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Re: Slow to open folders

mike_coreit
Aspirant

Slow to open folders

Hi I have an issue that has started recently after updating the NAS firmware to 6.9.4 and re-inviting the ReadyCLOUD users.

When the users in the office try to open certain shared folders it may take up to 4 minutes to list the contents. It didn't used to take this long and the folders are not particularly large (there are only 20 sub-folders).

 

In troubleshooting I have rebooted the NAS and this seems to resolve the issue for a day, but then the issue will return. I have also found that if I turn off ReadyCLOUD then this also stops the issue from occurring - however the users need to use ReadyCLOUD to work remotely.

Is there any way to resolve this?

 

The users access the shared files with Windows machines/SMB

Model: RN10200|ReadyNAS 100 Series 2-Bay (Diskless)
Message 1 of 12
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Slow to open folders

Maybe there is a fix coming in the firmware, but you really didn't do your homework well in choosing a NAS.  The 102 is not really suited for multiple users connecting on a regular basis, especially remotely.  Besides having the least powerful processor of the bunch, it has half the RAM (and it's not upgradable).  It's really intended for home use.

 

A 212 would be minimal, I'd think, and something more powerful like the 422 (or even a 424 for expansion capability) would be best.  At the time you bought the 102, the 202, 312, and 314 were probably your other choices.

Message 2 of 12
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Slow to open folders

Hi @mike_coreit, to increase performance and stability of your RN102 you might want to go here

https://community.netgear.com/t5/ReadyNAS-Idea-Exchange/Improving-performance-and-stability-of-RN104...

Kind regards

Message 3 of 12
StephenB
Guru

Re: Slow to open folders

Are users also using ReadyCloud in the office?  If so, try directly accessing the NAS with SMB and see if that helps.  It's possible that ReadyCloud is routing the info through the ReadyCloud internet servers (which would certainly degrade performance).

 


@Sandshark wrote:

something more powerful like the 422 (or even a 424 for expansion capability) would be best.  


I agree that your NAS is almost certainly underpowered.  I suggest considering upgrading it - perhaps using the existing RN102 as a backup.  In the meantime, if the Antivirus service is enabled on the NAS, you should turn it off.

 

Another approach is to deploy a VPN router (or perhaps ZeroTier), and drop ReadyCloud.

Message 4 of 12
mike_coreit
Aspirant

Re: Slow to open folders

@Sandshark The performance of the NAS drive has been fine over the last few years - are you suggesting the firmware update had caused the device to become obsolete?

@Retired_MemberI have followed the steps in the performance articles. In an unrelated matter is there any reason why the guide mentions to not encrypt a volume? I don't use encryption at the moment but I may need to the future.

@StephenB I have also tried logging out of the ReadyCLOUD app but the issue continues. We do not use the anti-virus on the NAS.

 

I have checked the resource usage of the NAS and this looks fine only 20% of the CPU and 62% memory.

I may consider replacing ReadyCLOUD with a VPN router but this would be a last resort.

Message 5 of 12
StephenB
Guru

Re: Slow to open folders


@mike_coreit wrote:

The performance of the NAS drive has been fine over the last few years - are you suggesting the firmware update had caused the device to become obsolete?

 


I wasn't meaning that.  The RN102 was entry level - the slowest processor in the product line, and also the least memory (512 MB).  It wasn't recommended for business use by Netgear when it was launched.

 

It is true that the NAS memory footprint has grown over the years, and the current entry level RN212 has 2 GB of RAM.  So memory could be part of the puzzle - though you are seeing only 62% usage, which I think should be ok.  Especially since you already have turned off services.

 

Some other things to look at:

  1. If "strict sync"  is enabled for SMB, then try disabling it.  That's on the advanced "Network access" page of the share settings.
  2. If SMB3 Transport Encryption is enabled, then try disabling it.  That might be on the same page, though it might be set globally on system->settings->services->SMB
  3. If Volume Quota and Checksum are enabled on the system->volume settings wheel, try disabling both.

 

Also, I suggest looking at the disk health and network stats.  You'll find them in the log zip file (disk_info.log and network_settings.log).

 

If your volume is very old, then you might also do a factory reset, and then rebuild/reconfigure the NAS and restore the data from backup.  There have been some improvements/tuning of the btrfs file system along the way, and they can be applied to new volumes.

 


@mike_coreit wrote:

In an unrelated matter is there any reason why the guide mentions to not encrypt a volume? I don't use encryption at the moment but I may need to the future.

 


 

If you mean @Retired_Member's links, those are his suggestions, and they don't come from Netgear.  He posted suggestions that he personally found helpful (which is one of the things the community forum is for).

 

Encryption (both disk encryption and SMB transport encryption) will reduce performance.  The RN102 doesn't have AES hardware acceleration. FWIW, the RN422 does have AES acceleration.

 

Message 6 of 12
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Slow to open folders

@mike_coreit wrote: "In an unrelated matter is there any reason why the guide mentions to not encrypt a volume?"

 

It stresses the already weak system resources of an RN10X even more.

 

That is very easy to understand, if you look at the reading process of a specific file:

unencrypted: access and open the file for reading by the client

encrypted: access the encrypted file for reading, write the unencrypted file into memory (ram or disk) and open the result for reading by the client

Let me leave the difference in writing processes between encrypted and unecrypted files to your imagination.

 

If you are willing to test you will see significant differences in system performance.

Message 7 of 12
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Slow to open folders

Did an update make it obsolete?  No, it still works, right?  But new features can mean heavier use of assets.  @StephenB mentioned strict sync, and that is something that's a fairly recent addition.  Depending on what you updated from, that's certainly a possibility since the default is "on".  If you have SSH enabled, go in and use TOP to see if anything is using a high percentage of CPU, with and without somebody currently accessing the volume.

Message 8 of 12
mike_coreit
Aspirant

Re: Slow to open folders

Hi I have tested this over the last few weeks by following the steps. I have disabled strict sync for the share, disabled SMB transport encryption.

There is no quota being used. The disk health looks fine, CPU/memory usage is not high on the NAS.

I have also updated the latest version of SMB Plus 1.0.8, I have set both the minimum and maximum SMB version to 2.0.

 

It seems the issue continues every 5 days unless the NAS is rebooted. I would much rather not have to rebuild all the data if I can avoid this (though the data is backed up)

 

I can provide more information - when the issue occurs we can still use command prompt to access the files and directories, they show instantly. Therefore it seems to be an issue with the way Windows Explorer is trying to access the files. Has anyone else come across this issue?

Message 9 of 12
StephenB
Guru

Re: Slow to open folders

I haven't.  But I am wondering if rebooting the PC also restores full performance.

Message 10 of 12
mike_coreit
Aspirant

Re: Slow to open folders

Hi I have tried rebooting the PC but this does not make any difference

Message 11 of 12
StephenB
Guru

Re: Slow to open folders

Reading through this again - 

 

I saw some issues with SMB when I upgraded to 6.9.4.  Often when I copied a file from one share to another (from file explorer), the copy hung, with btrfs errors in the log.

 

You might try downgrading to 6.9.3, and see if that resolves your problem.  If it does, then you could try 6.9.5 (which was just released).

Message 12 of 12
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