Slow write performance with ZFS?

[TType85]

I am working on rebuilding my home storage server. I was using WHS 2011 on a HP N40L Microserver upgraded with 8GB ram and 4x2TB Samsung HDD's on a gig network. Network performance with this was fine; I could sustain 80+MB/s as measured by windows 7 file copy.

I recently picked up 5x3TB Segates (5y warranty drives ). I moved the 4x2TB to my main machine and put the 5x3TB in the N40L. I wanted to try ZFS for it so I installed the latest Freenas on to a USB stick.

When I make a ZFS pool with the 5 drives (z1, telling it to force 4K) I get poor performance copying files over CIFS. I see a max of about 35MB/s and also see it drop to single digits at times. I made a ZFS single drive and it goes to about 50MB/s. I am using 3+GB ISO files from my SSD for the source.

Write Performance
Windows NTFS = 80+MB/s
ZFS RaidZ1 = 35MB/s peak, drops to under 20MB/s
ZFS Single Drive = 50MB/s
UFS Single Drive = 80+MB/s

Read Performance
Windows NTFS = >100+MB/s
ZFS RaidZ1 = ~80MB/s
ZFS Single Drive = ~80MB/s
UFS Single Drive = >100+MB/s

Is the problem the N40L doesn't have enough processor power to handle the raidZ1 setup? The reporting never shows over 70% cpu. Is the CIFS sharing just that inefficient in BSD?

 

[brutalizer]

Something is strange. Most (all?) people reports 80MB/sec or above with ZFS. There is a problem with your setup.

 

[TType85]

Something is strange. Most (all?) people reports 80MB/sec or above with ZFS. There is a problem with your setup.

Any suggestions?

I've tried Raidz1 both 3 and 5 drive. Windows shares and UFS are fast, only zfs shares have issues. I may try nexantastor to see if it is any better than freenas.

 

[msitpro]

What is the sync set to for the ZFS file system? (Always, Standard, Disabled)