Afternoon lads,I've trawled through the forums and gone slightly blind looking for solutions to this, so please forgive me if I've managed to miss the simple and obvious solution :)I am trying to do a copy (tried backup job, rsync and scp so far) of approx 900GB of data consisting of numerous large video files from my NV+ to my friend's Ultra 4. For some reason I can only get a max of 1.5MB transfer between the two boxes and figuring it out is driving me demented.. I've been through the forums and the performance guide but to no avail. Here follows the details of my setup and tests.Network setup: [NV+] -> [Gigabit Cable] -> [Cisco E4200 gigabit router] <- [Gigabit Cable] <- [Ultra 4] (both boxes are on the same 192.168.1.* subnet)NV+: Default configuration for CPU and RAM, with 1x1.5TB WD Caviar drive, and 2x2TB Hitachi drives, RAIDiator 4.1.8Ultra 4: Default configuration for CPU and RAM, with 2x2TB Samsung drives, RAIDiator 4.2.19 Both boxes are using default xRAID configuration.I have disabled journalling on both boxes, enabled jumbo frames, and killed any and all unnecessary services.Tests: A 1.5GB video file was used in all of these tests, along with a MacBook Pro 5,5 running Ubuntu 11.04.The MacBook was connected to the router like so: [Laptop] -> [Gigabit Cable] -> [Cisco E4200 gigabit router] <- [Gigabit Cable] <- [NAS XXX], and the file was drag/dropped to the network share. - Read from NV+: 10.4 MB/sec - Write to NV+: 6.7 MB/sec - Read from Ultra4: 42 MB/sec - Write to Ultra4: 17.5 MB/sec These figures look roughly what I would expect from reading other people's performance notes, etc.. so as far as I can tell both machines and the network overall seem to be performing as expected. The problem is that when I connect both boxes back to the router, login to the Ultra4 of them over SSH and do an scp of the test file from above from the remote [NV+] to the local [Ultra4].The result of this test is a fairly steady copy rate of 1.5MB/sec.Using rsync (also on the command line) with various options gets the rate to vary from 900 KB/sec to about 1.6MB/sec.The only things that I came across that might cause some issues are: - In the downloaded logs from the Ultra4 there is a note stating that interface 2 does not ahve jumbo frames enabled. Probably doesn't matter as I'm using interface 1. - The router seems to only support MTUs up to 1500. Any and all help would be appreciated on this becasue I'm completely stumped. As mentioned I have the Ultra 4 logs available if needed.Thanks!

Disable Jumbo Frames. If the router doesn't support MTUs above 1500, then it doesn't support Jumbo Frames.If you can, you might also do the copying through the laptop rather than from NAS to NAS.Try to get a Data Path of NAS to Router to Laptop to Router to NAS.From your data it seems that the NV+ is operating at half speed, with the Ultra at also lower rates. I distrust the switching abilities of most Routers, yours included. Do you have a GB switch you can use ?

I can certainly disable the frames, but would altering the data path in this way really make any difference? If anything I would think this would make it slower?Or do you mean just as a test to see what the performance is like?

I have a data path that goes ProPioneer to Switch to Switch to PC to Switch to ProPioneer. I get 90+ MBps writes and 80+ MBps reads.When I had NV+ units, I had 20MBps writes and 35MBps reads.

... Bizarre... Ok, thanks a lot for the tip, I'll try that tonight and post the results. And in the meantime if anyone else has any helpful hints please post them up, as I'd prefer to be able to just start either a copy or backup operation between the two Nases and leave em run.. ;)

Just realised - there is no easy to do this over the network. The laptop only has 1 ethernet port, so passing through it doesn't work too well in this case. I did think about going NAS 1 -> USB -> Laptop -> router -> NAS 2, but that seems to be still widely off the mark of what I really want to do. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing such a major slowdown between 2 very similar machines across a very simple network? It would be great to have some sort of answer on it... Any help *at all* is gratefully appreciated...*EDIT* - I may have misunderstood the last post.. Going to give that test a go later on and see what it shows. Would still be nice to figure out the underlying issue if anyone had any input?

darragh_buffini

Aspirant

Sep 21, 2011

VERY slow transfer from NV+ to Ultra 4

Afternoon lads,

I've trawled through the forums and gone slightly blind looking for solutions to this, so please forgive me if I've managed to miss the simple and obvious solution :)

I am trying to do a copy (tried backup job, rsync and scp so far) of approx 900GB of data consisting of numerous large video files from my NV+ to my friend's Ultra 4. For some reason I can only get a max of 1.5MB transfer between the two boxes and figuring it out is driving me demented.. I've been through the forums and the performance guide but to no avail. Here follows the details of my setup and tests.

Network setup: [NV+] -> [Gigabit Cable] -> [Cisco E4200 gigabit router] <- [Gigabit Cable] <- [Ultra 4] (both boxes are on the same 192.168.1.* subnet)

NV+: Default configuration for CPU and RAM, with 1x1.5TB WD Caviar drive, and 2x2TB Hitachi drives, RAIDiator 4.1.8
Ultra 4: Default configuration for CPU and RAM, with 2x2TB Samsung drives, RAIDiator 4.2.19

Both boxes are using default xRAID configuration.
I have disabled journalling on both boxes, enabled jumbo frames, and killed any and all unnecessary services.

Tests:
A 1.5GB video file was used in all of these tests, along with a MacBook Pro 5,5 running Ubuntu 11.04.
The MacBook was connected to the router like so: [Laptop] -> [Gigabit Cable] -> [Cisco E4200 gigabit router] <- [Gigabit Cable] <- [NAS XXX], and the file was drag/dropped to the network share.
- Read from NV+: 10.4 MB/sec
- Write to NV+: 6.7 MB/sec
- Read from Ultra4: 42 MB/sec
- Write to Ultra4: 17.5 MB/sec

These figures look roughly what I would expect from reading other people's performance notes, etc.. so as far as I can tell both machines and the network overall seem to be performing as expected. The problem is that when I connect both boxes back to the router, login to the Ultra4 of them over SSH and do an scp of the test file from above from the remote [NV+] to the local [Ultra4].
The result of this test is a fairly steady copy rate of 1.5MB/sec.
Using rsync (also on the command line) with various options gets the rate to vary from 900 KB/sec to about 1.6MB/sec.

The only things that I came across that might cause some issues are:
- In the downloaded logs from the Ultra4 there is a note stating that interface 2 does not ahve jumbo frames enabled. Probably doesn't matter as I'm using interface 1.
- The router seems to only support MTUs up to 1500.

Any and all help would be appreciated on this becasue I'm completely stumped. As mentioned I have the Ultra 4 logs available if needed.
Thanks!

Performance

13 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

victorhortalive
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2011
Disable Jumbo Frames. If the router doesn't support MTUs above 1500, then it doesn't support Jumbo Frames.

If you can, you might also do the copying through the laptop rather than from NAS to NAS.
Try to get a Data Path of NAS to Router to Laptop to Router to NAS.

From your data it seems that the NV+ is operating at half speed, with the Ultra at also lower rates. I distrust the switching abilities of most Routers, yours included. Do you have a GB switch you can use ?
darragh_buffini
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2011
I can certainly disable the frames, but would altering the data path in this way really make any difference? If anything I would think this would make it slower?
Or do you mean just as a test to see what the performance is like?
victorhortalive
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2011
I have a data path that goes ProPioneer to Switch to Switch to PC to Switch to ProPioneer. I get 90+ MBps writes and 80+ MBps reads.

When I had NV+ units, I had 20MBps writes and 35MBps reads.
darragh_buffini
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2011
... Bizarre... Ok, thanks a lot for the tip, I'll try that tonight and post the results.
And in the meantime if anyone else has any helpful hints please post them up, as I'd prefer to be able to just start either a copy or backup operation between the two Nases and leave em run.. ;)
darragh_buffini
Aspirant
Sep 21, 2011
Just realised - there is no easy to do this over the network. The laptop only has 1 ethernet port, so passing through it doesn't work too well in this case.
I did think about going NAS 1 -> USB -> Laptop -> router -> NAS 2, but that seems to be still widely off the mark of what I really want to do.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing such a major slowdown between 2 very similar machines across a very simple network? It would be great to have some sort of answer on it...

Any help *at all* is gratefully appreciated...

*EDIT* - I may have misunderstood the last post.. Going to give that test a go later on and see what it shows. Would still be nice to figure out the underlying issue if anyone had any input?
darragh_buffini
Aspirant
Sep 22, 2011
Ok, some more information - Using the suggested [NAS] -> [Router] -> [Laptop] -> [Router] -> [NAS] a drag and drop copy now goes at 9MB/sec.
This is still pretty slow, and it still makes no sense to me that adding an extra piece to the chain can actually speed this up..

I have noticed that there are a lot of TX and RX packet errors in the Frontview console, but haven't actually seen anything anywhere that says how to examine those errors or how to fix them.

I've been up and down the forums looking for any hint of how to solve this, and I see a lot of issues but sadly not much resolution - if anyone at all has any input into how I can do a reasonably speedy NAS - NAS copy of data then please let me know, as my patience with these damn things is rapidly wearing out... :)

Thanks in advance for your help..
victorhortalive
Aspirant
Sep 23, 2011
Only one Ethernet port on the laptop is needed. As long as there are enough ports on the router, only one wire is needed from each unit.
Connect both NAS units and the laptop to the router via Ethernet.
Your issue is network protocols and drivers, not the speed of the electrons as they zip up and down the wires. Also the speed of the drive in your laptop will also affect the overall rate. Hopefully this drive is 7200rpm ?
You might also install a network monitor programme and look at the "real-time" trace. I'll find the download URL and post it.

The programme I was looking for is Win only, so no help there.
darragh_buffini
Aspirant
Sep 23, 2011
Hi Victor,

Thanks for the reply - I ran that test last night and got the 9Mb/sec posted above. The drive in my laptop is actually an SSD, so that shouldn't causing any issues.
There's one more test I want to run, connecting each NAS directly to the laptop in turn to test the read/write speeds. I'll post results once I get them.

On the item above, regarding the TX and RX failures in Frontview - would anyone know where I can actually dig into a log to find more info on these? I downloaded the full set of system logs but couldn't seem to find any reference...
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Sep 23, 2011
Check the error count under Network > Interfaces in Frontview
victorhortalive
Aspirant
Sep 23, 2011
I'm not an expert on logs, so no help there.

Since you are using a Mac laptop, maybe if you post this problem in the Mac forum you will get some help from Mac folks. Seems as if the issue is a mismatch between the Mac and the NAS units, maybe AFP related ?

All my data are from a Win7 PC link.