Maximizing Data Performance


See table below for some helpful tips in maximizing Symmetric/asymmetric Data Throughput.

Steps to maximize Data Throughput:

  • Configure the network interfaces such that the GTP encapsulated traffic runs on a different port than the unencapsulated traffic.
  • Ensure that all the ports are on the same NIC card.
  • For example, do NOT use port 2 for encapsulated traffic and port 8 for unencapsulated traffic.
  • Typically ~10k UE’s will provide the best data throughput.
  • As the number of UE’s is increased to the system maximum,  the data throughput will gradually decrease .
  • Traffic Start should be set to : "When All Sessions Established"
  • Before running the test with 10k UE’s configured, try running the test with just 1 UE.
  • Capture a PCAP log and see how large the data packets are. If there are any fragmented data packets in the PCAP log, you will need to adjust the packet payload size configured in the DMF to insure that the 1500 byte MTU size is not being violated.
  • Verify that both encapsulated and unencapsulated packets are 1500 bytes or smaller.
  • Once the above steps have been completed you can run the test with the desired # of UEs and observe the performance of the data throughput by opening the L5-7 report tab and checking the “% of Configured Rate Attempted” OM.
  • The goal is to get this OM in the 95% range.
  • This OM will tell you how hard the test server is working and how much CPU processing power is left.
  • If this OM shows 100%, this is an indication that you are leaving performance on the table and the Transaction Rate can be bumped up.
  • This is a trial and error process and might take several attempts to dial in the best possible Transaction Rate.
  • Check the L5-7 Client tab and L5-7 Server tab for Basic Data Messages Lost and Basic Data Duplicate Messages. These OM’s should be 0 or very close to 0 and as the test is running you do not want to see these OM’s increasing.  In a back-to-back test with Landslide Nodes, these OMs should be 0.
  • If you are running a connection oriented transport layer such as TCP, you should also check the L4 Client and L4 Server tabs, The “Socket Ack Timeouts” and “Socket Lost Packets” OMs should be 0 or very close to 0. In a back-to-back test with Landslide Nodes, these OMs should be 0.  
  • When running this test in a real network some loss and delays are possible thus these OMs might slowly increase as the test runs, but should be a tiny fraction of the total data throughput.
  • The steps above are applicable to symmetric and asymmetric data as well as advanced data such as HTTP.

 


Related Topics

  1. About Test Reports
  2. About the CDMA2000 Application
  3. About the GPRS Application
  4. About the IP Data Application
  5. About the L2TP VPN Gateway Application
  6. About the Mobile IP Application
  7. About the UMTS Application
  8. Configuring a Test Session