[Samba] Samba transfer performance

Sat Aug 14 14:30:54 UTC 2021

From: Thaddeus Waldner <thadwald at hotmail.com<mailto:thadwald at hotmail.com>>
Subject: [Samba] Samba transfer performance
Date: August 13, 2021 at 2:09:00 PM CDT
To: "samba at lists.samba.org<mailto:samba at lists.samba.org>" <samba at lists.samba.org<mailto:samba at lists.samba.org>>

Hello all,

I am setting up a Samba file server for use in a school. I need help with getting better transfer speeds between machines.

The file server runs on an ESXi VM. I have a second Ubuntu VM set up on the same host for testing. The VM has two teamed 10Gb fiber channels to the LAN switch. I also have a Mac connected with 10Gb ethernet.

Both VMs run Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Samba 4.14 from the van-belle.nl<http://van-belle.nl><http://van-belle.nl> repository. I have a single share configured on the file server and mounted on the test machines

I have done the following tests;
An iperf test gives me about 9.5Gb/s to the Mac and 15Gb/s to the second VM on the server (traffic is routed through the vSwitch directly to the second VM).

A dd read/write test on the file server gives me about 450MB/s.
An hdparm test gives me about 8500MB/s cached, and 850MB/s buffered.

However, when I mount a share on either the Mac or the VM, the transfer speeds tops out at about 120MB/s. I expected about 4 to8 times that speed.

Are my expectations reasonable? What else can I try?

Thaddeus Waldner

From: Rowland Penny <rpenny at samba.org<mailto:rpenny at samba.org>>
Subject: Re: [Samba] Samba transfer performance
Date: August 13, 2021 at 2:16:04 PM CDT
To: samba at lists.samba.org<mailto:samba at lists.samba.org>

On Fri, 2021-08-13 at 19:09 +0000, Thaddeus Waldner via samba wrote:
Hello all,

I am setting up a Samba file server for use in a school. I need help
with getting better transfer speeds between machines.

The file server runs on an ESXi VM. I have a second Ubuntu VM set up
on the same host for testing. The VM has two teamed 10Gb fiber
channels to the LAN switch. I also have a Mac connected with 10Gb
ethernet.

Both VMs run Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Samba 4.14 from the van-belle.nl<http://van-belle.nl><
http://van-belle.nl> repository. I have a single share configured on
the file server and mounted on the test machines

I have done the following tests;
An iperf test gives me about 9.5Gb/s to the Mac and 15Gb/s to the
second VM on the server (traffic is routed through the vSwitch
directly to the second VM).

A dd read/write test on the file server gives me about 450MB/s.
An hdparm test gives me about 8500MB/s cached, and 850MB/s buffered.

However, when I mount a share on either the Mac or the VM, the
transfer speeds tops out at about 120MB/s. I expected about 4 to8
times that speed.

Are my expectations reasonable? What else can I try?

Before anyone can comment, we need to see your smb.conf.

Please post the output of 'testparm -s’

Rowland

Here is my smb.conf. I failed to mention that this is a domain controller. I plan to eventually join a dedicated file server to the domain.

Load smb config files from /etc/samba/smb.conf
Loaded services file OK.
Weak crypto is allowed

Server role: ROLE_ACTIVE_DIRECTORY_DC

# Global parameters
[global]
dns forwarder = 8.8.8.8
interfaces = 10.1.10.2;capability=RSS,speed=10000000000
passdb backend = samba_dsdb
realm = NDS.SCHOOL.COM<http://NDS.SCHOOL.COM>
server min protocol = SMB3
server multi channel support = Yes
server role = active directory domain controller
template homedir = /home/%U
template shell = /bin/bash
workgroup = NDS
rpc_server:tcpip = no
rpc_daemon:spoolssd = embedded
rpc_server:spoolss = embedded
rpc_server:winreg = embedded
rpc_server:ntsvcs = embedded
rpc_server:eventlog = embedded
rpc_server:srvsvc = embedded
rpc_server:svcctl = embedded
rpc_server:default = external
winbindd:use external pipes = true
fruit:delete_empty_adfiles = yes
fruit:wipe_intentionally_left_blank_rfork = yes
fruit:zero_file_id = yes
fruit:posix_rename = yes
fruit:veto_appledouble = no
fruit:model = MacSamba
fruit:metadata = stream
idmap_ldb:use rfc2307 = yes
idmap config * : backend = tdb
map archive = No
vfs objects = dfs_samba4 acl_xattr fruit streams_xattr

[sysvol]
path = /var/lib/samba/sysvol
read only = No

[netlogon]
path = /var/lib/samba/sysvol/nds.newdaleschool.com/scripts<http://nds.newdaleschool.com/scripts>
read only = No

[home]
path = /srv/home
read only = No
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[students]
path = /srv/students
read only = No
spotlight backend = elasticsearch
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[staff]
path = /srv/staff
read only = No
spotlight backend = elasticsearch
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[Backups]
path = /srv/backups
read only = No
vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
fruit:time machine = yes
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[students]
path = /srv/students
read only = No
spotlight backend = elasticsearch
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[staff]
path = /srv/staff
read only = No
spotlight backend = elasticsearch
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes

[Backups]
path = /srv/backups
read only = No
vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
fruit:time machine = yes
acl_xattr:ignore system acl = yes