Configuring JumboFrames on a Delphix Engine (KBA6792)

Issue

In order to take advantage of the network efficiencies gained from using larger packets on a high performance network, you may want to enable JumboFrames in your network.  This article describes the process for a Delphix Engine.  This article uses the example of a Delphix Engine deployed in a VMware on-premise solution.

Applicable Delphix Versions

Click here to view the versions of the Delphix engine to which this article applies

Major Release	All Sub Releases
6.0	6.0.0.0, 6.0.1.0, 6.0.1.1, 6.0.2.0, 6.0.2.1, 6.0.3.0, 6.0.3.1, 6.0.4.0, 6.0.4.1, 6.0.4.2, 6.0.5.0
5.3	5.3.0.0, 5.3.0.1, 5.3.0.2, 5.3.0.3, 5.3.1.0, 5.3.1.1, 5.3.1.2, 5.3.2.0, 5.3.3.0, 5.3.3.1, 5.3.4.0, 5.3.5.0 5.3.6.0, 5.3.7.0, 5.3.7.1, 5.3.8.0, 5.3.8.1, 5.3.9.0
5.2	5.2.2.0, 5.2.2.1, 5.2.3.0, 5.2.4.0, 5.2.5.0, 5.2.5.1, 5.2.6.0, 5.2.6.1
5.1	5.1.0.0, 5.1.1.0, 5.1.2.0, 5.1.3.0, 5.1.4.0, 5.1.5.0, 5.1.5.1, 5.1.6.0, 5.1.7.0, 5.1.8.0, 5.1.8.1, 5.1.9.0, 5.1.10.0
5.0	5.0.1.0, 5.0.1.1, 5.0.2.0, 5.0.2.1, 5.0.2.2, 5.0.2.3, 5.0.3.0, 5.0.3.1, 5.0.4.0, 5.0.4.1 ,5.0.5.0, 5.0.5.1, 5.0.5.2, 5.0.5.3, 5.0.5.4
4.3	4.3.1.0, 4.3.2.0, 4.3.2.1, 4.3.3.0, 4.3.4.0, 4.3.4.1, 4.3.5.0
4.2	4.2.0.0, 4.2.0.3, 4.2.1.0, 4.2.1.1, 4.2.2.0, 4.2.2.1, 4.2.3.0, 4.2.4.0 , 4.2.5.0, 4.2.5.1
4.1	4.1.0.0, 4.1.2.0, 4.1.3.0, 4.1.3.1, 4.1.3.2, 4.1.4.0, 4.1.5.0, 4.1.6.0

Resolution

After making the changes on the VMware side, you need to tell the Delphix Engine to start using jumbo frames.  Since changing network settings from a network connection does not make much sense and could be problematic, you have to make these changes from a command line (CLI) login on the VMware console for the engine being changed.

Anytime you login to the Delphix Setup interface (whether via the GUI or the CLI) you must do so using an account that has sysadmin privileges.  By default the engine is deployed with a single such account actually called "sysadmin", but you can add other sysadmin accounts and you can even remove the default account if desired.

After logging into the Delphix Setup CLI from the VMware console, you navigate to the network interfaces area.

my.delphix.engine > network interface

From here you can type ls to get a list of network interfaces.  For each desired interface, you need to select the interface.

my.delphix.engine network interface> ls
Objects
NAME  MACADDRESS   MTU 
ens160 02:dc:00:00:d2:f5 1500
my.delphix.engine network interface> select ens160

After selecting the interface, you can do an ls to get all of the configuration details about the interface.  For jumbo frames you are interested in MTU.  To configure jumbo frames you will update, set the MTU, and then commit the change.

my.delphix.engine network interface 'ens160'> ls
Properties
    type: NetworkInterface
    name: ens160
    addresses:
        0:
            type: InterfaceAddress
            address: 10.43.18.69/16
            addressType: DHCP
            enableSSH: true
            sessionInUse: false
            state: OK
    device: ens160
    macAddress: 02:dc:00:00:d2:f5
    mtu: 1500
    mtuRange: 68-9000
    reference: NETWORK_INTERFACE-ens160
    state: OK

Operations
update
refresh
my.delphix.engine network interface 'ens160'> update
my.delphix.engine network interface 'ens160' update *> set mtu=9000
my.delphix.engine network interface 'ens160' update *> commit

Troubleshooting

Assuming that the chosen MTU is correct, you should be able to connect to the Delphix Engine GUI interface appropriate to the engine.  If you are not able to connect to the UI after the change, then something went wrong.  You may need to check with your Networking group to confirm that the MTU is correct.  You may also want to revert the MTU using the same procedure above.  Remember that for JumboFrames to work, all nodes in the network path must be configured for JumboFrames.  (i.e. all switches, routers, firewalls etc.)  It is not sufficient for just the end nodes of a conversation to be configured for JumboFrames.