Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 01:35:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@rush.net> To: kadal <kadal@elka.ee.itb.ac.id> Cc: Wayne Cuddy <wayne@crb-web.com>, FreeBSD Hackers List <freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: network performance vs. linux on small transfers Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990824013255.20420Y-100000@cygnus.rush.net> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990824113533.28579A-100000@elka.ee.itb.ac.id>
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On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, kadal wrote: > > > > On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Wayne Cuddy wrote: > > > Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 00:38:21 -0400 (EDT) > > From: Wayne Cuddy <wayne@crb-web.com> > > To: FreeBSD Hackers List <freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG> > > Subject: network performance vs. linux on small transfers > > > > I am involved in a messaging system at work in which we need to send/receive > > large amounts of small (one line messages) SMTP messages. We are currently using Sendmail 8.9.3 > > on HPUX. > > > > Our application sends messages down a FIFO to a daemon process that is reading from > > the FIFO. This process then connects to port 25 of the destination system and > > delivers the mail via SMTP. Currently the destination system is the local > > system so everything is done on one machine. > > > > Using HPUX we typically pass 5 messages a second. This system is a dual > > 180Mhz K class server so this is surprisingly low performance for this system. > > > > When testing on FreeBSD 3.1 we also got 5 messages a second. This system is a > > 500Mhz P3, this is also unacceptable performance. > > > > When we tested with Linux (kernel 2.2.5) we passed 15 messages a second > > consistently using the exact same P3 described above. > > > > Since the HPUX and FreeBSD numbers are so close I am wondering there is some > > performance tuning that I do not know about. Do you think the number might > > change if multiple hosts were used? > > > > The daemon that reads from the FIFO makes only one connection to the local > > Sendmail to deliver multiple messages in sequence. > > do you really have to deliver the messages sequentially ? SMTP > conversation is rather slow, especially for small messages. > > you may want to try to deliver them simultaneously, by creating multiple > SMTP conversations. > > you may also try other MTA such as qmail, postfix, etc. > > > I REALLY want to use FreeBSD over Linux on this one and need some major help > > to get the performance out of FreeBSD. > > how about profiling your program / system ? try to find where it spends > most time. it could be forking, disk I/O, SMTP conversation, etc. I > strongly suspect that it's SMTP conversation, but can't really sure before > you mesure it. Wild guess, the creation of spool files syncronously is killing performance you may give freebsd a signifigant boost by either: mount -o async -u /var (spool partition) or enabling softupdates, check out: /usr/src/sys/contrib/softupdates/README.softupdates. please tell me how it goes. good luck, -Alfred To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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