Long: Samba is slow - researched but cannot find

Valentijn Sessink sessink at adsl-145-99-70-68.snelnet.nl
Thu Apr 29 11:01:46 GMT 1999


Hello everyone,

I have a Windows 95 machine 100TX-connected to a Linux samba. Speed is
extremely slow: about 1500Mbit per second. FTP-transfers show a normal
throughput: about 40 to 50 Mbit (which is normal, considering the
hardware). Please keep this in mind: ftp speed is _fast_ all the time,
so actually the hardware testing, tcp windowing stuff and all make no
sense (still, I tried).

Now _this_ is not your problem. The problem is, however, that a couple
of other messages in comp.protocols.smb showed the same bad performance,
with Linux and W95. I tried to figure out what's wrong, but have no
ideas (left).

My hardware:
Linux 2.0.35/K6-300/96Mb (append "mem=96M": yes)/8Gb drive/Samba
2.0.3/3c905TX. I also tried 1.9.18p10; I also tried a SCSI disk instead
of the 8M IDE; tried a second IDE drive, too.
Win95/Cyrix P200+/48Mb/1.2Gb/SMC9432 100TX card. There used to be a
3c905TX inside, I changed it (just to check). Jaz disk, but I also tried
the IDE.
(Changed cables once, too. It's a cat5 cross cable).

Other problems I heard of talk about kernel 2.2.6, 10Mbit cards (speed
10-60Kb/sec :-( and machines with equal hardware.

smb.conf is quite normal:
[global]
domain master = yes
netbios name = slw
netbios aliases = bezemkast
local master = yes
preferred master = yes
workgroup = SNELNET
read prediction = true
read size = 8192
getwd cache = yes
debug level = 0
server string = "Diverse aanbiedingen."
os level = 92
security = share
wins support = no
wins server = 145.99.70.<WINS>
max log size = 100
interfaces = 145.99.70.<THIS ONE>/28 (netmask ends .240, that's why)

I also tried various socket options, such as both windows and
TCP_NODELAY. [Actually I think this "tcp_nodelay" should *not* be in the
"speed.txt" file, since it only disables Nagle (AFAIK), so this has
nothing to do with LAN-wide networks. Yes, TCP_NODELAY could help *a
little bit* if you're on a highly trustable WAN, but for regular
Samba-users, this option has nothing to do with speed *at all*].

OK, then I started to suspect TCP window size in Windows 95, and guess
what: the KnowledgeMaze has information about it:  Windows ACK's every
other datagram, and also every (40ms I think) time another datagram
takes too long to receive. 
I tried tcpdump to see if I ran out of tcp window size. But no: Windows
reacts as stated: ACK's were received right after sending 2 datagrams
(both 1460 bytes), so the (default) 8670 size was never used up. I
changed the SO_READSIZE (or how's it called) to 32something, and changed
the Windows 95 size to the same value, to no avail. 

Windows 95 registry settings for tcp/ip:
http://technet.microsoft.com/cdonline/Content/Complete/PS/win95/technote/mstcpip.htm

smbd takes less than 5 % of the processor time, so that's not a problem
either. 

Anyone got a clue?

I'm not on the tech-list - hope that is not a problem.

Valentijn
-- 
Valentijn Sessink - valentyn&dds.nl
-
Email (o.; g.mv.) glasachtige, ondoorzichtige of transparante massa,
in een dunne laag aangebracht ter bedekking of versiering (brandverf)
van metalen, glazen en stenen voorwerpen en keramiek.
(Van Dale, 12e uitgave, 1992)


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