[Samba] extreme performance requirements

Stephen Kühn stephen.kuhn at gmx.net
Tue Aug 24 22:01:53 GMT 2004


On Wed, 2004-08-25 at 06:56, John McCain wrote:
> We are trying to use Samba to serve as a file server to support an
> application requiring relatively low absolute bandwidth, but extremely low
> latency (think voice over IP).  We find that while Samba (with Linux)
> gives very good performance compared to windows, we find that as time
> progresses, minimum latency seems to step up while under load from our
> application.  It is almost as if the server is trying to throttle the
> session.  Our application will eventually fail due to this increasing
> latency.
> 
> We have tried this with 2.6 and 2.4 kernels (Mandrake 10 and 9.2,
> repectively), with the packaged versions of Samba that come with those
> distros.
> 
> Does anyone know anything we could try?
> 
> Thanks.

In having quite some experience with Samba on MDK, I have found that
making use of hdparm to test/tune the drives ends up being the way to
get the best performance out of the system; as well, editing the
/etc/sysconfig/harddisks config file assists in performance as well.
Once you've found the best params for your drive(s) and have rebooted
the machine, you may find that you have quite a boost in your levels of
performance.

Something to also consider is the filesystem type that you're using;
with MDK, ReiserFS seems to be the best for overall performance (and for
recovery).

HTH.

--
stephen kuhn - proprietor
__________________________________________________________________
illawarra computer services :: a kuhn media australia venture
http://kma.0catch.com  :: mobile 0410.728.389
Serving Sydney, The Illawarra, South Coast and Rural NSW
__________________________________________________________________
  * This message was composed on a 100% Microsoft free computer *
  We expressly refuse to utilise Microsoft DRM encoded documents
__________________________________________________________________
  Mandrake GNU/Linux 10.0 OE/Kernel 2.6.3-7/ No Viruses here. 

There are some things worth dying for. -- Kirk, "Errand of Mercy",
stardate 3201.7



More information about the samba mailing list