What is your max speed between NAS and PCs?

E

Elpee

Weaksauce
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May 6, 2013
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Looked around but couldn't see it stated. Sorry if it reposts.
I was told setting the Jumbo Frame will improve the performance speed between NAS and PCs. Well, I tried it last night and failed miserably! I enabled Jumbo Frame and set it to 9000 on my Synology NAS, then I went into my Intel NIC card and did the same by enabling and setting it to 9014 as well.
Doesn't matter how big/ small files I transfered, I've never passed 50MB/s :mad:
Your inputs would be much appreciated.
Note - Both NAS and PC are connected directly to D-Link Dir 655 gigabit rounter by CAT5e cables.
 
Jumbo Frames aren't as magical as they sound. I rarely see improvements with them in general usage tasks, and it creates compatibility issues if your hardware doesn't support them. They need to be enabled on your NIC, your switch, and the NIC of the NAS, FYI.

With that said, what model of Synology do you have? Depending on the model and RAID style you have configured, most likely the NAS is your bottleneck. Four bay NAS's in RAID 5 usually sit around 60MB/s write. You need the + Synology models to hit 100MB/s.
 
I tried one of those and went to Nas4Free and love it, much faster and cheaper.
 
For what it's worth I found jumbo frames to provide a huge improvement but like Phog said it has to be enabled and supported on all the hardware involved. I have a WHS setup and prior to enabling jumbo frames I was getting 45 MB/s avg. write. After enabling jumbo frames I am getting 70 MB/s avg. I mostly transfer large movie files but will occasionally do picture and document transfers as well.
 
I used to have a DS1010+ and got about 110MB/s.

I have a Windows server on FlexRAID now and still get about 110MB/s.
 
Phog said:
With that said, what model of Synology do you have? Depending on the model and RAID style you have configured, most likely the NAS is your bottleneck. Four bay NAS's in RAID 5 usually sit around 60MB/s write. You need the + Synology models to hit 100MB/s.
Click to expand...
Mine is DS212j with 2x3TB WD GREEN in RAID 0.

deadlift1 said:
For what it's worth I found jumbo frames to provide a huge improvement but like Phog said it has to be enabled and supported on all the hardware involved. I have a WHS setup and prior to enabling jumbo frames I was getting 45 MB/s avg. write. After enabling jumbo frames I am getting 70 MB/s avg. I mostly transfer large movie files but will occasionally do picture and document transfers as well.
Click to expand...
SirMaster said:
I used to have a DS1010+ and got about 110MB/s.

I have a Windows server on FlexRAID now and still get about 110MB/s.
Click to expand...

Really? Wow... I wish mine were also at least ~70MB/s to transfer my large movies files. :(
How did you setup yours, SirMaster?
 
All of the "j" series will be slow. No getting around that, although really, it's not *that* bad.
 
I'm not sure if your D-Link Dir 655 can handle jumbo frames.

You can try pinging the synology with a jumbo frame to see if it is indeed enabled between devices.

use:

Code: 
ping -f -L 9000 networkIPaddress

If it does go through you will see a return time.

If it does not go through and your switch doesn't support jumbo frames then you will get a message saying the packet needs to be fragmented.

Actually your results are very typical for a cheaper model synology like you have, unless you buy an expensive model ($500+) they usually will not go higher than around 70MB/s sustained.

Also to get max speeds you need a good enterprise level switch, just because one model is advertised at gigabit does not mean that it can actually transfer at full gigabit speeds. A good switch usually starts at around $100, so it could be many things.
 
Fast enough to flog out a couple of Gigabit on the network. (2x GbE from server to switch, 4x GbE from Main PC to switch)
 
staticlag said:
I'm not sure if your D-Link Dir 655 can handle jumbo frames.

You can try pinging the synology with a jumbo frame to see if it is indeed enabled between devices.

use:

Code: 
ping -f -L 9000 networkIPaddress

If it does go through you will see a return time.

If it does not go through and your switch doesn't support jumbo frames then you will get a message saying the packet needs to be fragmented.

Actually your results are very typical for a cheaper model synology like you have, unless you buy an expensive model ($500+) they usually will not go higher than around 70MB/s sustained.

Also to get max speeds you need a good enterprise level switch, just because one model is advertised at gigabit does not mean that it can actually transfer at full gigabit speeds. A good switch usually starts at around $100, so it could be many things.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try pinging when I get home after work.
Any recommendation for a good gig switch? Don't ask me to buy 24-port or alike switch. Only 1 NAS and 2 or 3 PCs in my home network. :D
Thanks.
 
Elpee said:
Mine is DS212j with 2x3TB WD GREEN in RAID 0.


Really? Wow... I wish mine were also at least ~70MB/s to transfer my large movies files. :(
How did you setup yours, SirMaster?
Click to expand...


Well the DS1010+ had a fast CPU. 1.67GHz dual core Intel Atom. It was set up with 5x2TB Samsung HD203UI in RAID 5.

I only moved to a full server because I outgrew the NAS and wanted a more capable server machine. My Windows server now uses a quad core i5 3570.
 
I have a synology NAS as well, its an older model with Raid 5 and 4 bays. it is not a + model. I get around 20-30MB/s but I am likely limited by the NAS as well as my PC. Its good enough for streaming and general tasks. I would like faster but will take reliable and low energy i get now.

Most people don't realize how expensive it can be to run a PC all day. I think I saved about 10-20$ a month in electric costs by switching to the Synology NAS over a standard PC.
 
I wouldn't think the switch would be an issue, it is rare to find a switch that can't handle gigabit speeds. For years I haven't seen a switch that was full speed on all ports.

I had an issue with limited around 50-60MB/sec, the issue was the nic itself, replaced it correct the issue to 90MB/sec, turning on jumbo frames is mainly to reduce cpu usage, it can gain you only a few percent of speed.

Modern cards support large offloads, so jumboframes doesn't even cause any cpu savings there, so jumbo frames on new stuff is really not going help.

But since it's a nas, we know it's going have a limited cpu, and no idea about it's nic performance, so to get from 90MB/sec to 100MB/sec I would use jumbo. But getting to 90MB/sec in the first place, is a limit of your nas, or a nic most likely.
 
About 24MBps to my old QNAP NAS box. All gigabit throughout with good quality hardware but never got it much above the late 20's.
 
staticlag said:
I'm not sure if your D-Link Dir 655 can handle jumbo frames.

You can try pinging the synology with a jumbo frame to see if it is indeed enabled between devices.

use:

Code: 
ping -f -L 9000 networkIPaddress

If it does go through you will see a return time.

If it does not go through and your switch doesn't support jumbo frames then you will get a message saying the packet needs to be fragmented.

Actually your results are very typical for a cheaper model synology like you have, unless you buy an expensive model ($500+) they usually will not go higher than around 70MB/s sustained.

Also to get max speeds you need a good enterprise level switch, just because one model is advertised at gigabit does not mean that it can actually transfer at full gigabit speeds. A good switch usually starts at around $100, so it could be many things.
Click to expand...
Yes, I just tried pinging Synology as you told me.
It returned a message:" Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set"
So, the bottle neck is my switch (or exactly is D-Link Dir-655)? :(
Anybody can show me how to enable Jumb Frame on this router? Thank you in advance.
 
you should not be using that for a switch, if you expect to get good speeds between your devices on gigabit.

I'm suprised you can even get 50mb/sec using that.
 
Elpee said:
Yes, I just tried pinging Synology as you told me.
It returned a message:" Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set"
So, the bottle neck is my switch (or exactly is D-Link Dir-655)? :(
Anybody can show me how to enable Jumb Frame on this router? Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

I would strongly suggest this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316701

I have an earlier version of this model and it is a very strong switch that can provide full gigabit on all ports simultaneously. It has all the advanced features that a home user could ever want. I have a few other cheap gigabit switches from dlink and netgear (their pro models) and they do bog down when more than one device is connected. This switch is pricier but it is heads above other entry level gigabit switches.

This is pretty much the last switch you will ever need. It's a solid long term investment for your home network. Since it is a professional model it comes with a lifetime warranty.
 
If you look at reviews for the ds212j 50MB/s writes is all you can expect. It's very possible the limitation is your NAS.
 
I am using my Server 2012 as my NAS. I get with the R5 using WD Reds 3Tb around 100 MB/second. My network gear between the computer and server is just a D-link green 8 port switch. I was going to buy a NAS from Qnap but after seeing the prices, I decided just to use the money on hard drives for the server.
 
If you are looking at switching, I would take a good long hard look at the Mikrotik switches. I am running Nas4Free through a ~$79.00 Mikrotik 751G switch and can saturate gige with Nas4Free. I am just running WDGreen disks in that system on a i3. When I boot into windows I just have an iSCSI initiator and mount to the SAN directly from my desktop, it is fast fast fast!
 
Everyone's comments about better switches are valid, but your DIR-655 is fine. I used to own three, (one as a router, two as AP's) and they are just as good as any other dumb gigabit switch (100-110MB/s).

The problem isn't your switch, it's the NAS. If you're so concerned, sell the NAS on ebay, and buy a + version, or DIY NAS. The J series from Synology is the value line, and it's benchmarks are clearly shown on their website for what you can expect (you're very close to those numbers). Granted, the type of HD you have in a device does have some impact, but typically if it's a sequential transfer that is going slow, it's the NAS.

Replacing your DIR-655 is just wasting your money.

*EDIT - Also, don't focus on Jumbo Frames. I get 110MB/s with them off.
 
I have (had) a 1812+ Synology and a few FreeNas boxes and have never had an issue with speeds being below 100-110MB/s on large files. This is going through a cheap-o gig switch.

There were only two time I had disappointing speeds. The first is when I tried UnRaid and didn't see over 50MB/s and the second is when I was using a non-intel NIC.

I have had more issues with realtek NIC's than the Intel ones. My wife's computer would not consistently stream blu-ray rips without issues until I put in the intel NIC.
 
TType85 said:
I have (had) a 1812+ Synology and a few FreeNas boxes and have never had an issue with speeds being below 100-110MB/s on large files. This is going through a cheap-o gig switch.

There were only two time I had disappointing speeds. The first is when I tried UnRaid and didn't see over 50MB/s and the second is when I was using a non-intel NIC.

I have had more issues with realtek NIC's than the Intel ones. My wife's computer would not consistently stream blu-ray rips without issues until I put in the intel NIC.
Click to expand...

Ok, a lot of people said D-Link 655 router is not the culprit of slow speed. I'll replace current on-board intel NIC by a dedicated intel NIC card tonight and test once again.
If I see no improvement during testing, I assure you can my Synology NAS posted somewhere on eBay/ Craiglist :D
 
I built a FreeNAS box yesterday from an old i3-550 CPU, H55 motherboard, 8GB of generic DDR3, and 3x750GB drives in ZFS RAIDZ1. I just tested it now, I'm averaging about 100MB/sec. transfer speed both read and write (my workstation has SSDs so the read speed is accurate and not slowed by the limitations of mechanical hard drives). This is across 2 cheap unmanaged gigabit switches (a Netgear and a DLink) and using onboard NICs (both Realtek). I get some odd dips in transfer rate at times but overall speed is surprisingly good considering the NAS was built completely out of spare parts. Yesterday was the first time I had even *SEEN* FreeNAS let alone installed it so it is completely generic default, no optimizing at all other than picking ZFS. I am *NOT* using jumbo frames either. I was planning on getting an Intel NIC for the NAS and possibly one for my ESXi host (it also uses Realtek), now I'm reconsidering as it appears it won't make any difference now.

OP, it sure sounds to me like a slow NAS box problem. I've own a DNS-323 (a notoriously slow box) which maxed at 20MB/sec and a Thecus N5200 (the original one with the Celeron 600MHz CPU) which topped off at 35MB/sec read, 25MB/sec. write. I'm frankly amazed how much faster FreeNAS is even over my Windows 2008 Server (admittedly the drives in it are software RAID, but then again so is FreeNAS).

Extremely silly question: how are the drives set up on your NAS? If it's JBOD you can't get over 65MB/sec. no matter what you do, it's the limit of single mechanical hard drives at 7200rpm (15K drives don't count).
 
Last edited:
Don't be jealous.

filecopy.png


Took some time to optimize. 4k jumbo frames on workstation (Intel NIC) and NAS (Synology DS412).
 
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