February 25, 201016 yr I have had my unraid up and running for about a year now and today I decided to needed to move lot of data to the server. When I started, I remember why I didn't back it up in the first place. My file transfer rates are SLOW... I am using windows xp and a linksys 10/100 router. Windows tells me my network activity during transfer of data to the server is only 2%. There is no other network traffic and I even disabled my parity drive to see if that would change anything, and it didn't. Any idea what could be the problem?
February 25, 201016 yr Any idea what could be the problem? No, because.... 1. You did not tell us what version of unRAID you are running. 2. You did not tell us what data rate you are getting. 3. You did not attach a syslog so we could tell if there are any errors or problems 4. You did not include the output of ifconfig eth0 and ethtool eth0 You are running a 100Mb/s router... That alone will slow you down considerably, but we'll not know for sure of anything else until you provide a few clues for analysis. It could be cabling to the routers, it could be noise on the LAN, it could be almost anything.
February 25, 201016 yr Their could be many factors relating to the slowness of your unRAID server. - Hard drive speeds; Are you using Parallel ATA or Serial ATA drives? Obviously SATA drive are way faster than PATA drives. - If you have a mixture of drives, be sure to have the fastest drive that you have, ie: SATA drive, as your Parity drive, followed by any other fast drives. Try to use the slower drives to store data which you won't reference much, ie: Pictures, documents, etc... - Have your fastest drives running on the mainboards I/O interfaces. If you've got SATA drives, enable and use all onboard interfaces on your mainboard, and use any other drives on any add-on cards that you might have. - It is a must to use a 1000Mbps (1Gbps) link to dramatically improve the bottleneck between any guest and your unRAID server. Using a 10/100Mbps link or WiFi will not give you excellent or ideal file transfer results. Also keeping in mind at unRAID writes to both your data(s) drives and parity drive. - You really can't compare unRAID's performance to another file server type (ie: FreeNAS, Windows server, etc...) as these servers function differently compared to unRAID, hence why unRAID uses a unique RAID method. It is built for storage, not high performance. - Do not use the unRAID server while doing a Parity check on your drives. Doing this will provide the slowest data transfer speeds, regardless of your hardware configuration. Between 1Gbps PCs and connected via a 1Gbps switch, I normally get between 10 to 15Mbps write speeds, and about 70 to 80Mbps read speeds, though this depends on what is be transferred and network traffic. Hope the steps above helps. But yeah, without mentioning your specifications, it's hard to troubleshoot your scenario. Cheers!
February 25, 201016 yr Author Ok, I have added the data you have mentioned: 1. You did not tell us what version of unRAID you are running. version: 4.5-beta3 2. You did not tell us what data rate you are getting. I downloaded a network monitor and during a file transfer i am reading a steady 4 mbps, this is with no other network/internet traffic 3. You did not attach a syslog so we could tell if there are any errors or problems I have attached log 4. You did not include the output of ifconfig eth0 and ethtool eth0 Tower login: root Linux 2.6.28.4-unRAID. root@Tower:~# ifconfig eth0 eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1f:d0:97:74:bc inet addr:x.x.x.x Bcast:x.x.x.x Mask:x.x.x.x UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:446295 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:367996 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:639386693 (609.7 MiB) TX bytes:44896620 (42.8 MiB) Interrupt:125 Base address:0xe000 root@Tower:~# ethtool eth0 Settings for eth0: Supported ports: [ TP MII ] Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full Supports auto-negotiation: Yes Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes Speed: 100Mb/s Duplex: Full Port: MII PHYAD: 0 Transceiver: internal Auto-negotiation: on Supports Wake-on: pumbg Wake-on: g Current message level: 0x00000033 (51) Link detected: yes root@Tower:~# As for the drives I am using, I am used 1TB WD sata drives. Thank you for any help you can give. I really appreciate it. syslog.txt
February 25, 201016 yr 1. You did not tell us what version of unRAID you are running. version: 4.5-beta3 Just by upgrading to the latest stable release you'll see some signifficant speed improvements.
February 25, 201016 yr The most recent stable build is 4.5.1, right? Right. Edit: Version 4.5.3 was just posted. It brings even more speed improvement.
February 25, 201016 yr From the ethtool command results you have, it seems your NIC is running at "Speed: 100Mb/s", which indicates your only getting a 100Mbps link. This is a problem for reading speeds (depending on the data being read), but a major bottleneck in especially writing performance. Try and do the following to get the NIC running at 1Gbps. - Replace any old patch leads with a new bought one. Buy a CAT5e or CAT6, which are not too expensice these days. Both of these cables are rated at 1Gbps (Actually CAT6 I think is rated at 10Gbps, pending hardware support of course). - Be sure to have the unRAID server connected to a switch or other network device which supports 1Gbps connections. If you have the server connected to a run of the mill Broadband Modem/Router/Access Point, most likely it is only capable of running 10/100. Refer to the manufactures site or manual for specifications of your networking equipment. - A quick test if you have this stuff handy. Get a PC or a Laptop which you know has a 1Gbps NIC, get CAT5e or CAT6 patch lead, and do a straight connect from the PC/Laptop to the unRAID server. Re-run the ethtool utility and see if the NIC changes its link speed to 1000Mbps. Also what the other guys suggested too, like upgrading to the latest OS version of unRAID. The current OS is at v4.5.1, which I'm running at. I haven't noticed any network performance speed increase, but running a beta version when a final version of the OS is available, it is a worthy idea to upgrade as the any stable release of software is always going to improve on stability, performance, hardware support, etc... Food for thought mate in solving the riddle you face. Good luck!
February 25, 201016 yr Author I thank you for your thoughs, but things aren't adding up to me. The speed it should be running at right now is 100 mbps, and I agree that upgrading to 1000 mbps would be better and I am planning to do this in the future. But it doesn't explain why I am only getting a data transfer rate of 4 mbps when the allowed network speed is 100 mbps. Or is 4 mbps normal writing speed for unraid? 100 mbps = 12.5 MBps sounds lot better than the .5 MBps I am getting now. I will upgrade to the stable os, but will that fix the problem?
February 25, 201016 yr I thank you for your thoughs, but things aren't adding up to me. The speed it should be running at right now is 100 mbps, and I agree that upgrading to 1000 mbps would be better and I am planning to do this in the future. But it doesn't explain why I am only getting a data transfer rate of 4 mbps when the allowed network speed is 100 mbps. Or is 4 mbps normal writing speed for unraid? 100 mbps = 12.5 MBps sounds lot better than the .5 MBps I am getting now. I will upgrade to the stable os, but will that fix the problem? The upgrade is not likely to help fix a .5MB/s rate. It does improve the 12-15MB/s rate at which you can write to an unRAID server (on earlier versions) to over 20MB/s. It almost sounds as if your PC is connecting to your router at 10MB/s, or, one or both of the cables you are using is not able to handle the higher bit rate, or, there is noise on the LAN interfering with the transfer. The easiest to try is to replace one or both of the cables involved with ones you've purchased new. If you are making your own cables it is possible one or more of the connectors is wired incorrectly. (There are two standards for the RJ45 connectors on the ends of the cables. One standard is for telephone use, the other is for LAN use. they pair up the conductors differently. My own RJ45 connector crimping tool-kit came with a nice color-coded label in the top of the box showing how to attach the connectors... but it illustrates the telephone standard, not the LAN standard. A cable wired as it illustrates would work poorly if at all on a LAN. If I did not know better, any cable I made would be useless at high speeds.) Even if you purchased the cables pre-made, are they wired for LAN use, or telephone use? You actually have to look at the colors of the wires at the ends to know, since they will test with continuity just fine. My recommendation would be to purchase an inexpensive Gigabyte "switch" and connect the PC and unRAID server to it, then connect it to the current Linksys router (which in turn connects to your cable or DSL modem) A 4 port Gigabyte switch can often be found on sale for $25 - $30 dollars. One last question. On the XP PC, what do you see when you open a DOS command window and type in it: ipconfig Joe L.
February 25, 201016 yr Yeah it is the NIC speed that is hampering your performance or other devices bringing the network speeds down. From one unRAID OS version to another, I haven't noticed any performance increase, it's the wiring and networking devices that plays an important factor from your server to other computers on your LAN. Cheers!
March 6, 201016 yr Author Ok, I upgraded to Unraid 4.5.1 and I bought a 1000mb/s router with new cat6 cables. My transfer speeds did increase quite a bit, but I am still a far way from the maximum bandwidth. I was getting ~4 mbps with a 100 mbps network. Now I am getting ~130 mbps with my 1000 mbps network. Is this normal bandwidth for an unraid server? I am only hitting 10% of maximum allowable bandwidth. I will atttach all the data that was asked for last time too. Tower login: root Linux 2.6.31.12-unRAID. root@Tower:~# ifconfig eth0 eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1f:d0:97:74:bc inet addr:192.168.1.101 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:5369088 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2815436 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:2215201872 (2.0 GiB) TX bytes:2642557194 (2.4 GiB) Interrupt:26 Base address:0x6000 root@Tower:~# ethtool eth0 Settings for eth0: Supported ports: [ TP MII ] Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full Supports auto-negotiation: Yes Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes Speed: 1000Mb/s Duplex: Full Port: MII PHYAD: 0 Transceiver: internal Auto-negotiation: on Supports Wake-on: pumbg Wake-on: g Current message level: 0x00000033 (51) Link detected: yes syslog.txt
March 6, 201016 yr Wow 130Mbps? Geez that's quite high? But if you're getting that speed, I wouldn't complain We'll I'm glad you've sorted your slowless woes! Normally the bottleneck for unRAID is the network link or devices which link you to your Server, but internal components and the interfaces which connect your HDD's o your mobo and add-on cards can be a culprit too. Enjoy your unRAID .
March 6, 201016 yr Ok, I upgraded to Unraid 4.5.1 Kasm, unRAID 4.5.3 was just posted. Write speeds are signifficantly faster than 4.5.1. You should try it. --- @smnas: He is talking in Mbps, not MBps!
March 6, 201016 yr Yeah I understand, 130Mbps /12.5, = 10.4MBps, it is very good speeds, I average about 9.5 to 9.8MBps. Cheers!
March 6, 201016 yr Yeah I understand, 130Mbps /12.5, = 10.4MBps, it is very good speeds, I average about 9.5 to 9.8MBps. Cheers! Huh?? My average samba write speed from XP to protected disk share is ~22MB/s on unRAID with 1GHz Mobile Celeron, and with Green drives. What the heck are you talking about?
March 6, 201016 yr Well that's what I'm averaging, I'm using Windows 7, full Gigabit network hardware going to and from the client/server, and most files I copy gets between 9.5 to 10 MBps. I'll might have to do thorough tests, but that is what Windows 7's File Transfer dialog box is telling me.
March 6, 201016 yr Yeah I understand, 130Mbps /12.5, = 10.4MBps, it is very good speeds, I average about 9.5 to 9.8MBps. Cheers! where did the 12.5 come from?
March 6, 201016 yr Yeah I understand, 130Mbps /12.5, = 10.4MBps, it is very good speeds, I average about 9.5 to 9.8MBps. Cheers! ... Well that's what I'm averaging, I'm using Windows 7, full Gigabit network hardware going to and from the client/server, and most files I copy gets between 9.5 to 10 MBps. I'll might have to do thorough tests, but that is what Windows 7's File Transfer dialog box is telling me. If we start with your last statement, then there is a link missing in your logic chain: How did you end up with the conclusion that 10MB/s is "very good speeds"?
March 6, 201016 yr Huh?? My average samba write speed from XP to protected disk share is ~22MB/s on unRAID with 1GHz Mobile Celeron, and with Green drives. From my Win7 to protected disk share, my xfer speed is anywhere from ~27 to ~40 MB/s. I am using WD EADS Green Drives as well.
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