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Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

I know this subject has been discussed before, but I haven't found a posting that really answers the question. I realize there are many, many factors that affect what one actually achieves but I would like to know what is theoretically possible on the 102 with the current firmware. Also, I would appreciate if what are others in this community replied and reported the throughput they are seeing in their environments.

 

My setup is the following:

Windows 10 with the latest updates. The system has an i7-12700K CPU with 32 GB memory, 3 PCIe NVMe SSDs, a 500 GB, a 1 TB, a 2 TB.

The ReadyNAS has two WD RED WD40EFRX, 4 TB, 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s, 5400 RPM disks. I am running firmware: 6.10.8.

I have 1Gb throughout my network and I've configured the Cisco Gb Switch and all nodes for jumbo frames.

 

With this setup, The ReadyNAS is only able to achieve 123 Mbps (15.38 MBps) read and 132 Mbps () write. In 2016, before the 6.4.2 update I was able to get 63.5 MB/s or 53% of network bandwidth of 1Gbps. Since then it has gone downhill. I thought there was some hope this would be fixed in later updates, but it doesn't seem like it.

 

I know it's not my network or any other component because I have a Synology DS718+ and I'm able to transfer at 177.6 MBps (941.2 Mbps)!  Anyone else experiencing this and have you been able to solve it?

Message 1 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:

I have a Synology DS718+ and I'm able to transfer at 177.6 MBps (941.2 Mbps)!  


Must be a typo here - I'm guessing you meant to type 117 MBps.

 


@DoctorBrown wrote:

 

The ReadyNAS has two WD RED WD40EFRX, 4 TB, 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s, 5400 RPM disks. I am running firmware: 6.10.8.

I have 1Gb throughout my network and I've configured the Cisco Gb Switch and all nodes for jumbo frames.

 

With this setup, The ReadyNAS is only able to achieve 123 Mbps (15.38 MBps) read and 132 Mbps () write. In 2016, before the 6.4.2 update I was able to get 63.5 MB/s or 53% of network bandwidth of 1Gbps.


You won't get 100 MBps+ from the RN102.  But you should be getting more than 15.  Have you ever run the maintenance functions (balance and defrag in particular)?  It might also be useful to run the disk test (and also look for disk-related errors in the log zip file).

 

Assuming the disks are healthy, I suggest doing a factory default, and then restoring the files from backup.  I think that will restore the 2016 performance.

 

 

 

Message 2 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

Thank you for the quick reply! Yes, that was a typo.

If I could get back to about the 50-60MB/s I'd be happy.

 

I have started running some of those tests. The disk status on the main volume screen says the array is healthy. A look at the Status under the performance tab, and the popup if you hover over the green dots says the disks are fine, no errors at all. The Disk Test returned a disk failure alert, but it wasn't specific about what the issue is. I have not received an email failure notification. The Balance test completed successfully. I haven't run the Scrub or Defrag tools yet. Those could take a huge while.

 

I'm in the process of backing up the data now but that's also going to take a huge while at 15 MB/s. I'll do the reset when the backup is finished.

Message 3 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:

The Disk Test returned a disk failure alert, but it wasn't specific about what the issue is.


The log zip should tell you.  Look in disk_info.log for smart errors, and in system.log and kernel.log for other disk errors.

Message 4 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

Well, I looked through the log files and did not find anything about any problem with the disks. A look at the SMART data indicates zero errors on one disk and just now, ATA error count: 2 on the other.

 

I have backed up the entire array, then I did a Factory Reset. When done, I did a test copy of a large test file. The transfer rate is still only able to achieve about 115 Mb/s Then I decided to downgrade the firmware to 6.10.4. That test is running now an there's no improvement. I may go back even further and see if I can find the release that gets me at least 50MB/s.

 

I wonder if this is Netgear's way of forcing us to get a new NAS. I, for one, won't get another Netgear NAS. As I stated, I have a Synology NAS that's working gangbusters.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Message 5 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

I just measured my own RN102 - I get about 70 MB/s when writing a large file to the NAS, and about 60 MB/s when reading it from the NAS.  Firmware is 6.10.8.   RAID is 2x1TB RAID-1 (X-RAID) using Ironwolf disks.

Message 6 of 20
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

An increasing ATA error count may indicate an issue with the NAS SATA bus.  It's the one SMART error that might be the fault of the host, not the drive.  Multiple re-tries may also be resulting, which would slow you way down.

 

Have you tried using just some other drive in the NAS?

 

Since you won't find a new ReadyNAS anywhere for sale, your theory that this is some subplot of Netgear to get you to buy another ReadyNAS has no merit.

Message 7 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

StephenB: Thanks for the info. So, I knew I was not imagining that I had better throughput in the past.

 
Sandshark: I was being snarky with my NetGear comment. Of course one can't buy another ReadyNAS, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind if one bought a newer model of their NASs.😏
 
Ok, now I'm working from the ground up. I've swapped the disks to two Seagate 7200 RPM disks, unfortunately the only two 7200 Seagate disks I have are different capacities, 750 GB and 1TB. I'm going to put my 4 TB disks back in since the disks don't seem to make a difference.
 
I reconfigured my computer and NAS to not use jumbo frames, swapped switch ports. I'm going to figure this out.

 

Message 8 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:

StephenB: Thanks for the info. So, I knew I was not imagining that I had better throughput in the past.

 
Sandshark: I was being snarky with my NetGear comment. Of course one can't buy another ReadyNAS, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind if one bought a newer model of their NASs.😏
 
Ok, now I'm working from the ground up. I've swapped the disks to two Seagate 7200 RPM disks, unfortunately the only two 7200 Seagate disks I have are different capacities, 750 GB and 1TB. I'm going to put my 4 TB disks back in since the disks don't seem to make a difference.
 
I reconfigured my computer and NAS to not use jumbo frames, swapped switch ports. I'm going to figure this out.

 


Maybe start with jbod, and not RAID-1.  Then add in RAID-1 later.

 

If you are comfortable with the linux command line, there are some other things you can do:

  1. Measure disk throughput directly, and not over the network.
  2. Install iPerf, and measure network throughput w/o disk I/O potentially interfering with the measurement.
  3. ...
Message 9 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@StephenB wrote:

@DoctorBrown wrote:

StephenB: Thanks for the info. So, I knew I was not imagining that I had better throughput in the past.

 
Sandshark: I was being snarky with my NetGear comment. Of course one can't buy another ReadyNAS, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind if one bought a newer model of their NASs.😏
 
Ok, now I'm working from the ground up. I've swapped the disks to two Seagate 7200 RPM disks, unfortunately the only two 7200 Seagate disks I have are different capacities, 750 GB and 1TB. I'm going to put my 4 TB disks back in since the disks don't seem to make a difference.
 
I reconfigured my computer and NAS to not use jumbo frames, swapped switch ports. I'm going to figure this out.

 


Maybe start with jbod, and not RAID-1.  Then add in RAID-1 later.

 

If you are comfortable with the linux command line, there are some other things you can do:

  1. Measure disk throughput directly, and not over the network.
  2. Install iPerf, and measure network throughput w/o disk I/O potentially interfering with the measurement.
  3. ...

I've used iPerf3 to test the network from the ReadyNAS, it achieved near full network speed, 900 Mb/s. I logged in as the root user and per the top app the iPerf3 process was using 97% CPU. I copied a 2 GB folder to another folder on the NAS and the copy rate was 55 MB/s (444Mb/s) using 45% CPU. I then used Windows to copy the same 2 GB folder to the NAS. The transfer rate was the measly 15 MB/s with the smbd process using 90% of the CPU. Logging on as root on my Synology NAS, scp to and from this nas was only 12 MB/s.

 

Any ideas where I go from here? Are there other Debian tools I can use to figure out what's happening?

 

Message 10 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:
I've used iPerf3 to test the network from the ReadyNAS, it achieved near full network speed, 900 Mb/s. I logged in as the root user and per the top app the iPerf3 process was using 97% CPU. I copied a 2 GB folder to another folder on the NAS and the copy rate was 55 MB/s (444Mb/s) using 45% CPU. I then used Windows to copy the same 2 GB folder to the NAS. The transfer rate was the measly 15 MB/s with the smbd process using 90% of the CPU. Logging on as root on my Synology NAS, scp to and from this nas was only 12 MB/s.

 

Any ideas where I go from here? Are there other Debian tools I can use to figure out what's happening?

 


Have you tried using a single 2 GB file to test instead of a folder?  I suspect that will give different results. 

Message 11 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@StephenB wrote:

Have you tried using a single 2 GB file to test instead of a folder?  I suspect that will give different results. 



I have verified that a 1 GB file has the same transfer rate as the folder I'm using. I hear what you are suggesting.The folder I'm using has 20 100 MB files. I constructed these folders specifically to test transfer rates. I also have folders with smaller files to test how the systems deal with a large number of small files.

I have used the same test files when testing the between my PC and the Synology NAS which is able to achieve 980 Gb/s for both read and write.

I have also copied the folder and the file. between the Synology NAS and the ReadyNAS. The throughput is limited by the ReadyNAS.

Message 12 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

StephenB: Do you think the IronWolf Disks at 7200 RPM vs the WD at 5400 RPM disk would make much difference?

I've done everything I know to figure this out. Now I've done the following:

  • Reset to Factory Default
  • Reload the OS.
  • Manually reconfigured from Factory Defaults (no restore of config)
  • Disabled IPv6, Disabled IPv4, (one at a time.)
  • Swapped the Disks for others I have. (don't have any 7200 RPM disks.)
  • Downgraded to 6.10.0 and tested again,
  • Upgraded to 6.10.8 and tested again.
  • Checked the logs for any errors.

Here's the processor in my unit:

 

Last login: Sat Dec  3 15:49:43 2022 from 2601::x
(UserName)@(NodeName):~$ lscpu
Architecture:          armv7l
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                1
On-line CPU(s) list:   0
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
Socket(s):             1
Model name:            ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)

 

Does this look like the one you have?

Do you have any other suggestions? My throughput is still 10-15 MB/s

Message 13 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:

Do you think the IronWolf Disks at 7200 RPM vs the WD at 5400 RPM disk would make much difference?


Actually the 1 TB IronWolf drives in my NAS are 5900 rpm, so that doesn't account for it.

 

The CPU info is the same as yours:

root@RN102:~# lscpu
Architecture:          armv7l
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                1
On-line CPU(s) list:   0
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
Socket(s):             1
Model name:            ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
root@RN102:~#

 


@DoctorBrown wrote:

 

Do you have any other suggestions? My throughput is still 10-15 MB/s


Maybe try running ifconfig before and after a transfer test, and see if there are any errors, dropped packets or overruns???

Message 14 of 20
SamirD
Prodigy

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

Interesting issue and tests.  Have you tried using a different system to connect to the synology and readynas?  Like a linux live cd or a completely different windows system?  My hunch is that this is something in windows vs the readynas, and if you can break 15MB/s with something else, that validates my theory.

 

Message 15 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@SamirD wrote:

Have you tried using a different system to connect to the synology and readynas?

 


One option is to put the test folder on the Synology, and then use a ReadyNAS backup job to copy it to the RN102.  Then look at the backup job log to get the time.

 

Message 16 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

I have copied the test files from the Synology to the RN102 and back using the shell interface.And

 

The throughput is limited to the current 15 MB/s of my RN102. Everything is pointing to the limits being caused by the processor. I have no idea why my processor is maxed out at 15 MB/s, but yours isn't. There's no setting that I know of that I have access to that could be causing this.

 

Hmm, would you be willing to send my a backup of your configuration (scrubbed of personal credentials and such, of course)?

 

New data. From a MacBook 2009 (El Capitan) to the RN102 using AFP, the throughput is:

Write: 25 MB/s (200 Mb/s)

Read: 50 MB/s (400 Mb/s)

Model: RN10200|ReadyNAS 100 Series 2- Bay (Diskless)
Message 17 of 20
SamirD
Prodigy

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

Hmmm...have you tried it with a windows machine?

 

Message 18 of 20
DoctorBrown
Apprentice

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?

More new data.

From a second Windows 10 system the throughput is the same at 15MB/s.

 

I ran a test on my Macbook Pro. Verified that I was running SMB3 on the MacOS. I then disabled AFP on the RN102 to make the Mac use SMB. Then copied my test files. When I first tried this the transfer started out about 25 MB/s then dropped to 6-8MB/s. Later, I was able to transfer the whole 1 GB file at 25 MB/s write and 50 MB/s read using SMB. ( I don't know why it changed)

 

That leaves the conclusion that my Windows system is part of the cause.

 

Any ideas what to check next?

Message 19 of 20
StephenB
Guru

Re: Ready NAS 102, What is the maximum throughput possible with this NAS?


@DoctorBrown wrote:

 

Any ideas what to check next?


Perhaps also try using NFS on the synology, just to confirm the issue is limited to SMB?

 

Have you tried changing the transport encryption and the strict sync settings? 

Message 20 of 20
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