I recently sent the message below to this list, hoping I could get
advise on improving Samba (v2.0.6) write performance from an OS/2
client (I got no responses).
I subsequently ran the same tests from a Linux client using smbmount,
also v2.0.6, and got the same results. The hardware config of the
Linux client is the same as the OS/2 client below. Obviously, the
problem is not Samba<-->OS/2 interaction, but just the Samba server.
(I also have Win98 clients but don't have a suitable utility to time
their Samba I/O performance.)
I'm satisfied with the read performance of my Samba server, but would
like to improve on the writing. There's obviously something wrong
when writing a file via Samba is 4 times slower than ftp'ing it.
Any write-specific advice? Thank you.
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I've got a couple problems with Samba<-->OS/2 communications. First,
though, here's my environment:
Samba machine:
Celeron/400 /w 256MB of RAM
IDE hard disks
100Mbps 3Com NIC
RedHat Linux v6.0 + all RH-released updates + kernel v2.2.13
Samba v2.0.6
filesystem: ext2, cache size: dynamic
OS/2 machine:
Pentium 3/550 /w 256MB of RAM
SCSI hard disks
100Mbps 3Com NIC
OS/2 Warp /w latest FixPack applied
TCP/IP stack v4.0 /w updates applied
filesystem: HPFS386, cache size: 16MB
And here are the global parameters from smb.conf:
interfaces = lo eth0
bind interfaces only = True
hosts allow = 127. 192.168.0.
netbios name = corona
name resolve order = hosts bcast
dns proxy = no
printcap name = /etc/printcap
load printers = yes
printing = lprng
max log size = 50
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
security = user
encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd
null passwords = yes
domain logons = yes
logon script = netlogon
logon path = /home/samba/netlogon
local master = yes
domain master = yes
os level = 33
preferred master = yes
client code page = 437
lock directory = /var/lock/samba
time server = yes
shared mem size = 524288
socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY
1.My first problem: write performance. Here's some statistics in
transferring a 10MB file between machines. Note the disparity in
writing a file to the Linux box from the OS/2 machine via Samba. (I
transferred the file several files, to load the disk caches, before
getting these stats.) Alas, these values are all too consistent.
Samba --> OS/2
ftp = 1.1 seconds
smb = 1.5 seconds
OS/2 --> Samba
ftp = 1.2 seconds
smb = 6.0 seconds
Any one have a clue why writing to a Samba share from OS/s takes 5 times
as long as a ftp transfer to the same subdirectory on the Linux box??
2. Why are there still extended attribute (EA) problem on Samba
shares? Here's a test: Open the OS/2 system editor (e.exe), write
some text, and save the file as n:\testme.txt. The attempt to save
the file causes an error that the file cannot be written. In fact the
file *has* been written. It is the writing of the EA for that file
that causes the editor to choke. If you Cancel that "Save As"
operation you will see that the newly created text file is indeed on
the specified Samba share. What can I do to fix this EA problem?
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*** Steve Snyder ***
