Can you help solve my folder navigation mystery? Navigating Unraid share inside Ubuntu VM

[malebron]

I have an Unraid share accessed by an Ubuntu VM (22.04 LTS). Access to the share is set up via the VM template. Share mode is "9p mode".

The share is on a 2 drive 4TB xfs array. Unraid 6.12.3

 

Copying files to and from the share seems normal and performance is as expected. Within Ubuntu File Manager I can navigate UP (eg clicking on a folder) and see the contents instantly. However when I navigate DOWN (ie go back, towards root), it takes about 5 seconds after each click before contents are displayed. This is starting to get tedious!

 

When navigating this share in Finder on my Mac everything works normally.

When accessing another (external SMB) drive in Ubuntu, navigation behaves normally.

 

I assume it's a setting somewhere, but I'm not sure where to look.

Changing the caching mode for the share did not help.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[malebron]

Update: I tried mounting the share as an external SMB (using the server IP). This makes a HUGE difference.  I can still detect a noticeable lag, but its a fraction of a second, not 5 seconds!

 

Could the problem simply be virtio performance? Is this just a bad way to connect drives?

 

Additional Update: I'm noticing that file transfer is also WAY faster. My subjective assessment is 2x-3x!

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by malebron
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[itimpi]

I have never bothered with 9pMode as I always get better performance going via a network share.

 

[malebron]

Thanks @itimi - my experience certainly seems to support that approach!

 

Question: If I connect a VM to a network share that's hosted on the same server, is performance limited by the NIC speed?

 

[itimpi]

25 minutes ago, malebron said:

is performance limited by the NIC speed?

It is limited by the 'virtual' NIC speed which I believe is typically around 10Gb so in practise that is normally not the limiting factor.

[malebron]

25 minutes ago, itimpi said:

It is limited by the 'virtual' NIC speed which I believe is typically around 10Gb so in practise that is normally not the limiting factor.

Thx. Good to know. Really surprised that the default "direct" connect mode is so crap - especially compared to network connect.

 

I just wonder if this is a well known deficiency (to all except me, apparently), and if so, is anyone working on a fix and/or alternative?