Looking for thought on SSH performance on RN systems

Question

Having issues with SSH connections on all the ReadyNAS systems running 6.10.10.

The problem is all the connection stages take close to 2 minutes to complete. It's insane and I can't figure out why.

This occurs on 3 systems (RN204 and RN104) so yes low-powered but this is crazy slow.

I've tried with clients (ssh, putty, and python using paramiko) on Win7, Win10, Win11, Linux (Kali, Parrot, and Ubuntu) and same results every time. Slow as can be. Once the session is live the response isn't bad it's just the connecting is soooo slow.

The python script connects to the server at root@IP which takes almost a minute and half to get to a prompt, then issuing an "ls /" which takes another minute to complete.

The putty and ssh connections are very similar, in that the password challenge is presented nearly instantly, but then takes a minutes for the banner it's nearly 3 minutes! Windows SSH is identical timing.

All the demos are connecting to the RN204, and the same happens with the RN104s which are just as fast, ummmm slow. There are a couple of videos showing top on the parrot sessions.

Win 10 python - https://streamable.com/08u8ks

Parrot python - https://streamable.com/601lx0

Parrot SSH - https://streamable.com/r5n0c9

Parrot top - https://streamable.com/7x0oak

Any thoughts on how to get SSH to respond in less time?

iceweasel · Answer

Thanks StephenB, good thinking on the disk spin down and while it's enabled it's not a factor. AFAIK the ssh client (always running in the background) doesn't need disk access and is just like any other background task. I confirmed the device doesn't spin up the drive on ssh connect until you start interacting with the OS.

I tried your test and found the exact same response both times, nearly 3 minutes with connect, disconnect, connect:

C:\Users\iceweasel>ssh root@192.168.1.200
root@192.168.1.200's password:

Welcome to ReadyNASOS 6.10.10

Last login: Fri Sep 6 14:27:30 2024 from readynas-204
root@ReadyNAS-204:~# exit
logout
Connection to 192.168.1.200 closed.

C:\Users\iceweasel>ssh root@192.168.1.200
root@192.168.1.200's password:

Welcome to ReadyNASOS 6.10.10

Last login: Sat Sep 7 10:19:10 2024 from thefactory
root@ReadyNAS-204:~# exit
logout
Connection to 192.168.1.200 closed.

C:\Users\iceweasel>ssh root@192.168.1.200
root@192.168.1.200's password:

Welcome to ReadyNASOS 6.10.10

Last login: Sat Sep 7 10:21:51 2024 from thefactory
root@ReadyNAS-204:~# exit
logout
Connection to 192.168.1.200 closed.

C:\Users\iceweasel>

You may have noticed the first connect message shows the prior connect from the readynas itself. I had been doing testing with tunneling with paramiko to work around the slow connect. But that got me thinking...what if I ssh from the RN to the RN?

If from an active ssh session on the RN I ssh at the LAN address I get the same results

If I try again but accessing with localhost (127.0.0.1) the connection process is nearly instant. Which would suggest there's something on the LAN interfering? I'm not sure of that but may need to try a direct connect PC->RN and see if things go faster but that will take some work and I'm hoping there may be something else easier than reconfiguring the NAS for a test.

I also checked that only the required system tools are enabled in the web interface.

There's an interesting tangent problem I need to address with uninstalling some old apps, but none of those are running there're just taking up disk space and the UI remove fails. But I'll save that until this gets resolved.

StephenB · Answer

FWIW,I see the banner in a second or so on my RN102 after I enter the password.
&nbsp;
So this could be something on your network (perhaps internet security software???).

StephenB · Answer

iceweasel&nbsp;wrote:
In the interest of discovery... confirmed, if the NAS can access the WAN (DNS really) the "UseDNS no" is not needed.
If the ReadyNAS systems are behind a firewall and only available to the LAN then yes, the "UseDNS no" makes a big difference in the authentication timing.

My own NAS are behind a NAT router, so they can connect to the internet, but not be reached over the internet.&nbsp; As I posted above, I am not seeing the authenication LAG that you were seeing before you made this change.

Sandshark · Answer

The OS6 file system is standard BTRFS on top of a standard MDADM RAID.&nbsp; If you've been using the snapshot capability of BTRFS, that's how you recover the file.&nbsp; If you've not, you are likely out of luck.&nbsp;"XRAID" is not a unique file system.&nbsp; It's a set of rules and automations for managing BTRFS and MDADM at a level more users can understand.&nbsp; In earlier generations, XRAID used LVM.

StephenB · Answer

iceweasel&nbsp;wrote:
&nbsp;
The putty and ssh connections are very similar, in that the password challenge is presented nearly instantly, but then takes a minutes for the banner it's nearly 3 minutes! Windows SSH is identical timing.

If you&nbsp;

connect with Windows ssh
log in
immediately log out when you get the command prompt (after your password entry)
reconnect with Windows ssh

Does the reconnect also take 2-3 minutes?
&nbsp;
Also, do you have disk spindown enabled on the NAS?

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Looking for thought on SSH performance on RN systems

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