Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or virtio

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Post Reply
Gevatter Gaul
Posts: 6
Joined: 31. Oct 2012, 00:54

Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or virtio

Post by Gevatter Gaul »

Hi,

I'm running VirtualBox 4.2 on a Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64bit. The machine is a Xeon E1230 Quadcore with 32G ECC RAM. The VM is connected via a Host Adapter. When running a ping from the Host to the VM, everything seems fine and I get an average latency of around 0.2ms. But in the other direction, depending on the configured VM NIC, I get very high ping results. Strangely enough, the problem only exists, when configuring more than one virtual CPU. Here are my measurements:

Average Ping:

Code: Select all

VCPUs 	PCnet-PCI II 	PCnet-FAST III 	Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop 	Intel PRO/1000 T Server 	Intel PRO/1000 MT Server 	Paravirtualized Network
1 		0.168 		0.183 		0.209 					0.191 				0.206 				0.399
2 		0.193 		0.182 		15.987 					12.157 				10.349 				5.327
3 		0.179 		0.167 		12.032 					14.052 				9.657 				5.337
4 		0.174 		0.176 		12.929 					13.680 				13.627 				5.482
mdev of Ping (belonging to the table above):

Code: Select all

VCPUs 	PCnet-PCI II 	PCnet-FAST III 	Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop 	Intel PRO/1000 T Server 	Intel PRO/1000 MT Server 	Paravirtualized Network
1 		0.043 		0.046 		0.040 					0.061 				0.039 				0.055
2 		0.085 		0.085 		16.036 					16.390 				14.946 				4.638
3 		0.045 		0.046 		14.575 					16.903 				13.330 				5.252
4 		0.045 		0.044 		16.286 					16.033 				16.148 				4.881 
We see, as soon as I configure more than one VCPU, latency goes through the roof. Someone else already
experienced this, but he offered no explanation or solution. I will add the link in a followup post, because the board prohibits posting urls for new members.

Does anyone have an idea how to solve this issue? I would like to use an intel NIC, or virtio, because they offer better throughput.

Regards,
Gevatter
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Perryg »

I never have a problem with VirtIO. What is the guest?
Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.
Gevatter Gaul
Posts: 6
Joined: 31. Oct 2012, 00:54

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Gevatter Gaul »

Guest is also an Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64bit, Guest Log File is attached.
Attachments
VBox.log
(98.6 KiB) Downloaded 18 times
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Perryg »

From the hosts terminal type VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use " " if the name has a space in it.
Gevatter Gaul
Posts: 6
Joined: 31. Oct 2012, 00:54

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Gevatter Gaul »

Code: Select all

Name:            ethon
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Ubuntu (64 bit)
UUID:            5db630ab-41f6-4994-828a-735d173da7eb
Config file:     /srv/vms/VirtualBox VMs/ethon/ethon.vbox
Snapshot folder: /srv/vms/VirtualBox VMs/ethon/Snapshots
Log folder:      /srv/vms/VirtualBox VMs/ethon/Logs
Hardware UUID:   5db630ab-41f6-4994-828a-735d173da7eb
Memory size:     4096MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       12MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         ich9
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  4
Synthetic Cpu:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             UTC
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           powered off (since 2012-10-30T23:39:24.978000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address: 
Teleporter Password: 
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration: 
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Storage Controller Name (0):            SATA Controller
Storage Controller Type (0):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      30
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
Storage Controller Name (1):            IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (1):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (1):        on
SATA Controller (0, 0): /srv/vms/VirtualBox VMs/ethon/Snapshots/{2d89a1a8-2091-42e1-ad7b-d9ac6943bc43}.vdi (UUID: 2d89a1a8-2091-42e1-ad7b-d9ac6943bc43)
IDE Controller (0, 0): /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: 23922a94-0b3f-4da1-b5ae-aae05ac2b6c8)
NIC 1:           MAC: 0800273F8F72, Attachment: Host-only Interface 'vboxnet1', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82545EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
NIC 9:           disabled
NIC 10:           disabled
NIC 11:           disabled
NIC 12:           disabled
NIC 13:           disabled
NIC 14:           disabled
NIC 15:           disabled
NIC 16:           disabled
NIC 17:           disabled
NIC 18:           disabled
NIC 19:           disabled
NIC 20:           disabled
NIC 21:           disabled
NIC 22:           disabled
NIC 23:           disabled
NIC 24:           disabled
NIC 25:           disabled
NIC 26:           disabled
NIC 27:           disabled
NIC 28:           disabled
NIC 29:           disabled
NIC 30:           disabled
NIC 31:           disabled
NIC 32:           disabled
NIC 33:           disabled
NIC 34:           disabled
NIC 35:           disabled
NIC 36:           disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          I/O base: 0x02e8, IRQ: 3, attached to device '/dev/ttyS20'
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           disabled
Clipboard Mode:  disabled
Drag'n'drop Mode:  disabled
VRDE:            enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 9000-9010, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
Video redirection: disabled
VRDE property: TCP/Ports  = "9000-9010"
VRDE property: TCP/Address = <not set>
VRDE property: VideoChannel/Enabled = <not set>
VRDE property: VideoChannel/Quality = <not set>
VRDE property: VideoChannel/DownscaleProtection = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableDisplay = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableInput = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableAudio = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableUSB = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableClipboard = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableUpstreamAudio = <not set>
VRDE property: Client/DisableRDPDR = <not set>
VRDE property: H3DRedirect/Enabled = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/Method = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/ServerCertificate = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/ServerPrivateKey = <not set>
VRDE property: Security/CACertificate = <not set>
VRDE property: Audio/RateCorrectionMode = <not set>
USB:             disabled
EHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  <none>

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

Snapshots:

   Name: Saubere Installation mit Netzwerkconfig (UUID: 32195afa-08ba-46bd-8cca-4dc6e9ed1b53) *
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Perryg »

I don't see anything that would explain your issue. You should post a ticket at bugtracker giving this information and see what the DEVs have to say.
Gevatter Gaul
Posts: 6
Joined: 31. Oct 2012, 00:54

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Gevatter Gaul »

Finally, I can add URLs. Here is the link to the guy who had the same problem: http://dlutzy.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/ ... irtualbox/

Also, filed a bug report: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11154
Gevatter Gaul
Posts: 6
Joined: 31. Oct 2012, 00:54

Re: Bad VM to Host Network Performance with Intel NIC or vir

Post by Gevatter Gaul »

There already has been a similar bug: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/10157
Post Reply