NAS read/write perfomance

[sbjaved]

This is the first time I've built and configured a server for my home network.

Server:
Intel Dual Core G620 2.6GHz
Intel Desktop Board DH61WWB3 (Intel® 82579V Gigabit Ethernet Controller)
2GB DDR3
Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA
Ubuntu 12.04 running Samba (w/ only this tweak: socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=262144 SO_SNDBUF=262144 IPTOS_LOWDELAY SO_KEEPALIVE)

I'm using a DLink DIR 655 rev B1 (wireless-n 300Mbps) router. Server is connected to the router via ethernet cable. I have 2 computers and 2-3 mobile devices (all support wireless-n) on the network connected wirelessly to the router.

Here are the iperf results b/w my Dell XPS 15 laptop (Intel Centrino Wireless N-1030) and the Server:

saad@Dell-XPS-L502X:~$ iperf -c 192.168.0.105 -r -f M
------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 0.08 MByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.0.105, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 0.08 MByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 5] local 192.168.0.104 port 34349 connected with 192.168.0.105 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 113 MBytes 11.3 MBytes/sec
[ 4] local 192.168.0.104 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.105 port 37268
[ 4] 0.0-10.1 sec 123 MBytes 12.2 MBytes/sec

When I copy a file to the server, I'm getting write speeds of ~5MBps.

What can I do to improve my read/write speed? I'm fine with 5MBps but I was hoping for 8-9MBps???

 

[thiggins]

The Intel Centrino Wireless N-1030 is an odd little card. I has only one Transmit stream, so max link rate will be 65 Mbps if you are operating in 20 MHz bandwidth mode.
5 MB/s is 40 Mbps, which, depending on signal level and other traffic, isn't bad.

If you want higher bandwidth, use Ethernet. If you put a 2X2 adapter in the laptop, you might get a bit more throughput.

 

[sbjaved]

The Intel Centrino Wireless N-1030 is an odd little card. I has only one Transmit stream, so max link rate will be 65 Mbps if you are operating in 20 MHz bandwidth mode.
5 MB/s is 40 Mbps, which, depending on signal level and other traffic, isn't bad.

If you want higher bandwidth, use Ethernet. If you put a 2X2 adapter in the laptop, you might get a bit more throughput.

What do you make of the iperf results? They seems to show significant margin for improvement even with this card...

 

[loyukfai]

Ever tried testing w/o the Samba tweaks...?

Cheers.

 

[sbjaved]

I started w/o tweaks. Its worse.

 

[loyukfai]

How about the local disk performance (test using "dd") and over Ethernet...?

Cheers.

 

[00Roush]

Typically I would test iperf with a larger window size. I usually use iperf -c 192.168.0.2 -w 64k -r.

Also most recent Linux/Unix/Freebsd OSes can auto-tune their network settings so I am not sure that any "socket options" are necessary. If by default there are already "socket options" I recommend deleting them and try letting the OS manage the network. One other tweak that might help if you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 is you can add "max protocol = SMB2" to the global section of the smb.conf file.

Cheers,
00Roush