Compressing a network drive

[AceGoober]

Here at work, there is a primary file server (Dual XEON 3.2Ghz CPUs, 4GB DDR2, 6 x WD Raptors in RAID 5) setup as a network share and is 273GB in size with 60GB free. This share contains well over 150,000 files, with about half of it comprised of Excel spreadsheets. The server is connected to a local gigabit LAN with eight other servers; Exchange, mail filter and so on. All users are connected to these servers via several 10/100 switches to the gigabit LAN. At any moment in time, about 150 (give or take 50) users are accessing the share with an average of 7 files open per user.

As of about the last 5 or so months, users (including myself) have been complaining about slow opening and closing of files. During my analysis of the network share I noticed that drive compression has been turned-on. In all my years of network management I have never once used drive compression. I researched the subject at great length and found mixed results depending upon the type of files being used, number of users and so on.

So, the question I have is as follows:

Are there any disadvantages with using drive compression on a network share, taking into consideration the number of files open and users accessing the share?

Any assistance on this subject is greatly appreciated.

 

[mobiux]

any compression will slow down access, since it's another process the server has to go through to serve up the files.

you figure 7 files x 150 people = up to 1050 files being compressed and decompressed at any given time.

I can see why it's so slow.

 

[jpochedl]

If you've really got a lot of concurrent I/O going to the disks, they may be a bottleneck regardless of compression. I have also seen some reports that show file compression can actually speed up file access due to the the fact that you decrease disk I/O requirements and actually make use of all the idle processor time in most file servers, resulting in a net gain in apparent speed. With a 3.2 Ghz processor, the compression and decompression may not be causing and real drag on the system.

It's really a mixed bag. What I'm getting at is: The only way to know for certain what's causing a bottleneck is to monitor the server. Watch processor utilization, memory utilization, and disk counters...