I've just got a ReadyNAS 3200 with 6 x 1TB Hitachi HUA722010CLA330 drives, and I've run an IOMeter test from my desktop to the server using the iometer.icf file found on http://www.readynas.com/?p=310These are my results:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As8QYW2aDdwgdGU1ODRPUWRkeXZMbjRPUWJxQjdZQXcIf someone could take a look and give their impressions, we'll see whether they match mine, which is :shock: why the hell is it performing that poorly!?Oops, few things I forgot:Model: ReadyNAS 3200 v1 [X-RAID2]Firmware: RAIDiator 4.2.20 Memory: 4096 MB [DDR2]Volume C: Online, X-RAID2, 6 disks, 14% of 3683 GB usedDisabled full data journaling. Enabled disk write cache. Enabled jumbo frames.Running with IEEE 802.3ad LACP with a xmit_hash_policy of Layer2.

Ok, I think I've just solved my own problem, I've gone into the rack with my laptop and done the test directly through the gigabit switch that the NAS (& VM Cluster) is connected too, and the performance has rocketed. Interestingly though, with Jumbo Frames on I get LOWER read/write performance than with it disabled in my network card configuration.ON: 37 MB/s Read 62MB/s WriteOFF: 60MB/s Read 80MB/s Write

Hi smansfield.There is a newer firmware available: http://www.readynas.com/RAIDiator_x86_4_2_21_NotesYes it does sound like there is some issue on your network.As for Jumbo Frames, many find it's more trouble than what it's worth to use. You need all of the NAS, PC and switch to support jumbo frames and have the feature enabled. Also a good idea to ensure the NIC drivers for the NIC in your PC are up to date.Note that if you use Jumbo Frames you need to make sure that the MTU is set correctly: http://help.expedient.com/broadband/mtu_ping_test.shtmlThe performance numbers you mention with the connection via the switch would also be affected by the drive in your laptop. The hard drive in the laptop is almost certainly the bottleneck on performance.Looking at your volume capacity it appears you are using X-RAID2 dual-redundancy (RAID-6). I do recommend using dual-redundancy and this does provide good peace of mind. If any two disks fail data remains intact. Important data primarily stored on the ReadyNAS should still be backed up regularly. See Preventing Catastrophic Data LossDo note that the performance article you linked to was written quite some time ago now, back before the x86 (Intel) line of ReadyNAS products was released. Many things are still the same, but some things have changed. Obviously the x86 ReadyNASes are much faster and more powerful than the discontinued Sparc line. Also the "Disable Journaling" option mentioned in the article is no longer present in x86 firmware as it's obsolete.Welcome to the forum!

mdgm wrote:...Also the "Disable Journaling" option mentioned in the article is no longer present in x86 firmware as it's obsolete..."Disable full data journaling" appears on my Pro under system/performance. Was this just removed in 4.2.21? (I am still on 4.2.20).

StephenB I said "Disable Journaling". "Disable Journaling" is obsolete not "Disable Full Data Journaling".

mdgm wrote:StephenB I said "Disable Journaling". "Disable Journaling" is obsolete not "Disable Full Data Journaling".Though of course "disable full data journaling"is related and will still help write performance. I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you have a UPS though.

ReadyNAS 3200 | NETGEAR Communities

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 28, 2012
I think that jumbo frames directed to the VM from outside will result in IP fragmentation in the VM.
smansfield
Aspirant
Jun 28, 2012
Right, well I've tried with and without Jumbo Frames and the results I have put into the Google Docs Spreadsheet, feel free to take a look:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... WJxQjdZQXc

I'm still worried by some of the numbers I'm seeing in the Maximum Read/Write Response Times... Is that normal?
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 28, 2012
So 1-7 is with jumbo frames on? And all responses are in ms?

Not sure what is normal, though of course rows 8-14 are performing better.

Since the really long response times are rare, its hard to compare the maxes unless you have a really long run. It might be useful to choose a performance threshold, and report the percentage or response times that exceed it.
smansfield
Aspirant
Jun 28, 2012
Rows 1 -> 7 Jumbo Frames ON
Rows 8 -> 14 OFF

Yeah, I guess the max response times are more variable.. but I'm still shocked to see that it can take close to or over a second to get a response sometimes.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 28, 2012
smansfield wrote:
but I'm still shocked to see that it can take close to or over a second to get a response sometimes.
Yes. So maybe counting the % of responses that take > 100 ms(or some other threshold you think is reasonable) might be a more stable way to figure out how bad the outliers are.

Have you checked the disk health? Reallocated sectors can greatly increase seek time.
smansfield
Aspirant
Jun 29, 2012
I've just check the disk health and there isn't a single reallocated sector on any one of the drives in the array. Like I said though, I'm not sure what the "expected" values are for a setup like this, so I don't know if what I'm seeing is the "norm" or something to be worried about; either way the numbers don't look too impressive, but possibly workable. Shame that no-one else could run a comparison test for me using a VMware + ReadyNAS 3200 setup, but I imagine there are few and far between people using this..?
1_0_1
Aspirant
Apr 10, 2013
I am busy setting up a ReadyNAS 3200 with VMware as well. Noticed also some odd performance which is starting to make me wonder. Quick run down of my setup:

ESXi 4.1 Hosts

- 2 hosts with each one NIC dedicated to the NAS
- No Jumbo Frames
- 1000 Mb/s NIC

Switch

- Dedicated VLAN for NAS and ESXi hosts
- Cisco Catalyst 3700 series
- Jumbo Frame enabled (in case I need to enable it on the NAS and ESXi hosts)

NAS

- ReadyNAS 3200 latest firmware and 12x 2TB X-RAID2 with dual redundancy array with one NFS share
- NIC teamed (802.3ad LACP and switch configured)

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ReadyNAS 3200

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