E1000 is faster than VMXNET3

What’s an e1000?

• The Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller

• VMware offers an emulated version of this controller

• Most operating systems are shipped with a 82545EM driver

• The 82545EM driver sucks! That’s why Intel replaced it with e1000e aka 82574L

What’s an e1000e?

• The Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller

• In vSphere 5 (HW8), VMware offers an emulated version

• Windows 7 and Windows 2008 are shipped with drivers for the 82574L

• The 82574L is cool, but is it faster than an VMXNET3?

What’s VMXNET3?

• The VMXNET3 adapter is the next generation of Para virtualized NIC designed for performance

• The VMXNET3 network adapter is a 10Gb virtual NIC

• Drivers are shipped with the VMware tools and most OS are supported

The Laboratory

• UDP 1024 Bytes

• TCP 1024 Bytes

• UDP 16 Kbytes

• TCP 16 Kbytes

The tools

e1000e

VMXNET3

TCP 16K - What’s faster?

e1000e

VMXNET3

UDP 1024 Bytes - What’s faster?

Myth Busted

• VMXNET3 is much faster than e1000 or e1000e

• VMXNET3 has less CPU overhead compared to e1000 or e1000e

• VMXNET3 is more stable than e1000 or e1000e