[Samba] Slow file listing : Debian Wheezy, Samba Version 3.6.6

[J Martin Rushton]

Hi,

I have come across something similar.  We had a large directory (several 
10s of thousand files) stored on a large Linux box which was migrated to 
a faster, but smaller memory (256 GiB -> 12 GiB) box.  The Windows users 
recorded unacceptable access times and ultimately we had to:
1) Break the large directory into several smaller ones, and
2) Move to a larger memory (128 Gib) machine.

What was happens is that Windows insists on opening each file to 
generate its thumbnail.  It does this one file at a time, so simply 
clicking on the directory in WE leads to (open, read, close )*number of 
files.  With a large memory the files will quite quickly be cached by 
the server, but with a smaller machine they are being fetched from disk.

In the present case I would look closely on the memory available on the 
server, remember that you are wanting to see buffer/cache optimised, not 
user memory.  I would also look at the size of the directories on the 
server.  I'm going to guess that your winbox has sufficient memory that 
once mapped it caches it locally, but discards this cache on WE close.

HTH,
Martin

On 29/02/16 18:58, Mattias Zhabinskiy wrote:
> Hello Richard,
>
> Not sure if it applies to your particular case, but I would try following. In windows explorer please right click on the mapped drive, select Properties, click on Customize tab and make sure that option "Optimize this folder for:" is set to "General Items", otherwise select it, check "Also apply this template to all subfolders" and click Apply.
>
> Also, you may want to disable "Show pop-up descriptions for folders and desktop items" in windows explorer.
>
> Regards,
> Matt
> ________________________________________
> From: samba <samba-bounces at lists.samba.org> on behalf of Richard <support at ritech.com.au>
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2016 5:03 PM
> To: samba at lists.samba.org
> Subject: [Samba] Slow file listing : Debian Wheezy, Samba Version 3.6.6
>
> Hi,
>
> I manage quite a few boxes that are identical in OS and Samba version.
> (Debian Wheezy, Samba version 3.6.6)
>
> I have one box, where each time you open windows explorer and click on
> the mapped network share, a line moves across the top of explorer and it
> takes around 30-40 seconds to display the directory listing.
>
> Once it has done this once, it is quick thereafter, until you close
> explorer and open it again later, then it is slow again.
>
> Can anyone give me some direction on where to search for the cause of
> this issue please ?
>
> --
> Best Regards,
>
> Richard Hatherly
> Ritech Computing Services
> 0411 459 507
>
>
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