Extremely low performance over media bridge

[Zachi]

Hi guys,

This is my first FreeNAS build, so bear with me... :)

Hardware:
Intel DH77DF motherboard
Intel core i5 3.5GHz CPU
16GB DRAM
4 x WD 3TB Red (plugged to onboard 2 x SATA2 and 2 x SATA3 headers)

FreeNAS setup:
Latest version (as of Feb. 23, 2014) - 9.2.1.1
RAIDz1 (for about 8TB of total effective storage)
Using CIFS (got several Windows boxes at home, as well as macbook, so CIFS looked best bet)
No encryption
No compression
No Dedup

Network connection:
This is where I am a bit un-orthodox, I think. I am connecting the onboard Gig Ethernet to a TRENDnet TEW-800MB Media Bridge. This is essentially a GigE to WiFi bridge.
I have a very strong and stable link to my router at 230 Mbps (over 5GHz connection).

Test method:
Very non-scientific... I am transferring a large 1GB file from my Windows 7 laptop to the FreeNAS box as follows:
Win 7 laptop -> router (over wifi) -> TRENDnet TEW-800MB (over wifi) -> FreeNAS (over 1Gbit Ethernet)
The Win 7 laptop is very strong connection to router at 450 Mbps.
As mentioned before - the TEW-800MB connected at 230 Mbps to router. Very strong signal.

Performance:
File is being copied at 5.5 MB/s - that is not a typo! less than 6 MB/s...

I realize I am not going to get 95 MB/s due to wifi and all, but still - I would expect the bottleneck to be the connection between the media bridge and my router, and that bottleneck should be around 25 MB/s (230 Mbps).

ANY help is VERY welcome guys!

Thanks in advance,
Zachi.

 

[eraser]

Well first thing I would do is start at "the bottom" and rule out your network as the cause of the problem. Use iperf to test your raw network speed.

iperf is already installed on FreeNAS. You can download iperf for Windows from here: https://code.google.com/p/iperf-cygwin/downloads/list

 

[cyberjock]

No, that bottleneck is NOT going to be 25MB/sec. Your unorthodox approach to your network is your entire problem. ;)

That's theoretical throughput in best-case, in a lab, no interference from anything else in the vicinity. Reality is nothing even remotely close to that. Just by the fact you are using wifi, you should never ever dare complain about speeds. ;) It will suck. It will be intermittent. It will sometimes have NO signal despite the fact it worked fine 5 minutes ago. Accept that or get rid of it.

Now, with that over with, you have 2 choices. Either accept that your connection is what it is(frankly I consider that speed to be fairly normal for using wifi hardware) or go to a wired connection.

To be brutally honest, nobody here is going to even think about trying to troubleshoot any performance problems with your setup as long as you are using a wifi bridge. Getting 10MB/sec is almost impossible unless your endpoints are next to the hotspot. And let's be honest.. if your endpoint(the server) were next to the hotspot(the other end of your wifi bridge) you wouldn't be running wifi would you? :P

So yeah, either accept that crap speed as reality or go to wired LAN. :(

You're lucky I even read this. When I saw "media bridge" I already know what you were going to complain about before I even looked at the thread. Wifi is NOT a good method for data transfer. It's a convenience technology and not a performance technology.

 

[Zachi]

No, that bottleneck is NOT going to be 25MB/sec. Your unorthodox approach to your network is your entire problem. ;)

But it is so boring to go with the stream ;-)

That's theoretical throughput in best-case, in a lab, no interference from anything else in the vicinity. Reality is nothing even remotely close to that. Just by the fact you are using wifi, you should never ever dare complain about speeds. ;) It will suck. It will be intermittent. It will sometimes have NO signal despite the fact it worked fine 5 minutes ago. Accept that or get rid of it.

I disagree that is a theoretical throughput. The media bridge is capable of 867 Mbps - that is the theoretical "in the lab" speed... My 230 Mbps is quite real as far as I can tell.

Now, with that over with, you have 2 choices. Either accept that your connection is what it is(frankly I consider that speed to be fairly normal for using wifi hardware) or go to a wired connection.

To be brutally honest, nobody here is going to even think about trying to troubleshoot any performance problems with your setup as long as you are using a wifi bridge. Getting 10MB/sec is almost impossible unless your endpoints are next to the hotspot. And let's be honest.. if your endpoint(the server) were next to the hotspot(the other end of your wifi bridge) you wouldn't be running wifi would you? :p

So yeah, either accept that crap speed as reality or go to wired LAN. :(

Unfortunately, I live in a rental condo, so running the wired LAN in the walls is not an option (I realize that's the best option). Neither is running a CAT-5 cable down the staircase to the router...

You're lucky I even read this. When I saw "media bridge" I already know what you were going to complain about before I even looked at the thread. Wifi is NOT a good method for data transfer. It's a convenience technology and not a performance technology.

I am very grateful for your reply. Really.

I am definitely going to hook my laptop directly to the FreeNAS box later tonight, and see what is the transfer speed over a wired LAN.
Again, that would be useful reference point, but not a solution to my problem :(
BTW, do you consider powerline adapters (Ethernet over power lines) "wired" or "wireless" ?!
I can try one of those powerline kits, and see if I get any better performance (after verifying with direct link I get reasonable good speeds).

Thanks again,
Zachi.

 

[HoneyBadger]

But it is so boring to go with the stream ;-)

Boring, but stable.

BTW, do you consider powerline adapters (Ethernet over power lines) "wired" or "wireless" ?!
I can try one of those powerline kits, and see if I get any better performance (after verifying with direct link I get reasonable good speeds).

Somewhere in the middle. Living in a condo you may have a whole lot of interference on the 802.11 spectrum (both 2.4 and 5GHz) just due to density, but you might have shared power wiring. Your mileage will vary greatly by personal setup; best I can say is "try it."

What you have to understand about wireless, powerline, phone jack etc is that they are all a shared medium system, be it the air or the power lines. So right out of the gate, cut that peak speed in half - 230Mbps becomes 115Mbps. Then add in any local interference on either of those bands (microwave oven, anyone?) and you can hurt it more. Getting the speeds you're getting over wireless is actually pretty respectable, sadly.

Go with the suggestion made by @eraser and download iperf so you can remove the SMB/CIFS protocol from the limitation and just blast packets to see if it's a link quality issue. If you get significantly closer to the theoretical max, look at FreeNAS a little closer - if you still only get 5-6MB/s, sorry to say you're being detained for trying to break the Laws of Physics.

 

[Zachi]

Just plugged my laptop using cable to the NAS box, and it seems like my root problem has nothing to do with WIFI after all.
Writing a 1GB file to the FreeNAS box fluctuates between 11 and 12 MB/s. That is horrible performance, and WIFI is totally out of the equation now!

What do I do next?

 

[cyberjock]

I disagree that is a theoretical throughput. The media bridge is capable of 867 Mbps - that is the theoretical "in the lab" speed... My 230 Mbps is quite real as far as I can tell.

And can you explain how you came up with this "as far as you can tell" number? Because as far as I can tell your limit appears to be 5-6MB/sec. ;)

Just plugged my laptop using cable to the NAS box, and it seems like my root problem has nothing to do with WIFI after all.
Writing a 1GB file to the FreeNAS box fluctuates between 11 and 12 MB/s. That is horrible performance, and WIFI is totally out of the equation now!

What do I do next?

Ok. And that's almost certainly 100Mb LAN. ;)

Before you argue that you don't have 100Mb LAN and you are all Gigabit, go check the connections. Someone tried to disagree with me on this last week. They he came back and admitted that the cable from his server to the LAN was only negotiating at 100Mb because the tip on one end of the cable he made wasn't made right. Whoops!

But yeah, 100Mb LAN will give you 11-12MB/sec, which just so happens to be what you are getting. Seen that number enough on these forums to know what that number means. ;)

Anyway, I don't see how you can tell me that the "root of your problem" has nothing to do with wifi. You just told me that your wifi is 5-6MB/sec and your LAN connection was 11-12MB/sec. So your wifi is going at 1/2 the speed of your wired connection. Sure sounds like your server wasn't your bottleneck since 6MB/sec < 12MB/sec. Now if your wifi was also 12MB/sec, then you might have a point. But your wifi was still your problem in my book. But feel free to fix your 100Mb issue and see how things change.

 

[Zachi]

Ok. And that's almost certainly 100Mb LAN. ;)

Before you argue that you don't have 100Mb LAN and you are all Gigabit, go check the connections. Someone tried to disagree with me on this last week. They he came back and admitted that the cable from his server to the LAN was only negotiating at 100Mb because the tip on one end of the cable he made wasn't made right. Whoops!

But yeah, 100Mb LAN will give you 11-12MB/sec, which just so happens to be what you are getting. Seen that number enough on these forums to know what that number means. ;)

I was not going to argue - seeing 11-12MB/s, the first thing to come to mind was "that looks like 100Mbps, not 1Gbps performance"!
Anyhow, I have checked both cables used (FreeNAS <--> switch, Laptop <--> switch), and they are both CAT 5E. I have disconnected, re-connected, and look and behold... 90-95 MB/s. Woohoo! :)

Since, unfortunately, running a CAT5 cable is not a feasible option for me, I would try:
1. Use a 2nd ASUS RT-AC66U router, in bridge mode.
2. Use powerline kit.

Hopefully, with any of those 2 options, I can get 20-25 MB/s... Wishful thinking, I know... ;)

I will update the thread later, for the benefit of whoever might run across it, and would want to know the outcome.

Thanks for all the help cyberjock! Much appreciated.

Zachi.

 

[joelmusicman]

As a point of comparison, I have a Linksys AC 1300 (which in theory is faster than gigabit wired connection) to a Haswell MBP. 10 ft from the access point, I get about 25MB/s. This is in a condo complex, and my laptop can see about 25 different WAPs. Wired gigabit averages 90-110 MB/s.

So to answer your question, if you run 802.11AC on both ends, you can probably get there depending on spec, interference, distance, etc.

 

[cyberjock]

10 feet? Wow.. that's really crappy. I mean, if your server was just 10 feet from a network switch, you'd probably choose to use wired LAN instead. :P

Thanks for the info joelmusicman.

 

[joelmusicman]

Yeah, but I prefer not to have a bunch of cables sticking out of my super-cool silver laptop with a glowing fruit on the back of it! That's what my PC is for.

Besides that, I'd have to buy this too...

 

[cyberjock]

Glowing fruit! Your laptop is clearly radioactive! Mail it to this address with power cord and accessories so I can properly dispose if it for you...

 

[Zachi]

cyberjock - you're a funny guy :)

joelmusicman - I have just got a 2nd ASUS RT-AC66U and configured it as a media bridge. Placed it 10 feet from main router, and at 5GHz they connect at 1.1Gbps! Great. Right?
well...... not really :(
So, setup now:
Laptop (with 802.11n) -> main router (10 feet away, 450 Mbps) -> 2nd router acting as media bridge (10 feet away from 1st router, 1.1Gbps) -> FreeNAS (1Gbps CAT5E cable).
drum roll..... 5 MB/s :(

disable wireless on laptop, and wired connection to the 2nd router (media bridge) -> 90+ MB/s

No idea WTF is the problem, but I am close to throwing in the towel :(

will try powerline, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[cyberjock]

Powerline will usually do better than wifi. But, that's no guarantee that it will. YMMV.

But now you see why I said before...

You're lucky I even read this. When I saw "media bridge" I already know what you were going to complain about before I even looked at the thread. Wifi is NOT a good method for data transfer. It's a convenience technology and not a performance technology.

I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything. It's just so well known around here we roll our eyes when someone complains about poor performance and they aren't using wired Gb or 10Gb LAN.

Not to sound demeaning, but its like you putting sugar in your vehicle's gas tank thinking it should go faster, then complaining when the engine won't start. Everyone knows that, and you are behind the power curve. We've discussed it to death and there's no reason we need to hash it out again.

Good luck in whatever choice you make. ;)

 

[joelmusicman]

With Wifi just as with wired, your speed is only as fast as the weakest link. In this case, I think it's your laptop, so unless you have AC on both your router and laptop youll be stuck at N speeds (which you're at now).

Also, I'm still not really understanding why you need a wireless router -> router bridge to connect the NAS to the rest of your network. If it's across a hallway or living room, you could always use a cheap ebay cable to make a run out of the way...

 

[joelmusicman]

whoops, the cable I linked is NOT 5E. Unlinked original to avoid confusion.

This one is gigabit capable...

 

[Zachi]

cyberjock - I have never thought you were a jerk ;)

musicman - I know it won't be faster than the weakest link. The NAS box is across the room only temporarily for running some tests. Its normal place is in a different room, on the 2nd floor, with a floor in between that I suspect is made of concrete.
I would have invested in a USB dongle to get faster WIFI on laptop, but it seems that won't help much...
You guys were right. The thing that is killing me:
I have connected the laptop with a cable to the router, so the ONLY wireless link is router <--> media bridge, and that link (10 feet away) is 1.157 Gbps, and still I get 10-11 MB/s.
so frustrating :(

I will test powerline next, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[eraser]

I recommend using iperf to test raw network speeds rather then testing CIFS transfer speeds.

 

[joelmusicman]

If you think the wifi link is slow now, wait until you move it to its final destination... Higher wavelengths like 5.8GHz don't penetrate thru obstacles very well at all, so your performance will likely suffer. If performance is important, I highly recommend running a cable.

Heck, you could probably put an ad on Craigslist and have someone install a cable in your wall for $50-100 or so including materials (Make sure to ask for Cat 6). Then you could probably return the MediaBridge and come out even anyway.

 

[Zachi]

eraser - your recommendation is understood, but I already know that with wired connection I get 90-100 MB/s (CIFS file transfer), so that is my practical real-life scenario reference.

musicman - I know it would be even worse at final location. I actually started there, moving to 10-feet away with clear line of sight, just to see what;s the best I could hope for (with WIFI)... Your Craigslist recommendation is excellent (why did I think of that?! ) - I will look into it, and definitely go for CAT6 if that project takes off!