E1000 vNIC and 10GBe pNIC

[Almero]

Hi Communities , please help me understand .

I have read many KBs but none address my question .

If i have a ESXi host with Optimal/Full 10 GB physical back end , but my eg Windows 2008/12 VMs have e1000 , or e1000e virtual adapters , can my VMs only run at 1 GB , as i can see the nic speed is reported as 1 GB inside Windows ?

I completely understand that E1000 /e family is based on 1 GB Intel actual nics, and VMXnet3 is a Vmware made one 10 GB , and based on what you use , the guest will report that speed , regardless of what is in physically installed in the ESXi host .

But how does this effect actual Guest network throuhput ?

So basically , do i need to exlusively use VMXnet3 to get my full 10GB speed, in and out , when using vpshere 5.5 and distrubuted switches ?

Your inputs would be greatly appreciated .

[Gavis4569]

Always use VMXNET3 NICs, not those oldschool E1000/E1000e.

The benefit is not only the speed but VMXNET is virtualized driver, has a better performance, less overload etc.

With E1000 you can get more then 1 Gbps even the windows claims that NIC is 1 Gbps but with VMXNET you will get more

[Almero]

Thank you VERY much Martin .

I am having trouble convicing our Change Managers that this is an required change on a very large customer we inherrited .

I basically need to prove to them that E1000 cannot achieve 10GB speed , or they wont allow me to change their standard .

I cant really test , as i only have PROD enviroment , dont want to kill LANS with test

Any place where i can find a formal answer clearly stating I can't get 10GB on E1000/e ? Despite other "ehancements/optimizations " ?

[Gavis4569]

You can use iperf for testing the speed (durning some off peak hours?)

https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php

There is nice KB on VMware website regarding problems with E1000 and Windows 2012.

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2109922

Performance report from Rickard Nobel

VMXNET3 vs E1000E and E1000 – part 2 | Rickard Nobel

Belive me, you want to get rid of E1000 NICs for many resons.

[narenotpp]

Take a quick look at following blog posts, see those helps.

VMXNET3 vs E1000E and E1000 – part 1 | Rickard Nobel

VMXNET3 vs E1000E and E1000 – part 2 | Rickard Nobel

[MKguy]

I've written about it here multiple times since the question comes up every once in a while:

Basically, the virtual link speed doesn't matter at all for any of the vNIC types. The e1000(e) can exceed 1Gbps or even 10Gbps for that matter (of course if your physical links allow this or e.g. on the same host), the vmxnet3 can also well exceed it's virtual 10Gbps link speed. However, ramping up bandwidth like that on the e1000(e) will prove very difficult and can only be achieved at the expense of many additional CPU cycles, it's just very inefficient compared to the vmxnet3.

See these threads where I've commented for reference, although they are about vmxnet3, the same principles apply to the e1000(e):

VM Guest Bonding

VMXNET3 limited to 1Gbps still provides 10Gbps bandwidth

Maximum traffic for a vmxnet3

[Almero]

Thank you to all 3 of you Guys ,  Got them convinced now .