JUMBO FRAMES?

[TooEasy!]

I've been doing some reading on the possibility of enabling Jumbo Frames could increase latency and was wondering is that the case if all nic cards along with the switch are configured for jumbo frames of 9KB MTU?

 

[C7J0yc3]

This is the case. If you are doing something on your local network where everything has jumbo frames enabled then everything will be fine and latency will not be affected, however when you go to the outside world your gateway has to take your 9k packet and break it into 1.5k packets to be sent to the internet. Jumbo frames are really only good in cases where you have a dedicated iSCSI or NFS network and your host and targets are set for jumbo frames for max transfer but the rest of your network is set to 1.5k.

 

[TooEasy!]

So your saying that my internet experience will be impacted, but not my LAN performance?

 

[C7J0yc3]

So your saying that my internet experience will be impacted, but not my LAN performance?

Exactly. Your LAN performance will be improved some during large file transfers, however your internet will be noticeably impacted. You may also see some latency with some things on the LAN side (streaming video or audio and SQL applications are two examples). My recommendation is that if you are trying to get better file transfer speeds there are better ways then doing jumbo frames.

 

[TooEasy!]

My recommendation is that if you are trying to get better file transfer speeds there are better ways then doing jumbo frames.

I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. I definitely don't want to incur latency as I stream audio and HD content between machines. However, file transfer speeds are imperative as I transfer gigs quite often. Any viable options?

 

[mattjw916]

jumbo frame at home is pointless... skip it

 

[Uberbob102000]

I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. I definitely don't want to incur latency as I stream audio and HD content between machines. However, file transfer speeds are imperative as I transfer gigs quite often. Any viable options?

I wouldn't worry too much about it, I haven't noticed much difference before 9K jumbo frames off or on with my network (A Dell PowerConnect 5448)

 

[C7J0yc3]

I'm trying to kill 2 birds with one stone. I definitely don't want to incur latency as I stream audio and HD content between machines. However, file transfer speeds are imperative as I transfer gigs quite often. Any viable options?

Your better bet is to team adapters. Intel Pro 1000/CT adapters can be had for about $20 a pop. Add 2 to each machine that needs the extra transfer speed, team them, and have much better results then jumbo frames.

As was said by mattjw916 Jumbo frames don't belong in a home network, they have a specific purpose for iSCSI and NFS traffic but end up adding more complication then benefit in a normal LAN.