vmxnet3 receive side scaling on 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 iSCSI

[julez66]

I've not really found the answer to this question.  What is the best practice for RSS for vmxnet3 in a guest OS such as 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 for iSCSI?

Message was edited by: Julian King
Changed title to better discuss what I'm after.

[marktheblue45]

I believe receive side scaling allows for multi processor offload. So only useful if your VM has multiple CPU's. 

[julez66]

Just getting back to this, yep I understand that, I guess my question is, is it advisable to use that?

Also wondering if Nimble has a best practice for VMXnet3 settings in 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 for guest iSCSI connectivity?

Things such as RSS, Checksum offload options, etc... or any other settings I'm missing.

The default for RSS is disabled, and the UDP/TCP/IPv4 checksum offloads are set to Tx/Rx rather than disabled

Or for that matter is there a guide for in guest iSCSI optimization when using VMXnet3 nics that I'm missing?

I'd like to see an end to end from turning windows settings off such as link layer, qos, file and printer sharing, register dns, NetBIOS to binding order and VMXnet3 optimization.

Some sort of official Nimble KB or guide for that would be awesome for VMware folk such as myself.

[marktheblue45]

I turn off QOS in VM's

[tmoore106 · Accepted solution]

Hey Juian, in order....

No there is no Nimble best practice for VMXnet3 settings nor is there a guide for VMXnet3 nics.

I will take this up with the tech marketing team to see if there has been a previous request for the end to end tuning guide you mention. If not, I will make a request.

Side note.... lunch next week with you and the team?