Performance problems? (kinda long)

[Damon T. Miller]

Hello all!  First, let me apologize if this is painfully obvious; I searched
the list archives a few times and poked around the 'net, to no avail...

I'm having a wee problem with Samba's performance (speed) on a Linux 2.1.132
server.  Specifically, the server is working at about half the speed of an
NT machine.  The Samba server (running Redhat 5.2 w/ kernel 2.1.132) is
considerably faster than the NT machine, with a P-II 233, 64 MB RAM and U/W
SCSI hard drives.  The network is 100-Mbps ethernet--it's card is an Intel
Etherexpress Pro.

Here are some statistics:  On *read* operations, clients usually get about
2.5 MB/s from the Samba server, whereas they get about 4 MB/s from the NT
machine.  On *write* operations, the clients only get about 300 KB/s or so
(yikes!).

The clients are all Windows machines, mostly Windows 98.  I've tried
removing all protocols except for TCP, which has had *no* effect on
performance from the server...  When I use another Linux machine as a client
(smbclient), performance is a little better (~ 3 MB/s read, 700-1000 KB/s
write), but still not where it should be for a fast machine on a 100-Mbps...

Does anyone have any ideas?

I've included the server's 'smb.conf' file below.

Thanks so much and keep up the great work!

Damon

---- BEGIN:  smb.conf ----

#======================= Global Settings
=====================================
[global]

workgroup = HARMONIX
server string = Media Server
printcap name = /etc/printcap
load printers = yes
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 50
security = server
password server = NTSERVER

;  password level = 8
;  username level = 8

encrypt passwords = yes
smb passwd file = /etc/smbpasswd

;  username map = /etc/smbusers
;   include = /etc/smb.conf.%m

socket options = TCP_NODELAY

;   interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
;   remote browse sync = 192.168.3.25 192.168.5.255
;   remote announce = 192.168.1.255 192.168.2.44

local master = no

;   os level = 33
;   domain master = yes
;   preferred master = yes
;   domain controller = <NT-Domain-Controller-SMBName>
;   domain logons = yes
;   logon script = %m.bat
;   logon script = %U.bat
;   logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
;   name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast
;   wins support = yes
;   wins server = w.x.y.z
;   wins proxy = yes

dns proxy = no

;  preserve case = no
;  short preserve case = no
;  default case = lower
;  case sensitive = no

#============================ Share Definitions
==============================
[Temp]
   path = /media/temp
   public = yes
   only guest = yes
   writable = yes
   printable = no

---- END:  smb.conf ----


* Damon T. Miller			* Network Administrator
* Harmonix Music Systems, Inc	* http://www.harmonixmusic.com
* Cambridge, Massachusetts		* 617.491.6144  x117