// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * scalability_and_performance/optimization/optimizing-networking.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT
[id="optimizing-mtu_{context}"]
= Optimizing the MTU for your network

[role="_abstract"]
You can optimize the MTU value of your network so that your network is optimized for throughput or low latency. 

There are two important maximum transmission units (MTUs): the network interface controller (NIC) MTU and the cluster network MTU.

The NIC MTU is configured at the time of {product-title} installation, and you can also change the MTU of a cluster as a postinstallation task. For more information, see "Changing cluster network MTU".

For a cluster that uses the OVN-Kubernetes plugin, the MTU must be at least `100` bytes less than the maximum supported value of the NIC of your network. If you are optimizing for throughput, choose the largest possible value, such as `8900`. If you are optimizing for lowest latency, choose a lower value.

[IMPORTANT]
====
If your cluster uses the OVN-Kubernetes plugin and the network uses a NIC to send and receive unfragmented jumbo frame packets over the network, you must specify `9000` bytes as the MTU value for the NIC so that pods do not fail.
====

