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Os/400 Tcp/Ip Tuning: Mtu and Window Sizes

The document discusses two TCP/IP settings on an AS/400 that can be tuned to improve performance: the MTU size and window size. The default MTU size of 576 bytes is too low for modern Ethernet and limits packet sizes, reducing efficiency. Setting the MTU to the interface capacity (*IFC) allows larger packet sizes. The default window size of 8KB is also too low; increasing it to 32-64KB can improve performance by allowing more data to be transmitted before needing acknowledgement. The document provides steps to change these settings through the OS/400 configuration menus.

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357 views

Os/400 Tcp/Ip Tuning: Mtu and Window Sizes

The document discusses two TCP/IP settings on an AS/400 that can be tuned to improve performance: the MTU size and window size. The default MTU size of 576 bytes is too low for modern Ethernet and limits packet sizes, reducing efficiency. Setting the MTU to the interface capacity (*IFC) allows larger packet sizes. The default window size of 8KB is also too low; increasing it to 32-64KB can improve performance by allowing more data to be transmitted before needing acknowledgement. The document provides steps to change these settings through the OS/400 configuration menus.

Uploaded by

coolpraveen
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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OS/400 TCP/IP Tuning: MTU AND WINDOW SIZES

Your AS/400 may be running TCP/IP at a disadvantage unless you've


changed some IBM default settings:

Minimum Transfer Unit (MTU) size


TCP/IP window size

MTU limits the size of the largest packet transmitted by your AS/400.
The default MTU size of 576 bytes is designed to be effective over dial-
up connections.

Alas, it is much lower than the most efficient values for Ethernet and
Token-Ring, which can handle 1500 and 2000 bytes, respectively.

The result is that your AS/400 must chop data up into three times as
many packets to send it - very wasteful and a huge performance sink
on today's fast LAN and Internet networks.

Matching the MTU size to the best one for a particular physical
interface will improve network efficiency markedly. You do this by
editing each TCP/IP route in your OS/400's routing table (usually
there is just one, the default route, but you may have more):
1. GO CFGTCP
2. Select option 2, Work with TCP/IP routes
3. Edit the desired route - *DFTROUTE for example
4. Change the Maximum Transmission Unit to *IFC

This sets the MTU to the most efficient value for the interface
supporting that route. For example, if your default route is an Ethernet
port leading to your Internet gateway, the *IFC value will
automatically change the MTU for packets on that path from 576 to
1500.

The other default value to change is the TCP/IP window size, which
governs how much data can be "in the air" waiting for an
acknowledgment. Here again IBM has been overly conservative - the
window size defaults to just 8 K, when today's reliable networks can
easily juggle much more. Fixing this will have a noticeable effect on
performance - the larger the window, the better the performance. Too
large a window size results in buffer overruns, which can cause
retransmissions and degraded performance, so you may have to
experiment a bit. A good bet is to start with 32 K or 64 K. Here's
how to do it:
1. GO CFGTCP
2. Select option 3, Change TCP/IP attributes
3. Change the send and receive buffer sizes
4. Restart TCP/IP

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