Optimal file transfer configuration

[sneak9001]

On the TM website there are instructions to check a box to enable SMB multichannel.


However, on the F4-424 Pro with TOS 5.1, this option doesn't exist:


I saw this thread where in codebox it is indicated to use spaces in the configuration settings for SMB, but the screenshot shows no spaces. Does it not actually matter? Will these suggested settings work in my case? Where is the checkbox?

I have a 2.5G switch on the way along with a 2.5G NIC because my motherboard and router only support 1GbE. I also have brand new cat6 cables on the way to clean things up.

I'm expecting to make use of SMB multichannel and make adequate use of the 2 ports on the NAS and have decent throughput. My NAS drives are 2 8TB drives in TRAID. A single drive prior to TRAID benchmarked at 238 MB/s read and 3820 IOPS. It wouldn't benchmark write, even though the drive has never been part of a RAID configuration at the time. When running a crystaldiskmark 16 GiB test on the drive the data will come from it's resulting in 162.60 MB/s write speed. This is on the Q1T1, which I believe is most relevant to SMB since it's single-threaded.

Is there anything else that needs to be done to optimize speed of transfer over SMB and make sure both ethernet ports are being used?

[sneak9001]

Update: I realized it removes the spaces on it's own when entering the advanced settings. The rest of the thread is still applicable.

[TMnick]

You need to ensure that the same number of multi-Ethernet port connections are established between your TNAS device and the server or client. For more information on SMB Multichannel, you can refer to the following link:viewtopic.php?p=31141&hilit=SMB+Multichannel#p31141

[sneak9001]

I had figured everything out already by that time, but I'm running into other issues now where my router is forcing my WAN to be at 100 Mbps...

So this is what I was originally going to post, just to provide information to people:

I have tried messing with Jumbo frames in various places, as well as setting "interface" settings for samba in the NAS. Note that you can't actually set this in TOS for 2 reasons:

1: The OS truncates the line.
2: The OS inputs backticks instead of quotation marks (I'm unsure if this matters as I have no familiarity with samba)

I went into the NAS via SSH and modified /etc/samba/smb-customize.conf using vi to include the following which was not possible to add using TOS:

Code: Select all

interfaces                   = "eth0;capability=RSS,speed=2500000000" "eth1;capability=RSS,speed=2500000000"

I found this on a Reddit post, which also has instructions on how to check in Windows PowerShell if the other device is making use of Receive Side Scaling (the NAS IS) as well as confirming that your computer is capable of this RSS feature and using it (my PC IS). I also set the aio write and read to 0, as instructed in the Reddit post. As I said earlier, someone on this forum said to use 1. I have tested both. Neither work.

After changing the config, I use the following command to restart samba, rather than restarting the entire NAS:

Code: Select all

smbcontrol smbd reload-config

As you can see, with the settings I found on Reddit, it shows 2 NAS IPs capable of RSS during my copy:


So I have a 2.5 GbE NIC, 2.5 GbE switch, and both ethernet cables connected from the NAS to the switch, as well as my PC connected to the switch. My transfer speeds are still about 110 - 115 MB/s and they keep dipping down to 0 for several seconds and then slowing creeping back up.

I have drives capable of over 200 MB/s.


But finally.. I noticed I had connected my work computer to my switch when I setup all new cables. My regular PC was connected to the router.

Now that I fixed this, the transfers are starting at 298 MB/s and then dropping down to 1 MB/s or so and then going back up, and so on. Now I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to stop this from being a rollercoaster of speed? Is it hitting some kind of maximum buffer somewhere? I checked the NAS and the CPU and RAM are nowhere near being fully utilized. Host machine has a Ryzen 3900X and 2x 16GB 16-16-16-36 3600 Mhz RAM running Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2 19045.5371.

I don't see any hard drive activity on the host system, which I figure is the result of using SMB?

So for TMNick: Is there anything I can do about the speed dropping to 0 and then resuming again during SMB transfer?

[TMnick]

How many files and what is the size of the files used in your transfer test? Having detailed information will help us better verify if there is indeed an issue during the experiment. We have tested before and found that the transfer speed of a single larger file is normal, with minimal fluctuations even if there are any.

[sneak9001]

How many files and what is the size of the files used in your transfer test? Having detailed information will help us better verify if there is indeed an issue during the experiment. We have tested before and found that the transfer speed of a single larger file is normal, with minimal fluctuations even if there are any.

My testing was done with a folder containing one 23.6 GB file.

[sneak9001]

Since then I had issues with some programs, as well as transfer speeds dropping back down to 115 MB/s.

I kept trying to resolve the issues but got fed up and just started all over. I now have everything back up and configured, including synching my 2 8 TB drives in TRAID again.

I also have the speeds to a point where it's better than 115 MB/s, but it isn't as high as it was before.

I do have "aio read size" and "aio write size" set to "0", as opposed to the "1" that a TM employee recommended on these forums.

TOS or samba keeps erasing my settings enabling RSS, and I've confirmed via PowerShell that RSS is not enabled on the TOS client anymore.

I still expreience the dips down to a halt in transfer speed.

These issues are adding me to the list of people who are considering switchin OS. Though, I have a lot going on and I want to get this taken care of. Maybe if they release 6 and that experience has the same headaches I'll make a switch.

I don't know why TOS is limiting the length of custom parameters for SMB, or why the custom parameters always disappear.