I am not sure if I am understanding the cache drive correctly.  I added one, precleared and formatted, and defined in the device settings as cache.  I set a couple of my user shares to use the cache drive.  My understanding is now when I copy to say \\tower\videos it is actually caching first, then migrating over.  That doesn't seem to be happening.  My cache drive isn't spinning up and my copy speeds certainly haven't increased.  I'm seeing a lot of these entries, and I'm not sure why I'm not getting caching:

 

Oct 19 16:32:01 Tower logger: Starting NFS server daemons:

Oct 19 16:32:01 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/exportfs -r

Oct 19 16:32:02 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd 8

Oct 19 16:32:02 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (104): rm /etc/samba/smb-shares.conf >/dev/null 2>&1

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (105): cp /etc/exports- /etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (106): echo \"/mnt/disk1\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (107): echo \"/mnt/disk2\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (108): echo \"/mnt/disk3\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (109): echo \"/mnt/disk4\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (110): echo \"/mnt/cache\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (111): killall -HUP smbd

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower emhttp: shcmd (112): /etc/rc.d/rc.nfsd restart | logger

Oct 19 16:32:09 Tower mountd[23238]: Caught signal 15, un-registering and exiting.

Oct 19 16:32:10 Tower kernel: nfsd: last server has exited, flushing export cache

Oct 19 16:32:11 Tower logger: Starting NFS server daemons:

Oct 19 16:32:11 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/exportfs -r

Oct 19 16:32:12 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd 8

Oct 19 16:32:12 Tower logger:  /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (113): rm /etc/samba/smb-shares.conf >/dev/null 2>&1

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (114): cp /etc/exports- /etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (115): echo \"/mnt/disk1\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (116): echo \"/mnt/disk2\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (117): echo \"/mnt/disk3\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (118): echo \"/mnt/disk4\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

Oct 19 16:32:20 Tower emhttp: shcmd (119): echo \"/mnt/cache\" '-async,no_subtree_check,anongid=0,anonuid=0,all_squash' 'Videos' >>/etc/exports

 

Have you rebooted the server since you installed the cache drive?  If not, try that.

Well, when I installed it but not since I made it Cache.  I'll give that a try, thanks.

Well, it seems to be working but I guess I was expecting a bigger uptick in speed.  What is normal for MB/sec copy from Windows?  I'm getting 10.9-11.

Well, it seems to be working but I guess I was expecting a bigger uptick in speed.  What is normal for MB/sec copy from Windows?  I'm getting 10.9-11.

What speed is your LAN connection from the window's PC.  Your speeds are perfectly normal for a 100Mb/s connection.  Your PC might not have a gigabyte adapter.

10-11 mb/s?  That is definitely slow.  I generally get between 50 and 70 mb/s with my cache drive.  It sounds like you are hitting the limit of a 10/100 network.  Are both your server and windows computer capable of gigabit LAN speeds?  Are you using cat5e or better network cable?  Is your router/switch capable of gigabit LAN speeds?

Yes, yes, and yes... but let me verify everything is hard coded to gig.  I just put the switch in so maybe I'm set at 100/Full somewhere....