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Contents Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2012 R2 ...................................................8 Performance Tuning for Server Hardware ................................................................................9 See Also .............................................................................................................................9 Server Hardware Performance Considerations .........................................................................9 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 14 Server Hardware Power Considerations ................................................................................. 14 Power considerations and recommendations ....................................................................... 14 Processor terminology ....................................................................................................... 16 Power and performance tuning ........................................................................................... 17 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 24 Performance Tuning for Subsystems...................................................................................... 24 Server Performance Advisor 3.1 ......................................................................................... 25 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 25 Performance Tuning for Network Subsystems ........................................................................ 25 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 25 Using NIC Teaming for Network Subsystem Performance ....................................................... 26 NIC teaming configuration .................................................................................................. 26 Algorithms for load distribution ............................................................................................ 26 Compatibility...................................................................................................................... 27 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 27 Choosing a Network Adapter for Network Subsystem Performance .......................................... 27 Offload capabilities ............................................................................................................ 27 Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) ............................................................................................... 29 Receive Segment Coalescing (RSC)................................................................................... 31 Network adapter resources ................................................................................................. 33 Message-Signaled Interrupts (MSI/MSI-X) ........................................................................... 33 Interrupt moderation........................................................................................................... 33 Suggested network adapter features for server roles ............................................................ 34 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 34 Tuning a Network Adapter for Network Subsystem Performance ............................................. 34 Enabling offload features .................................................................................................... 35 Enabling interrupt moderation ............................................................................................. 36 Workload specific tuning .................................................................................................... 36 System management interrupts .......................................................................................... 37 Tuning TCP ....................................................................................................................... 37 Network-related performance counters ................................................................................ 38 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 39 Performance Tuning for Storage Subsystems ......................................................................... 39 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 40 Choosing Storage for Storage Subsystem Performance .......................................................... 41 Estimating the amount of data to be stored .......................................................................... 41 Choosing a storage solution ............................................................................................... 43 Understanding hardware array capabilities .......................................................................... 44 Choosing the right resiliency scheme .................................................................................. 50 Selecting a stripe unit size .................................................................................................. 55 Determining the volume layout ............................................................................................ 56 Choosing and designing storage tiers.................................................................................. 56 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 57 Using Storage Spaces for Storage Subsystem Performance .................................................... 57 Storage Spaces resiliency options ...................................................................................... 58 Storage Spaces write-back cache (WBC) ............................................................................ 59 Storage Spaces automated data tiering (tiered storage) ....................................................... 59 Storage Spaces enclosure awareness ................................................................................ 61 Storage Spaces clustering and continuous availability .......................................................... 62 Storage Spaces advanced configuration options .................................................................. 63 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 63 Using Storage-related Parameters and Performance Counters ................................................ 63 I/O priorities....................................................................................................................... 64 Logical disks and physical disks.......................................................................................... 64 Processor information ........................................................................................................ 66 Power protection and advanced performance option ............................................................ 66 Block alignment (DISKPART) ............................................................................................. 67 Solid-state drives ............................................................................................................... 68 Trim and unmap capabilities ............................................................................................... 69 Response times ................................................................................................................. 69 Queue lengths ................................................................................................................... 71 See Also ........................................................................................................................... 72 Using Storage Drivers for Storage Subsystem Performance .................................................... 72 Storage latency (also known as slow I/O) ............................................................................ 73 I/O completions ................................................................................................................