Hi list, Despite the question I asked last time (I will re-install the FC3 with Samba 3.0.14a on another computer for replacement soon), I still have one more question on Excel files. I found that Excel file opening is extremely slow (especially on slow connections, i.e. VPN). The case is really bad, it takes around 2 mins to open a excel file of around 400k. Actually we got both side having 4M/4M DSL line. One side is Hong Kong, and the other side is China. However if we build a VPN inside Hong Kong, it takes 10~20 seconds to open a 400k excel file. However if I just copy a 400k file, neither of them take such a long time. Both situation can finish the transmission within some seconds. So what is so special about opening a excel file, and how can I improve the speed? Thanks for comments! Yours sincerely, Jason Chan
> Despite the question I asked last time (I will re-install the FC3 > with Samba 3.0.14a on another computer for replacement soon), I still > have one more question on Excel files. I found that Excel file opening > is extremely slow (especially on slow connections, i.e. VPN). The case > is really bad, it takes around 2 mins to open a excel file of around > 400k. Actually we got both side having 4M/4M DSL line.Speed doesn't matter so much as latency. Check out some documents on windowing, etc... maybe you can improve the efficiency of your link. http://dsd.lbl.gov/TCP-tuning/tcp-wan-perf.pdf> However if we build a VPN > inside Hong Kong, it takes 10~20 seconds to open a 400k excel file.I don't understand what this means.> However if I just copy a 400k file, neither of them take such a long > time.Ok, opening is not comparable to copying.> Both situation can finish the transmission within some seconds. > So what is so special about opening a excel file, and how can I > improve the speed? Thanks for comments!One would have to see a network trace, but I'd wager Excel is reading the file in a manner that causes lots of round trips - then latency kills you. I've seen this kind of thing before. Make sure oplocks are enabled. If you really need to go faster maybe see if accessing the file via WebDAV instead of CIFS/SMB is sufficient. We've found WebDAV to be 'faster' over high-latency VPN links. But you get less fancy locking (if any). -- Adam Tauno Williams, Network & Systems Administrator Consultant - http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com Developer - http://www.opengroupware.org
Can you set Excel to use the local drive for the temporary files? By default, MS Office creates temporary files in the same directory as the original file. In the past, troubleshooting a LAN related issue, it seemed that when saving a file, excel would rewrite the entire file to a new file then delete the old file, while Word would just update the same file. My guess is that Excel also creates much bigger temporary files. On 5/31/07, Chan Jason <jason.polaris@gmail.com> wrote:> Hi list, > Despite the question I asked last time (I will re-install the FC3 > with Samba 3.0.14a on another computer for replacement soon), I still > have one more question on Excel files. I found that Excel file opening > is extremely slow (especially on slow connections, i.e. VPN). The case > is really bad, it takes around 2 mins to open a excel file of around > 400k. Actually we got both side having 4M/4M DSL line. One side is > Hong Kong, and the other side is China. However if we build a VPN > inside Hong Kong, it takes 10~20 seconds to open a 400k excel file. > However if I just copy a 400k file, neither of them take such a long > time. Both situation can finish the transmission within some seconds. > So what is so special about opening a excel file, and how can I > improve the speed? Thanks for comments! > > Yours sincerely, > Jason Chan > -- > To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the > instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba >
Hi Gaiseric, How to set the excel to save a local temp. file? Thanks! I'd like to have a test on this. Yours sincerely, Jason Chan>---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: "Gaiseric Vandal" <gaiseric.vandal@gmail.com> >To: samba@lists.samba.org >Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:54:18 -0400 >Subject: Re: [Samba] What makes excel file opening so slow?? >Can you set Excel to use the local drive for the temporary files? By >default, MS Office creates temporary files in the same directory as >the original file. In the past, troubleshooting a LAN related issue, >it seemed that when saving a file, excel would rewrite the entire file >to a new file then delete the old file, while Word would just update >the same file. My guess is that Excel also creates much bigger >temporary files. > > > > >>On 5/31/07, Chan Jason <jason.polaris@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi list, >> Despite the question I asked last time (I will re-install the FC3 >> with Samba 3.0.14a on another computer for replacement soon), I still >> have one more question on Excel files. I found that Excel file opening >> is extremely slow (especially on slow connections, i.e. VPN). The case >> is really bad, it takes around 2 mins to open a excel file of around >> 400k. Actually we got both side having 4M/4M DSL line. One side is >> Hong Kong, and the other side is China. However if we build a VPN >> inside Hong Kong, it takes 10~20 seconds to open a 400k excel file. >> However if I just copy a 400k file, neither of them take such a long >> time. Both situation can finish the transmission within some seconds. >> So what is so special about opening a excel file, and how can I >> improve the speed? Thanks for comments! >> >> Yours sincerely, >> Jason Chan >> -- >> To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the >> instructions: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba >>
Hi Alex, Thanks for your reply. Actually I tried the socket option, but no improvement was archieved. Actually the problem of slowness only shown on Excel Files, not other file types (I didn't tried that on Words, but they use excel a lot!). However, if I build a site-to-site VPN network, those networks are situated in Hong Kong (Hong Kong A <--> Hong Kong B), the speed doesn't necessary a problem to be complain. The speed is quite fast actually. For a 400k excel file, it just takes around 20~30 seconds to open, and another 15 seconds to save the file. However if the site-to-site VPN is crossing the border (Hong Kong A <---> China B), that was really annoying! It took around 2 minutes to open up a 400k excel file!! They blame me a lot on them, but I simply can't do anything. When I tried to do a throughput monitor, hey, it seems only used up some hundred Kbit/second of the bandwidth, however we have around 4Mbps for the internet access in both sides (Hong Kong and China). However I do agree that the latency causes so much problem. Previously another user on the list suggests having temporary excel file on local disk (instead of the default - having temporary on the same folder of the orginal excel file that you opened). However I can't figure out how to set it on Excel. If the problem cannot be fixed, I might go to use Remote Desktop directly - user in China connects to Hong Kong's Windows Server, then open up any file they like. (I ought to use VNC on the Linux Server in Hong Kong, however the user are sticked to Windows.. I have no choice!) Yours sincerely, Jason Chan>From: Alex Satrapa <alex.satrapa@apf.edu.au> >To: samba@lists.samba.org >Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:24:39 +1000 >Subject: Re: [Samba] What makes excel file opening so slow?? >On 01/06/2007, at 03:56 , Adam Tauno Williams wrote: > >> Speed doesn't matter so much as latency. Check out some documents on >> windowing, etc... maybe you can improve the efficiency of your link. >> http://dsd.lbl.gov/TCP-tuning/tcp-wan-perf.pdf > >Note you can also set some socket options for Samba, for example the >following seem to help for my local installation where people are >accessing the Samba share from computers all over the University campus: > > socket options = IPTOS_THROUGHPUT SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192 > >>> However if we build a VPN >>> inside Hong Kong, it takes 10~20 seconds to open a 400k excel file. >> >> I don't understand what this means. > >He's most likely building up a VPN between two hosts on the local >network, and accessing the Samba share over that tunnel (eg: laptop - > > VPN server -> office network). > >10-20 seconds to open a 400k file means that there's something else >going on here. Does the 400k file refer to other files for things >like lookup tables or pictures (or worse, OLE objects)? > >Alex
Hi Adam, Actually we are really having 4M/4M, because other traffic gets very well. I tried with download file via HTTP and it did gave us such a result. (Or I download files from that network, the performance is also satisfying.) I think the main problem is the way that Excel file being opened, not Samba. If this is a Samba problem, I'm sure that I will encouter this problem in my local LAN too! But if anyone knows the ways to improve the situation, I will be glad to hear. =) Currently everyone agree the problem is latency, as another user in the list suggest that we should have temp. file on local, not on the share, but I cannot figure out the way to do that! Thanks for your help! Yours sincerely, Jason Chan>From: Adam Tauno Williams <adamtaunowilliams@gmail.com> >To: samba@lists.samba.org >Date: Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:09:27 -0400 >Subject: Re: [Samba] Re: What makes excel file opening so slow?? >> When I tried to do a throughput monitor, hey, it seems only used up >> some hundred Kbit/second of the bandwidth, however we have around >> 4Mbps for the internet access in both sides (Hong Kong and China). >> However I do agree that the latency causes so much problem. > >If you have Internet connections on both ends and are using a VPN then >you are probably screwed. If your 4Mbps is a point-to-point link there >is more you can do. But you still might be able to gain something by >adjusting the MRU/MTU/Window/etc... of your VPN connection. But the >latency on Internet links is usually pretty bad. > >And is your connection really 4Mbps both up and down stream? > >Anyway, I don't think this is a Samba issue but a basic networking >issue. > >-- >Adam Tauno Williams, Network & Systems Administrator >Consultant - http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com >Developer - http://www.opengroupware.org