How does competing traffic on the network affect PCoIP performance?

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July 3, 2020

Last modified: 09/03/2023, 6:14 pm

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This article outlines how other types of network traffic may negatively impact PCoIP performance.

Please refer to Network session checklist for PCoIP protocol LAN and WAN deployments for more details on network configuration.

On most modern LAN's, network congestion happens infrequently with 10GB or faster server connections and 10GB or faster backbones. With the correct network design, this allows traffic to co-mingle without any type of traffic impeding the other traffic. When there are point of congestion on a network, consider the following:

TCP

Some network switches may prioritize TCP traffic higher than PCoIP's UDP traffic by default. This means that if the network is shared with other TCP applications (e.g., web browsing, file transfer) the portion of the bandwidth allocated to PCoIP can be very low during times of network congestion. Most modern network switches have quality of service settings that allow them to give higher priority to PCoIP UDP traffic and those settings should be used in a sharing environment to ensure a fair bandwidth allocation for PCoIP.

VoIP

In some cases the PCoIP traffic may be going over the same network as VoIP traffic. Ensure there is enough bandwidth to satisfy worst case PCoIP and VoIP scenarios and that the QoS priorities are set correctly in all network switches. Optimal QoS priorities depend on the amount of bandwidth available and if the customer places higher value on the quality of phone calls or the PCoIP experience.

Network storage SAN/NAS

Network storage is generally on its own separate network due to the very high levels of traffic generated by these devices. However, if the network is shared with PCoIP then the network must be configured so that both types of traffic have adequate bandwidth and reliability.

Audio/MMR/Virtual channels/USB

Account for any additional traffic expected in those channels. The PCoIP server ensures the bandwidth is shared between its media channels but you must still ensure you account for that bandwidth when setting up your network. Some channels (e.g. MMR) may use direct TCP connections. See above for issues related to TCP. To check current connections on your VM, type netstat at the command prompt.

Rule of thumb bandwidth requirement estimation

  • For a single user, look up the application and ensure that enough bandwidth is allocated to satisfy the peak PCoIP requirement along with any other network traffic which will use bandwidth resources

  • For multiple users sharing a network connection, use the following rule along with application bandwidth estimates:

    • Add the average bandwidth for all the users
    • Add the maximum peak bandwidth for all the users

  • If you have 4 or less users, add 50% margin. If you have 8 or less users, add 25% margin. For 16 or less users, add 20% margin. For more than 16 users, add 10% margin.

Example 1: 8 users sharing a link and doing basic text processing with infrequent screen switching

  • (8 x 250 + 1000) * 1.25 = 3.75 Mbit/s (reserved for PCoIP) Expect some initial blur and delay in switching large windows.

Example 2: 16 users doing high end work and desire "local PC" responsiveness and quality

  • (16 x 16 + 80) * 1.2 = ~400 Mbit/s (reserved for PCoIP) Ensure low latency.