Data transfer issues between desktop and server; but only 1 way. Thoughts?

[RavinDJ]

I have the following setup:

SERVER <==Cat6==> NETGEAR Gigabit Smart Switch (GS348T) <=====Cat5e=====> DESKTOP

speedtest.net shows fast downloads on the desktop:

Transferring a 2GB file from desktop to server was fast:

BUT... SERVER to DESKTOP always has issues... and with SMALL FILES under a few megabytes it's actually SUPER, SUPER SLOW.

This is the 2GB file from SERVER to DESKTOP:

This was actually not bad... but small files of a few KB to a few hundred KB (way under 1 MB), it's CRAWLING SLOW

Any thoughts on what it could be? It's bothering the hell out of me :sad:

 

[SamirD]

What storage on the desktop are you transferring it to? If it's not an ssd, this is about right with a bunch of small files, and can even be correct with an ssd as smaller files are always slower with all the overhead.

 

[RavinDJ]

What storage on the desktop are you transferring it to? If it's not an ssd, this is about right with a bunch of small files, and can even be correct with an ssd as smaller files are always slower with all the overhead.

The DESKTOP has a 512GB NVme drive... it's a new desktop.

The SERVER has Samsung SSDs in RAID.

 

[SamirD]

Run crystal disk on the desktop's ssd and see what its max transfer is with smaller files. Then I would check if smb3 is enabled.

 

[Zepher]

do you have any antivirus program running on the desktop?

Are you doing the copies while on the same machine? If so, try making a new share on the Desktop PC and do a copy while on the server machine and see if there is a change,.

 

[robijito123]

112mb per second is about max for gigabit or 1000\8. For the server upload is there other activity on there like a db or something, check taskmanager or resource monitor to see if something is clogging network or disk. If that doesn't work check chipset or disk to see where your bottleneck is.

 

[RavinDJ]

Thanks guys... I think it has to do more with the server... the question is, what is it? It's old 2012R2... but has 32GB RAM and Samsung SSDs in RAID. Is it a software issue? Or RAID issue? Or are the small files just screwing with the rest of the storage?

 

[SamirD]

I do not think it is on the server side since writes generally take more time, especially if they are on a single drive. I would run the tests on the desktop that I posted above and check that smb is v3.

 

[RavinDJ]

I do not think it is on the server side since writes generally take more time, especially if they are on a single drive. I would run the tests on the desktop that I posted above and check that smb is v3.

Thank you! I'll check the desktop again... but I feel like I had the same issue on other desktops. Would a better network help (i.e. 10Gbps or better switch) or would a better RAID/drive combo help (i.e. better than our RAID 10 or better Samsung SSDs)?

I can't imagine large corporations have same issues with thousands of small files...

 

[SamirD]

Thank you! I'll check the desktop again... but I feel like I had the same issue on other desktops. Would a better network help (i.e. 10Gbps or better switch) or would a better RAID/drive combo help (i.e. better than our RAID 10 or better Samsung SSDs)?

I can't imagine large corporations have same issues with thousands of small files...

It would make sense if you've had the same issue on other desktops if the configs of those desktops was similar. Network won't really help since it's just a limitation of all the reads and writes that small files require. It's just a nature of the beast and large corporations get around it by throwing money at it since nvme ssd raid 0 with 8 drives will more than likely be fast enough even for 10Gb...oh, but the cost...

 

[bigstusexy]

If you're want to test network speed and rule out other things (like storage and such) use IPref3. There is a windows version and while it lacks some functions of the Linux version, it works well for speed tests.
https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php

It's commandline only but it's not difficult for just doing speed tests. You need one to be the server, the other to be the client.

The sever, just run
iperf3 -s

On the client
iperf3 -c <client IP/name>
You can also add -R (case does matter) this is a reverse test where the server sends to you.