Microsoft Windows 2008 performance degradation during heavy network I/O - IBM System x3850 M2, x3950 M2

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H193717

Symptom

When running Microsoft Windows 2008, with a heavy network load, system performance degradation may be experienced.

The symptoms may include slow keyboard/mouse/video response and network applications may fail to create new socket connections.

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM Servers:

• System x3850 M2, type 7141, any model
• System x3850 M2, type 7144, any model
• System x3850 M2, type 7233, any model
• System x3850 M2, type 7234, any model
• System x3950 M2, type 7141, any model
• System x3950 M2, type 7233, any model
• System x3950 M2, type 7234, any model

This tip is not option specific.

The system is configured with at least one of the following:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter 32-bit, any service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter 64-bit, any service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise 32-bit, any service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise 64-bit, any service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard 32-bit, any service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard 64-bit, any service pack

Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software.

Please see the compatibility page for more information: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/

Solution

This is a permanent restriction, there will be no solution.

Workaround

1. From a Microsoft Windows Command Line, disable Autotuning as follows from the Windows Command Line:
   

   netsh int TCP set global autotuning=disabled

2. From a Microsoft Windows Command Line disable Receive Side Scaling (RSS) as follows:
   

   netsh int TCP set global rss=disabled

3. From a Microsoft Windows Command Line disable TCP Chimney Offload as follows:
   

   netsh int TCP set global chimney=disabled

4. Disable IPv6 for any network adapters connected to an IPv4 only network. To disable IPv6 perform the following steps:
   1. Click Start, Settings, and Network Connections.
   2. Right-click the network connection and click Properties.
   3. Disable the checkbox next to "Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)" and click OK. All of these options are enabled by default in Microsoft Windows Server 2008.

      Note: Ensure that TOE is disabled on the on-board 5709 NIC ports. This is the default setting.