[Samba] Optimizations for Speed on Gigabit Network

[Adam Williams]

> Can anyone tell me if the default installation of samba 2.2.8a (on Mandrake 
> 9.2) will give me the optimum throughput over my Gigabit Network? 
> I realize that there are many things that affect throughput on a network 
> (like the TCP/IP Receive Window, for instance -- or using a standard MTU of 1500 
> versus jumbo frames). But I also want to know if there is anything I can set in 
> the smb.conf file that will help me get the best throughput possible. 

Tweak settings and test with smbtorture.
ftp://ftp.kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/PerfTune2001.pdf

> My scenario is as follows. I have 6 users on Windows XP machines all running 
> a video editing program. All users need to access the same video files on my 
> Linux Machine (the files are stored on a fast raid array). 

I think the underlying filesystem could make a big difference.  Most
modern filesystems have a fair amount of tweakability themselves.   If
the files are large use a big block size.