Network Adapter Properties

802.1p QOS

The "802.1p QOS" parameter is a standard that enables Quality of Service (QoS). It is responsible for the QoS provisions on the local segment, and the avoidance of the "all packets are treated equally" issue, which falls onto the hub or switch servicing segment. 802.1p QOS provides prioritization of packets traversing a subnet.

ARP offload

ARP offload is the ability of the network adapter to respond to an IPv4 ARP request without waking the computer. Both the hardware and the driver must support ARP offload to enable this feature.

Checksum Offload

Normally the TCP Checksum is computed by the protocol stack. By selecting one of the "Checksum Offload" parameters, the checksum can be computed by the Gigabit Ethernet Adapter.

Ethernet@WireSpeed

"Ethernet@WireSpeed" is a parameter that enables a 1000BASE-T Ethernet adapter to establish a link at a lower speed when only two pairs of wires are available in the cable plant.

Flow Control

"Flow Control" is a parameter that allows the user to enable or disable the receipt or transmission of PAUSE frames. PAUSE frames enable the adapter and the switch to control the transmit rate. The side that is receiving the PAUSE frame temporarily stops transmitting.

This parameter can be set for each port individually, which is helpful if the port at the other end of the cable cannot handle all possible combinations. Using the default setting, the adapter should automatically detect the capabilities of the peer port.

Default value: "Tx & Rx Enabled"
Valid values:

    "Disabled" - No link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames.
    "Tx & Rx Enabled" - Both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE frames.

Green Ethernet

Link-On and Cable Length Power Saving
Link-Down Power Saving

Interrupt Moderation

If more than the specified rate of interrupts occur, the Interrupt Moderation
function groups these interrupts so that several data packets can be handled
per interrupt. This will lead to lower CPU utilization but may increase the
latency. 

IP Security (IPSec) Offload

Windows offers the ability to offload the encryption work of IPSec to the network adapter hardware. Encryption, especially 3 DES, has a very high cycles/byte ratio. Therefore, it is no surprise that offloading IPSec to the network adapter hardware has high performance yields depending on the scenario and the workload characteristics.

Jumbo MTU/Packets

"Jumbo MTU" is a parameter that allows the adapter to transmit and receive oversized Ethernet frames that are greater than 1514 bytes but less than 9000 bytes in length. Note that this parameter requires a switch that is able to process large frames. 

Large Send Offload

Normally the TCP segmentation is done by the protocol stack. By enabling the Large Send Offload value, the TCP segmentation can be done by the Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. 

Max IRQ per Sec

Specifies the interrupt rate for Interrupt Moderation. If Interrupt Moderation is set to "Off", it will be ignored.

NS offload

NS offload is the ability of the network adapter to respond to a Neighbor Discovery Neighbor Solicitation request with a Neighbor Advertisement without waking the computer. Both the hardware and the driver must support NS offload to enable this feature. 

Preferred Port

Sets the preferred port for RLMT (Redundant Link Management Technology). This port will be used for all network traffic when more than one port has an active link to the network.

Priority & VLAN

Enables/disables 802.1p (QoS) and/or 802.1q (VLAN) capability.

Default value: "Priority Enabled"
Valid values:

    "Priority Enabled"
    "VLAN Enabled"
    "Priority & VLAN Enabled"
    "Priority & VLAN Disabled"

NOTE: This will only enable the capability of the driver to handle such packets. There must be a protocol or application that passes such packets to the driver.

PXE

PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) is a software module that allows your networked computer to boot with the images provided by remote servers across the network. 

Receive Buffers

Defines the number of receive buffers allocated by the driver. If the system does not have enough resources, the driver will fail to load.
Increasing this value may improve the performance.

Receive-Side Scaling

Enables/disables balancing the receive network load from a network adapter across multiple CPUs.

Default value: "Disabled"
Valid values:

    "Enabled"
    "Disabled"

NOTE: This parameter is not available for every adapter type.

RLMT Mode

Default value: "CLS"
Valid values:

    "CLS" (Check Link State) - RLMT uses the link state reported by the adapter hardware for each individual port to determine whether a port can be used for all network traffic or not.
    "CLP" (Check Local Port) - RLMT monitors the network path between the two ports of an adapter by regularly exchanging packets between them. This mode requires a network configuration in which the two ports "see" each other (i.e., there must not be any router between the ports).
    "CLPSS" (Check Local Ports and Segmentation Status) - Supports the same functions as "CLP" mode, and additionally checks network segmentation by sending BPDU hello packets. This mode only works when Gigabit Ethernet switches are installed on the network that have been configured to use the Spanning Tree protocol.

NOTE: RLMT modes "CLP" and "CLPSS" are designed to operate in configurations where a network path between the ports on one adapter exists. Moreover, they are not designed to work where adapters are connected back-to-back. This parameter is only available for dual link adapters.

Speed & Duplex

Contains information regarding auto-negotiation, duplex capabilities, and link speed.

Valid values:

    "Auto-Negotiation"
    "10 Mbps Half Duplex"
    "10 Mbps Full Duplex"
    "100 Mbps Half Duplex"
    "100 Mbps Full Duplex"
    "1000 Mbps Full Duplex"

NOTE: This parameter is not valid for fiber adapters.

Transmit Buffers

Defines the number of transmit buffers allocated by the driver. If the system does not have enough resources, the driver will fail to load. Increasing this value may improve the performance. 

Wake Up Capabilities parameter

The "Wake Up Capabilities" parameter allow the user to set the adapter to wake up from a low power mode when it receives a network wake up frame. There are two wake up frames: Magic Packet and IP frame.

WOL (Wake-On-LAN) Speed

"WOL Speed" is a parameter that allows the user to select the speed at which the adapter connects to the network during Wake-on-LAN mode.