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Troubleshooting Oracle VDB Performance - Perform network latency and throughput tests (KBA1075)

 

 

 

The capability to test the performance of the networking to a source or target host/server is built-in to the Delphix Virtualization Engine, accessible from the command-line interface (CLI).

Testing network latency between the Delphix Virtualization Engine and another host/server

First, to connect as an administrative user (i.e. delphix_admin, etc) to the Delphix Virtualization Engine using the CLI, use an SSH client such as PUTTY if using a Windows workstation or call SSH from the UNIX/Linux shell...

$ ssh delphix_admin@<IP-address-or-hostname-of-Delphix-Engine>

When connected to the Delphix CLI for a Delphix Virtualization Engine with the IP hostname of "prod_delphix_01.abc.com", please enter the following commands to test the network latency to the source database server while specifying its IP address or hostname, in this case "prod_source_01.abc.com"...

  • /network test latency
  • create
  • set remoteAddress=prod_source_01.abc.com
  • commit

This should look like...

As well, you can use the "remoteHost" field (instead of "remoteAddress") to instead specify the name of the Delphix source environment, as follows...

  • /network test latency
  • create
  • set remoteHost=source01
  • commit

It should look something like this...

Here, we see network latency of about 0.5 ms, which is excellent.  Delphix recommends latency of less than 1 ms between Delphix Virtualization Engines and target hosts/servers, so having that latency between the engine and the source host/server, where such fast latency is not necessary, is very good news.

Testing network throughput between the Delphix Virtualization Engine and another host/server

To test the maximum throughput on the network between the Delphix Virtualization Engine and the source host/server, connect to the Delphix CLI (as described above) and enter the following commands...

  • /network test throughput
  • create
  • set remoteHost=source01
  • commit

This will conduct the throughput test in the default direction of TRANSMIT (i.e. from engine to source server), which should look something like this...

Please note that only the "remoteHost" field (for the Delphix environment name) can be specified;  the "remoteAddress" field (for the IP address/hostname) is not offered as an option.

A second throughput test, in the RECEIVE direction (from the source environment to the engine) is necessary as well.  Please enter the following...

  • create
  • set remoteHost=source01
  • set direction=RECEIVE
  • commit

This should look something like the following...

On a 10GbE network (which is strongly recommended by Delphix), 10.0 Gbps or 10,240 Mbps is line speed or maximum possible throughput.  The throughputs shown, 673.4 Mbps for TRANSMIT and 790.0 Mbps for RECEIVE represent only about 6.5% and 7.7% respectively of line speed.  If this is a 10GbE network, we should reasonably expect more like 50% - 80% or more of line speed.  However, if this is a 1GbE network, then 1 Gpbs or 1024 Mbps is line speed, and these readings represent 65% and 77% of line speed, which is quite good.

So, if this is a 10GbE network, then something is limiting network throughput, and the network administration team should be engaged to diagnose the problem.

However, if this is a 1GbE network, then we are getting almost as much throughput as can be expected, and now the question becomes:  do we need to bond together multiple 1GbE network links, or should we upgrade to a 10GbE network?

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