samba2.07,nt4sp6a I run a samba-server with 15nt-clients on a 100MBit-Switch. Now I faced extremely poor performance and really have no idea why. I even dont know if it can be a samba-problem. When copying myriads of small file from a client to the server or vice versa I get bad performance: 1000 files a 16kb: ~80seconds = 200kb/second But this is highspeed compared to copying from nt to nt: 1000 files a 16kb: ~18 minutes (sic!!) = 14kb/second !! When copying big files (132MB) I get better performance (~3MB/sec, which still could be much better). I know this is some kind of question: 'my car dont work. why ?', but maybe someone could give me some hint to hunt this problem down. If the clients (all clones) are the problem, why is server->nt and nt->server so much faster than nt->nt ? can it be a sambaproblem at all ? logfiles dont tell anything unusual. any advice appreatiated, thank peter -- mag. peter pilsl phone: +43 676 3574035 fax : +43 676 3546512 email: pilsl@goldfisch.at sms : pilsl@max.mail.at pgp-key available
Message: 12 Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 15:17:28 +0200 Peter, This sounds like you have a network problem. First thing you should try is to use FTP from your NT boxes to the Unix system. See if you get similiar performance. This will eliminate Samba as the cause of the problem. Next I would try NT to NT Ftp to eliminate the server as the cause of the problem. If the NT to NT Ftp is OK then I would suggest you try changing the Server's network card. (Also change the switch port of the Server and also the patch cable too). See if this fixes things. If you get bad performance on the NT to NT copy, it is most likely your switch causing problems. It could be one of many things, stuffed switch or switch/Lan card incompatability. What Network cards are you using? I alwasy say if all else fails try a 3Com, they tend to always work where others fail. Anyway, hope this helps. Scott. From: Peter Pilsl <pilsl@goldfisch.at> To: samba@samba.org Subject: network extremely slow samba2.07,nt4sp6a I run a samba-server with 15nt-clients on a 100MBit-Switch. Now I faced extremely poor performance and really have no idea why. I even dont know if it can be a samba-problem. When copying myriads of small file from a client to the server or vice versa I get bad performance: 1000 files a 16kb: ~80seconds = 200kb/second But this is highspeed compared to copying from nt to nt: 1000 files a 16kb: ~18 minutes (sic!!) = 14kb/second !! When copying big files (132MB) I get better performance (~3MB/sec, which still could be much better). I know this is some kind of question: 'my car dont work. why ?', but maybe someone could give me some hint to hunt this problem down. If the clients (all clones) are the problem, why is server->nt and nt->server so much faster than nt->nt ? can it be a sambaproblem at all ? logfiles dont tell anything unusual. any advice appreatiated, thank peter -- __________________________________________________________________ Scott Lawson Systems Manager Department Of Information Services St. George's Hospital Medical School Tooting London SW17 0RE UK P: 44 (0)208 725 2896 F: 44 (0)208 725 3583 mailto:s.lawson@sghms.ac.uk http://www.sghms.ac.uk Quote of the week : "The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like a bacon-and-eggs breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'." __________________________________________________________________
On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Peter Pilsl wrote:> I run a samba-server with 15nt-clients on a 100MBit-Switch. Now I > faced extremely poor performance and really have no idea why. I even > dont know if it can be a samba-problem.Hi Peter, It probably isn't a Samba problem, given that you comment that NT-NT transfers are even worse. The standard test to perform when confronted with this sort uncertainty is to measure the transfer speed of a different network protocol which also does bulk data transfer, such as FTP. If you can FTP between two machines very much faster then you can copy over SMB then it is possible that you have a Samba/SMB configuration problem. If FTP is also very slow then you probably have a more fundamental TCP/IP problem or Ethernet problem. This kind of thing is seems to often be most often caused by incorrect setting of duplex on Ethernet connections. Are the workstations operating at full-duplex or half-duplex? If all the devices on the network are 100BASE-T then auto-negotiation ought to work correctly. Did you "force" anything to be full-duplex? Check that your "100Mbit-switch" really is a switch! I've seen a lot of manufacturers recently selling products with descriptions similar to "10/100 switched hub", which I regard as rather misleading. These are often what I would actually describe as a dual speed hub: you basically get a 10BASE-T hub, a 100BASE-T hub and a two port switch joining the 10BASE-T and the 100BASE-T segments, all in the same box. Traffic between two 100BASE-T devices attached to such a device is *not* switched, and it is *not* appropriate to use a network cards in full-duplex mode. Regards, -- Neil Hoggarth Departmental Computer Officer <neil.hoggarth@physiol.ox.ac.uk> Laboratory of Physiology http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~njh/ University of Oxford, UK