[Samba] Re: Samba running slow

[Sherwood Botsford]

Salman Moghal wrote:
>
> I should have kept reading through the samba archive online.  There 
> was a similar, very recent, reported problem:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/linux.samba/browse_frm/thread/8bf6e9791ae9b3cd/0a038c363be7ba2a#0a038c363be7ba2a 
>
>
> After adding these lines in smb.conf, copying a file over samba share 
> was lightening fast (just as fast as over FTP/HTTP connection):
>
> socket options = TCP_NODELAY
> oplocks = no
> level2 oplocks = no
>
> My eventual goal is to be able to play mp3 and movies over LAN.  And 
> I've run into the same problem with streaming a file across (as 
> mentioned in the thread) -- streaming a file is very choppy.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>

IP generally is choppy.  If you want to do this right, I think you need 
switches that understand quality of service flags -- and then you have 
to set those on the appropriate packets from your samba server.

However in many cases the MP3 / Video players have an adjustment for how 
large a buffer cache to run ahead before starting to play.  Having a 
buffer  that is sized to be 10-30 seconds of playing time will help a 
lot for this.

Also look at your bandwidth.

Run iostat on your server.  A 100 mbit (fast ethernet) connection 
typically will get you 3-7 Mbytes per second.  If you're well under 
this, then the ethernet isn't the bottleneck.  You don't mention if you 
have gigabit everywhere, and have the ethernet infrastructure to support 
it.  If you have gigabit to the switch, and fast ethernet to the 
desktop, you should be able to make streaming video work well.

You may want to look for specific software to handle streaming -- If you 
do it as multicast, then multiple users who want the same stream don't 
tie up your server nearly as much.

Of course I could be wrong about all this.  Your milage may varry.