vSphere High Performance Cookbook

Improving network performance using the SplitRx mode for multicast traffic

Multicast is an efficient way of disseminating information and communicating over the network. Instead of sending a separate packet to every receiver, the sender sends one packet which is then distributed to every receiver that has subscribed to this multicast. Multiple receivers can be enabled on a single ESXi host only when you use multicast traffic. Because multiple receivers reside on the same host, packet replication is carried out in the hypervisor instead.

SplitRx mode uses multiple physical CPUs in an ESXi host to process network packets received in a single network queue. As it does not transfer the same copy of the network packet, it provides a scalable and efficient ...