RT-AX92U USB smb seems fragile, crashes router

[fancellu]

Firmware: 3.0.0.4.386_43084-g728dd24

Copying 37gb to router usb 3.0 port via SMB with a nice Samsung 850 evo (NTFS) using an ORICO USB 3.1 enclosure, 30MB/s over wifi

Starts off fine, then gets slower and slower, then stops, 0 bytes per second, then v slow, then 0 and so on.

To the extent that eventually the internet stops, i.e. router hangs or spammed to death

If I stop it, wait a bit, then try again, it is fast once more

In case it was an NTFS issue I attached a 16gb usbkey, formatted to ext4, copied across 2gb video, router did the same.

May 5 06:05:04 crashlog: <4>smbd triggered out of memory codition (oom killer not called): gfp_mask=0x10200da, order=0, oom_score_adj=0
May 5 06:05:04 crashlog: <4>

Interestingly, FTP is fine, even to the NTFS disk. So it looks like writing via samba is the issue

Is this a known issue?

 

[leerees]

I use windows networking. We have a dedicated server that is connected to the main router via ethernet. It works perfectly and we frequently transfer huge files. However, that on it's own can ramp CPU usage up to 40% on the AX92u.

If you are plugging your drive into the router via the USB, you are also asking your router to be a file server. The AX92u has 512MB of RAM and no storage, I'd say your demands are too taxing for this little box.

Buy one of those dedicated "hard drive servers" / NAS storage boxes and plug that into the AX92u via ethernet.

 

[fancellu]

Well, it has 2 usb sockets, so I'm just using it as advertised.

its not being used like some office file server, just copying some videos across, one at a time, and it dies.

I had ZERO trouble doing just this, with a 5TB HD, on my old Archer vr900 or Fritzbox 7530, so can't see
why this shiny new router can't handle a nice 2TB SSD. As I said, is has zero problem with FTP dying, just SMB

I'll use FTP to copy across now, if I didn't have that I'd have simply plopped one of the above routers on the network, that don't cry
when you try to copy a file

Just disappointing that its SMB is so broken

Is this is known issue with these routers? You'd think they might want this new router to be more stable than old my routers

 

[ColinTaylor]

Report it to Asus via the router's GUI at Administration > Feedback

 

[Tech9]

To the extent that eventually the internet stops, i.e. router hangs or spammed to death

The same happens with AC86U router. Runs low on memory and other services suffer. This is a router - use it as a router. Some Asuswrt options are marketing and usable under specific conditions only. That includes USB storage and dual WAN.

 

[fancellu]

Well, given that my much older routers had zero issue with this, I'm less that impressed

 

[bbunge]

Using SMB on a router can be a problem. Merlin's firmware seems to do well with file transfers. But it is well known that drives with many files can stress RAM usage.
One fix is to add a swap file or partition to a USB drive. With Asus firmware the problem is mounting the swap. This is how I do it:

Enable SSH in Administration/System
Access the /jffs directory and create a file called post-mount. I use WinSCP and Putty.
In the post-mount file:

#!/bin/sh
swapon /tmp/mnt/(USB Name)/myswap.swp

Give the post-mount file 755 permissions.
Create a swap file on the USB drive:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/mnt/(USB Name)/myswap.swp bs=1k count=524288
mkswap /tmp/mnt/(USB Name)/myswap.swp
swapon /tmp/mnt/(USB Name)/myswap.swp

The above will create a 512 MB swap file. Adjust count= to suit your needs. Generally a swap equal to the router RAM is sufficient.
Note: Replace (USB Name) with the name of your USB device. You should use a thumb/SSD drive for this as a conventional hard drive could spin down.

Lastly, make changes to allow the script to run when the USB is mounted:

nvram set script_usbmount="/jffs/post-mount"

nvram commit

 

[Tech9]

One fix is to add a swap file or partition to a USB drive.

Tested already with AC86U - AMTM, 2GB swap on SanDisk Ultra Flair. Doesn't improve anything, waste of time.

 

[leerees]

Well, it has 2 usb sockets, so I'm just using it as advertised.

its not being used like some office file server, just copying some videos across, one at a time, and it dies.

I had ZERO trouble doing just this, with a 5TB HD, on my old Archer vr900 or Fritzbox 7530, so can't see
why this shiny new router can't handle a nice 2TB SSD. As I said, is has zero problem with FTP dying, just SMB

I'll use FTP to copy across now, if I didn't have that I'd have simply plopped one of the above routers on the network, that don't cry
when you try to copy a file

Just disappointing that its SMB is so broken

Is this is known issue with these routers? You'd think they might want this new router to be more stable than old my routers

I can't answer that, but one thing I have noticed is all Asus routers seem to have the same admin interface with the same features. Asus do make great products but they overestimate their capabilities.

I was going to say maybe the AX86u could do it as it has more memory but tech9's post says otherwise

Bottom line is it's a router, not a file server. The routing and WiFi 6 performance on the AX92u is the best I've ever seen. I wouldn't ever want Asus to compromise that for the sake of file sharing.

I get your desire to have one box that does all. But even if your idea worked, the bottle neck would probably be the USB port as the AX92u can transfer files at 2gbps+ real world performance over it's WiFi 6 channel.

 

[Going_Strong]

Well, it has 2 usb sockets, so I'm just using it as advertised.

its not being used like some office file server, just copying some videos across, one at a time, and it dies.

I had ZERO trouble doing just this, with a 5TB HD, on my old Archer vr900 or Fritzbox 7530, so can't see
why this shiny new router can't handle a nice 2TB SSD. As I said, is has zero problem with FTP dying, just SMB

I'll use FTP to copy across now, if I didn't have that I'd have simply plopped one of the above routers on the network, that don't cry
when you try to copy a file

Just disappointing that its SMB is so broken

Is this is known issue with these routers? You'd think they might want this new router to be more stable than old my routers

Being blunt, I'll just stay that Asus routers don't seem to be much good at the pseudo-NAS function.
For example, my RT-AC86U, when I had it a couple of years back, was atrocious - I'd get slow downs, just like you, and the router would also create weird additional partitions on the HDD/SSD.
Since then, I've been using TP-Links -the C4000, C5400X and AX11000 - and I must same I'm quite satisfied overall, with USB HDDs/SSDs being handled beautifully. Sure, if you're looking for non-stop sending of enormous files, you'll get faster service from a NAS, but for casual use I can't fault the Archers (specifically, since March last year, I've been using the AX11000 with a 1 TB SSD and a 5 TB HDD).
And I agree with the sentence highlighted - if a manufacturer says that a function is there and can be used, I feel that it has to work, weakly but stably.

 

[fancellu]

I can't answer that, but one thing I have noticed is all Asus routers seem to have the same admin interface with the same features. Asus do make great products but they overestimate their capabilities.

I was going to say maybe the AX86u could do it as it has more memory but tech9's post says otherwise

Bottom line is it's a router, not a file server. The routing and WiFi 6 performance on the AX92u is the best I've ever seen. I wouldn't ever want Asus to compromise that for the sake of file sharing.

I get your desire to have one box that does all. But even if your idea worked, the bottle neck would probably be the USB port as the AX92u can transfer files at 2gbps+ real world performance over it's WiFi 6 channel.

I don't care about speed being slower than something else. I just want it stable, which is how it was on my cheap old routers.

FTP is working fine. Over ethernet to my 2tb ssd, I can transfer via ftp at about 40MB/s

Could it be faster? No doubt, but its just fine for me. It is not going to 0mb/s, and not hanging the router, shows the data pathway is good enough,
and that SMB is causing the biggest issue. I deliberately chose a router with USB SMB, as that is what I used, very successfully for many years with other routers

Frankly I'll probably stick with FTP to get files on the share, whilst consuming via SMB. Its just a pity when a shiny new router is worse than 6 year old tech. It is a read mostly drive, for movies and instructional videos for the family.

 

[leerees]

I have been trying to get WiFi calling working reliably for over 5 years. Eventually, I just gave up and presumed that modern power saving techniques make it impossible. My solution was to buy specialist hardware.

Throughout my years of reading forums searching for a fix, I noticed people have always had problems with USB file sharing. Whilst USB file sharing has nothing to do with WiFi calling, it seems to have suffered the same fate, something in modern Asus routers makes it unreliable. If it can be fixed, it would have been fixed years ago.

Although I don't use NAS devices myself (I prefer to repurpose old tech into servers), it's clear that there is a whole consumer market based on them, so they must work really well. I still don't get why you don't just buy one, it would solve all your problems. I just did a quick Google and they have loads of great features including RAID and cloud services.

 

[fancellu]

Just an update, got fed up with RT-AX92u smb+ftp server being terrible, so took the usb drive off and put it on my previous Fritz.Box 7530, connecting the 7530 to the RT-AX92u, turning of the 7530 wifi etc.

Now my network share is solid as a rock, as the entire 7530 is dedicated to usb+smb, and the ASUS can do what it does best, which is serve internet

Zero extra cost, silent running, and more than enough file sharing on the local network.

When I was just using the 7530 before (free from my ISP), it served smb just fine, whereas ASUS router chokes big time.

Would be nice if they could try writing a better smb implementation

 

[leerees]

Just an update, got fed up with RT-AX92u smb+ftp server being terrible, so took the usb drive off and put it on my previous Fritz.Box 7530, connecting the 7530 to the RT-AX92u, turning of the 7530 wifi etc.

Now my network share is solid as a rock, as the entire 7530 is dedicated to usb+smb, and the ASUS can do what it does best, which is serve internet

Zero extra cost, silent running, and more than enough file sharing on the local network.

When I was just using the 7530 before (free from my ISP), it served smb just fine, whereas ASUS router chokes big time.

Would be nice if they could try writing a better smb implementation

Glad you found a solution, this was a smart move and like you say, it will allow your router to do what it does best.

I was going to suggest buying a raspberry pi. However, you've repurposed your old hardware. That's even better.

 

[Mac35]

Just run into this bug too on AX86U. File transfers over SMB or FTP quickly fill up the RAM and router slows to a crawl. If I delete some already transferred files, the RAM empties accordingly.
It's as if files are being copied to the USB and the RAM simultaneously, yet the RAM is never emptied. Throw some files at the router and everything seems fine until one day the RAM is full and entire user experience is affected.
Does anyone know if enabling swap actually helps? Interestingly I don't see this issue when transferring to AX58U set up as a mesh node which has swap enabled.
Maybe swap has to be enabled BEFORE setting up USB file sharing?
"Just buy a NAS" is really an unacceptable answer when this functionality is a selling point, personally would avoid ASUS brand (particularly asustor) if this is never addressed..

 

[bennor]

"Just buy a NAS" is really an unacceptable answer when this functionality is a selling point, personally would avoid ASUS brand (particularly asustor) if this is never addressed..

Pointing out the truth, that a router (Asus or other brand) is not a NAS and if you want an NAS then get an NAS, is not an unacceptable answer. It's the truth. The reality is these routers that offer USB ports for storage devices typically are not designed to be full fledged NAS boxes with heavy file transfers. One can search these subforums to see the many issues people have using USB drives with routers. Many times secondary features like USB ports are not well supported on routers and are included as a marketing gimmick to sell routers.

Some have better luck using USB 3.0 SSD drives rather than USB flash drives (particularly USB 2.0 flash drives) or USB HDD (mechanical hard drives).

You may want to include the USB drive information (brand, partition format, etc.) and which USB port it's connected to along with any additional scripts or add-ons you are running on the router. Could be your specific settings or add-on scripts may contribute to your issue.

 

[Mac35]

No scripts/entware running on the router.
The RAM fills up as files are added, no matter how big or small they are.
Using Samsung Evo 250GB sata SSD in a USB3 enclosure formatted as ext4 using AMTM (recommended settings).

I just want to throw some files around locally without having to wake and wait for my main NAS to spin up.
SMB is a little slower which is understandable with it's overhead, FTP works great, reading and writing at over 40MB/s.
Both as you would expect, right up untill the point RAM becomes inexplicably saturated

 

[bennor]

A RT-AX86U Pro does the same when copying a large amount of files to a USB hard drive attached to the router's USB port. RAM stays high (97% in my case) after it is finished copying a large number of files (4,000+ in my test).

Running the following code: sync; echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches via SSH, after copying the large number of files, nocks the RAM back down to where it normally is, around 49% to 50%. No idea if dropping the caches affects other router operations.

So likely some sort of bug in the SMB service or base firmware code where it isn't clearing the cache(s) after the copy process finishes. Don't know/remember off hand if the SMB.conf file has any option or setting to clear the cache it uses.

Edit to add: In looking around via forum search feature at other posts that use the drop_caches call, others use similar SSH commands to clear the router's cache(s) to free up RAM:

sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
or
free && sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free

Guess one could create a script to run at certain times to call the command or create a short BAT file, to call putty to issue the drop caches command, on their PC to run each time one copies a large amount of files to the router.

Another edit to add: There is the following post where a user created a script to run the drop_caches command at 5am (router time).
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...e-for-select-models.81644/page-24#post-801602

Created the script myself, contains just one command... Called it "ClearCache", very rarely reboot for the sake of RAM anymore.

#!/bin/bash
echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

Then editied crontab so it runs at 5 am (router time)

* 5 * * * /jffs/scripts/clearcache #Clearcache#

Whether it helps or not? It helps me, keeps my Router (AX88) in around 52% - 65% range without impacting anything else as far as I can tell. Plenty of posts in here on how to create scripts and get them to execute on a schedule, outside the scope of this 388 beta thread, just search for it.

 

[warham]

RT-AX82U have big trouble using the usb 3 port. After a while the modem either starts to keep rebooting flashing red and blue or it will do some kind of mini reset where it loses its mind and loads to its setup page. i have to re-enter the wifi settings again to bring the network back online, wired computers included.
Its like it over heats or something. Changing the modems setting to usb 2 seems to resolve it. At least so far and using a usb 2 flash drive thats significantly slower and runs coooler.