying the virtio driver that way. I'd follow the recommendations of the tutorial video for 10/2016 that's stickied on the forums main page I believe.

If you notice the problem with a fresh install then you can rule out any weird issues from migration.

If it turns out it is the card, I've had no issues with the virtio drivers and I'm still using some ancient ConnectX2 card. You can pick one of those up on eBay for like $20 and then you can have 10gbe if your switch supports it and your server doesn't already have it.

 

[GadgetPig]

Is the PC with KODI connected via wired or wireless? Do you have any QOS rules enabled in your router? In windows, there's a freeware utility to check lan speeds to/from network share. Do a search for "Totusoft LAN Speed Test lite 1.3" which is freeware. I agree with TheFunk, try a fresh install windows VM with VIRTIO-SCSI driver. https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/LibvirtVirtioScsi.

 

[cybermcm]

I set up a new server 2016 installation and installed all virtio drivers (net, ballon, scsi, guest agent). Same outcome, video and audio stutters with different files, even simple connection with Media player, no KODI.
PC is wired connected, no QoS rules. 1GB switch with hardly any other traffic. I'll do the speedtest and report the results later. [EDIT] speed results added, tested a few times with different transfer sizes

Switching to E1000 NIC -> everything OK.

Spoiler: results

E1000 network:
Version 1.3.2
OS Version: Windows 8
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Date: 08/27/2017
Time: 13:24:49
Program Parameters: 0
High Performance Timer: 0.0000003208

Test File: \\srv04\temp\NW_SpeedTest.dat
Write Time = 2.2226993 Seconds
Write Speed = 359.9227360 Mbps
Read Time = 3.4278298 Seconds
Read Speed = 233.3838160 Mbps

virtio network:
Version 1.3.2
OS Version: Windows 8
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Date: 08/27/2017
Time: 12:29:16
Program Parameters: 0
High Performance Timer: 0.0000003208

Test File: \\srv04\temp\NW_SpeedTest.dat
Write Time = 4.1964548 Seconds
Write Speed = 381.2742160 Mbps
Read Time = 18.9093487 Seconds
Read Speed = 84.6142320 Mbps

Copy files:
virtio

E1000:

 

[TheFunk]

Arlighty, we've ruled out the migration.

Interestingly, you're not maxing out that gigabit NIC. At 1gbe you should be seeing about 100MBps on the transfer speed, assuming your storage can handle that.

My guess is you're using an old Realtek NIC. Can you check that on the host?

Something like this should work:

lspci | grep realtek

or

lspci | grep network

 

[cybermcm]

I would not call that a storage ;-), currently it's only a single old SATA disk (home lab), so the transfer rate is within expected parameters.
It's an onboard NIC ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet (rev b0)
Another downside I noticed moments ago. I shut down my lab if I do not need it and up until now (with esxi) it worked to wake it up again with WOL. WOL is currently not working *bummer*
I did search for drivers but with no luck, maybe changing the driver would solve both issues.
Currently WOL not working hurts much more than the virtio problem...

 

[GadgetPig]

Do you have another NIC card to use instead of the onboard one? At least just to rule out the original NIC.

 

[cybermcm]

I'm afraid currently not... but I used the onboard nic with esxi for the last year without a problem...

 

[cybermcm]

Update: I got my hand on a dedicated NIC (Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 10)). I use the virtio drivers and now copying files and streaming works. WOL is back to life too.
So my issue was caused by the onboard NIC (maybe driver related).

 

[Dzung]

Windows network slow performance, I was test network with ubuntu speed network is 900Mbps but I test on windows speed only 350Mbps any one increase network perfromance on windows 2012