In the interest of helping PlateSpin administrators in their efforts to achieve better network throughput when using PlateSpin products, the iPerf Network Test tool is provided on the PlateSpin LRD (Linux RAM Disk) take-control environment. As stated in the iPerf documentation: The primary goal of iPerf is to help in tuning TCP connections over a particular path. The most fundamental tuning issue for TCP is the TCP window size, which controls how much data can be in the network at any one point.
The purpose of this README is to describe a basic method for network tuning and testing as it relates to using PlateSpin products. First, you calculate a theoretical optimum TCP window size. Then you use the iPerf tool to validate and fine-tune this calculated size and measure the resulting throughput. Using this method is also useful in determining the real achievable throughput for a given network.
Both the iPerf tool and PlateSpin products are actually using the TCP send/receive buffer size in order to affect the eventual internal choice of TCP window size. Going forward, these terms will be used interchangeably.
NOTE:There are many factors that affect network throughput. A wealth of information is available on the Internet that can aid in understanding. One such resource is the Network Throughput Calculator, which can help in calculating the expected maximum TCP throughput given applicable customer network characteristics. We strongly recommend that this online calculator be used in order to correctly set expectations regarding throughput.