	Informal performance tests of network disk access times.
			by Joe Doupnik, 23 July 1993

Client PC is a 486-66/DX2 with an NE-2000 board. Main server is a 486-33
EISA bus NW 3.11 (fully uptodate), NE-3200 EISA Ethernet, Adaptec 1742A
EISA SCSI disk controller. NW 3.11 server has security set to level 1.
Direct Ethernet connection (no bridges/routers which slow down things a lot).

Testing program is "iozone", a simple sequential write/read program available
publicly and on netlab2.usu.edu, cd APPS. This gives the same results as 
Novell's Perform2 and Perform3. Tests were terminated early in most cases, 
but the trends are clearly shown. Detailed results are listed after the 
comments. Only the changes to net.cfg are shown.

Summary of results.

1. Regular ODI shells.
	Bnetx vs netx: about the same for small request sizes, but bnetx is
superior for larger sizes. The VLMs can now beat these shells.

2. VLM ODI shells.
	The lastest issue is about 10% faster than the first and second
issues and the defaults of some items change between issues. The test results
below are from the second issue.

The adjustables (of many):
	PB buffers=6
	PBurst read window 4096
	PBurst write window 4096
	checksum=off		; speedup high quality links
	true commit=off		; off=let server buffer writes
	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
	load low conn=off
	load low ipxncp=off
	signature level=0	; 0=don't load security.vlm

Summary of adjustables.

PB buffers and Pburst read/write have no noticable effect and may be omitted.
Checksum now has little noticable effect and may be left ON.
True commit has little effect and may be left ON.
Cache buffers has a marked effect on small request sizes and should be left 
at the default (not 0).
Load low conn and ipxncp have dramatic effects. These should be loaded low
for best performance.
Signature level = 2 is now about 10% slower than security level = 0; use 
which ever suits local security needs.

3. NW 3.11 EISA bus on a 486-33 versus NW 4.00 on a 386-16/SX (NE-2000).

	Not all that much different, but the SX machine is slower. Large 
request sizes reached saturation on the SX box. Server utilitization was 
about 10% on the EISA bus and 30% on the ISA bus box.

4. NetWare vs Unix.
	Memory caching under Unix is dramatically better than under NW
up to the point where Unix memory is exhausted and the disk must be
accessed. The first test involved no networking. The second test used
NW 3.11 (via NFS) as the disk drive and similar caching comments still
apply.

5. Packet Driver versus ODI.
	The results are not shown here, but the NE2000.COM packet driver
and Bnetx was markedly slower than the ODI material.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bnetx shell
# File NET.CFG, from Joe Doupnik
PB buffers=6
show dots=on
signature level=0

Link Support
	Buffers	7 1500
	MemPool	2048

IOZONE: auto-test mode

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     293718              258269              
	1       1024    406424              374491              
	1       2048    532272              453929              
	1       4096    635500              579323              
	1       8192    765383              659481              
	2       512     296207              268865              
	2       1024    406424              366634              
	2       2048    530924              459901              
	2       4096    647269              569878              

-----------------------
Netx rather than Bnetx, regular shell

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     293718              268865              
	1       1024    406424              374491              
	1       2048    406424              374491              
	1       4096    444311              414456              
	1       8192    453929              406424              
	2       512     293718              266813              
	2       1024    406424              367277              
	2       2048    410401              370521              
	2       4096    450032              410401              
	2       8192    449068              406424              
	4       512     293513              268006              
	4       1024    385505              366955              

-----------------------
	load conn and ipxncp low

# File NET.CFG for NW 4.0, from Joe Doupnik
# Don't forget to say  lastdrive=z  in config.sys!

Netware dos requester
	PB buffers=6
	PBurst read window 4096
	PBurst write window 4096
	checksum=off		; speedup high quality links
	true commit=off		; off=let server buffer writes
	auto reconnect=off	; off=do not load auto.vlm
	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
	average name length=24	; shrinks connection table
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off
	signature level=0	; 0=don't load security.vlm
	read only compatibility=on

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     254508              233016              
	1       1024    366634              335008              
	1       2048    516539              466033              
	1       4096    703742              579323              
	1       8192    825650              635500

--------------------------
	Load conn high, load ipxncp low.
Netware dos requester
	PB buffers=6
	PBurst read window 4096
	PBurst write window 4096
	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     187245              176825              
	1       1024    288863              268865              
	1       2048    501711              455902              
	1       4096    680893              560735              
	1       8192    794375              639375              
	2       512     186247              175935              
---------------------
	Load conn high.
Netware dos requester
	PB buffers=6
	PBurst read window 4096
	PBurst write window 4096
;;	load low conn=off
	load low ipxncp=off

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     167504              157918              
	1       1024    265462              250855              
	1       2048    516539              453929              
	1       4096    708497              576140              
	1       8192    825650              659481              
	2       512     166705              158514              
	2       1024    265126              251155              
-------------------
	PBurst, no qualifiers.
Netware dos requester
	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     254508              235635              
	1       1024    366634              335008              
	1       2048    516539              455902              
	1       4096    680893              579323              
	1       8192    832203              635500              
	2       512     256062              235635              
	2       1024    370521              335008              
	2       2048    516539              453929              
	2       4096    683111              569878              
	2       8192    809711              647269              

-------------------------------
	No PBurst, load conn, ipxncp high.
Netware dos requester
;	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     257635              233016              
	1       1024    366634              341555              
	1       2048    516539              453929              
	1       4096    685343              576140              
	1       8192    832203              635500              
	2       512     256062              235900              
	2       1024    370521              335008              
	2       2048    516539              453929              
	2       4096    683111              569878              

------------------------
	Cache buffers test.

Netware dos requester
;	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     374491              353055              
	1       1024    398698              433295              
	1       2048    501711              442437              
	1       4096    659481              576140              
	1       8192    832203              635500              
	2       512     378547              353055              
	2       1024    401753              434192              
	2       2048    495780              438734              
	2       4096    657414              569878              
	2       8192    812849              659481              
	4       512     376170              353353              
-----------------------
	Signature level = 2 test.

Netware dos requester
;	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off
	signature level=2	; 0=don't load security.vlm

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     293718              264791              
	1       1024    313007              328707              
	1       2048    389805              347210              
	1       4096    529583              489988              
	1       8192    708497              616809              
	2       512     293718              265126              
	2       1024    310229              329223              
	2       2048    386215              346636              
	2       4096    483214              501711              
	2       8192    694421              606113              
-----------------------
	True commit test.

Netware dos requester
;	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	true commit=off		; off=let server buffer writes
;;	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off
	signature level=2	; 0=don't load security.vlm

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     293718              265462              
	1       1024    293718              329740              
	1       2048    389805              354248              
	1       4096    532272              501711              
	1       8192    708497              616809              
	2       512     293718              265126              
	2       1024    313007              329223              
	2       2048    385505              347210              
	2       4096    530924              495780              
	2       8192    708497              606113              

-----------------------
	Checksum test.

Netware dos requester
;	PB buffers=6
;	PBurst read window 4096
;	PBurst write window 4096
;;	checksum=off		; speedup high quality links
;;	true commit=off		; off=let server buffer writes
;;	cache buffers=0		; 0=removes cache
;;	load low conn=off
;;	load low ipxncp=off
;;	signature level=0	; 0=don't load security.vlm
	signature level=2	; 0=don't load security.vlm

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     374491              353055              
	1       1024    398698              433295              
	1       2048    489988              444311              
	1       4096    659481              560735              
	1       8192    794375              659481              
	2       512     374491              298314              
	2       1024    401753              434192              
	2       2048    495780              438734              
	2       4096    659481              569878              
	2       8192    812849              635500              
	4       512     376508              351871              
	4       1024    401753              433743              

-----------------------
Bnetx, to NW 4.00 server (386-16/SX, NE-2000 board), bindery emulation mode.

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     251457              242165              
	1       1024    340446              307500              
	1       2048    398698              366634              
	1       4096    516539              501711              
	1       8192    563750              616809              
	2       512     232758              249660              
	2       1024    321156              317750              
	2       2048    381994              385505              
	2       4096    539113              466033              
	2       8192    546133              501711              
	4       512     230709              184934              
	4       1024    314180              175567              
	4       2048    367277              238719              
	4       4096    486578              220057              
	4       8192    533626              170085              
	8       512     237907              186247              
	8       1024    309200              182480              
	8       2048    360955              233926              
	8       4096    480172              230329              
	8       8192    517495              171231              

---------------------------------------
Iozone run on a 16MB Unix machine (SVR4.04, Dell issue 2.2)
Note the effects of real Unix caching affecting the 16MB file transfers.
Unix does caching very well for both reading and writing; NetWare does
not use the same schemes. There is no networking in this test because
the program is running on the Unix system.

	Operating System: POSIX 1003.1-1988

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     606113              1807889             
	1       1024    812849              3084047             
	1       2048    1028015             4369066             
	1       4096    1205259             4194304             
	1       8192    1344328             4032984             
	2       512     624152              1839607             
	2       1024    838860              2995931             
	2       2048    1038194             4462025             
	2       4096    1255779             4279902             
	2       8192    1327311             4369066             
	4       512     624152              1855886             
	4       1024    861253              3084047             
	4       2048    1048575             4609125             
	4       4096    1274864             4660337             
	4       8192    1353001             4993219             
	8       512     571042              1835581             
	8       1024    801204              3118441             
	8       2048    990390              4821039             
	8       4096    1090846             6403517             
	8       8192    1106676             7108989             
	16      512     559987              636223              
	16      1024    776363              607210              
	16      2048    957057              637190              
	16      4096    1065896             630248              
	16      8192    1085201             630485              

--------------------------
Running on Unix but the disk is NFS mounted NW 3.11.
Note extremely rapid reads from Unix regular caching, until it's flushed
when we run out of real memory (16MB overall).

	MB      reclen  bytes/sec written   bytes/sec read      
	1       512     305707              1416994             
	1       1024    327679              2496609             
	1       2048    353055              4032984             
	1       4096    365357              5825422             
	1       8192    367921              8065969             
	2       512     300451              1407484             
	2       1024    321649              2496609             
	2       2048    341555              4112062             
	2       4096    369216              5991862             
	2       8192    365357              7767229             
	4       512     303056              1407484             
	4       1024    321649              2467237             
	4       2048    339344              4072139             
	4       4096    361577              5991862             
	4       8192    365039              7767229             
	8       512     301748              1368451             
	8       1024    309086              2474515             
	8       2048    342671              4052467             
	8       4096    362046              5785246             
	8       8192    356810              6260155             
	16      512     301965              299165              
	16      1024    319079              336486              
	16      2048    338182              355826              
	16      4096    356355              381127              
	16      8192    357494              308802              
=============================================================================
