NAS stops transferring "big" files

[andershb]

Hello guys!

Around half a year ago I set up one of my old computers with FreeNAS (I've been running freenas 1 year prior on another system). The build is not the best pure freenas build, but sometimes you have to make something out of what you have laying around.

So, I built this NAS to act as a archive storage for my RED/media footage and media projects. It only runs at 1gbit link, so working from it isn't something I consider as of now. However, I have a annoying problem while transferring files to the NAS.

Let's say I grab one project folder, which contains around 600gb and avarage RED file is around ~3-4gigs I can start transfer, everything looks great. After a certain amount of time (can be 10 min, can be 1 hour, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all, but it almost always do) I get a error message on my computer something around these lines: "A network error occured, Please try again". The transfer drops, goes from ~100mb/s to nothing. When I click retry, it starts where it left off, like nothing ever happend, with a big chance of popping back up after some time.

I think it's filling up somekind of cache or I've just missed out something in the config. I tried searching for the issue but I couldn't find anything relevant. It's annoying since I usually do this by night.

Could it be hardware limited as in too little ram etc?

The specs:
OS Version:
FreeNAS-11.2-U5
(Build Date: Jun 24, 2019 18:41)
Processor:
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 cores)
Memory:
14 GiB
HostName:
freenas.local
Uptime:
12:53AM up 54 days, 18:25, 0 users

FreeNAS runs on a 16GB usb thumbdrive from an USB interface.

Network card: TP-link TG-3468
Four different type of disks (yes i know that is not the best thing) put up in ZFS Pool to create "one drive". Creating pr now 6TB of storage.

Reason I come up with this now, is that I have 50tb of new disks (all the same brand, sizing, rpm etcetc) that I want to put to use, and I want to actually use my NAS in a better way then I do now.

If a fix is to slow the transfer rate or something, I'm kindof OK with that, but I have 10gbit link in mind before this year is done.
Regarding redundency questions: All projects and footage is also on external drives, so the NAS is really a 2nd backup/archive.

If I haven't provided enough system info or info in general, would be cool if someone told me what you need and how to get it. I'll provide screenshots when this happens next time.


Best regards and thanks in advance =)

 

[sretalla]

Network card: TP-link TG-3468

This could be your problem.

The only NIC drivers really supported are Intel. If anything else works, it's good luck, but I wouldn't put any faith in it and I think you're seeing issues with the driver there.

If you get the same problem from an Intel NIC, I'm sure you'll get help from the forums.

 

[andershb]

This could be your problem.

The only NIC drivers really supported are Intel. If anything else works, it's good luck, but I wouldn't put any faith in it and I think you're seeing issues with the driver there.

If you get the same problem from an Intel NIC, I'm sure you'll get help from the forums.

Alright, will try it out. Do you know it's for a specific reason that the only NIC supported is Intel?

 

[sretalla]

The recommended hardware (server type boards) tend to come with Intel NICs onboard. These are also considered reference cards and have good offload features to ensure the NIC does all the work without stressing the CPU.

 

[Ericloewe]

Do you know it's for a specific reason that the only NIC supported is Intel?

Nobody else makes a decent GbE NIC. Realtek is trash, but the drivers are generally mature enough for things to work most of the time. Broadcom is probably not too bad, but the drivers are trash. Killer is crap and has a crap driver. Etc...

 

[andershb]

Alright, so took some time, as always.. Intel NIC installed, shows up and is set-up all good. Transfered a folder containing approx. 180gb .R3D (Red epic RAW clips), working like a charm. Started transfering a new folder containing around 90gig of .R3D clips, and now it seems like I'm still struggling again with the same issue.
I'm now getting the "An unexpected network error occurred" in Windows.
Everything seems good with the server, no errors whatsoever, and the filesize on each clip is around 3.6gigs..
Anyone with any ideas?

 

[sretalla]

I'm now getting the "An unexpected network error occurred" in Windows.

Could it be that you're filling up some kind of buffer in Windows?
If you're not really worried about the error on its own, are you able to get the transfer to complete using robocopy?

 

[andershb]

Could it be that you're filling up some kind of buffer in Windows?
If you're not really worried about the error on its own, are you able to get the transfer to complete using robocopy?

I wrote this when it started again, and happend 3-5 times in a row, but after hitting "retry" it suddenly just worked.
The NIC itself works good. Not worried about the actual error, it's just irritating.

 

[Yorick]

When this happens, do you see an smbd core in /var/db/system/cores ? That's a long shot, and, it's possible smbd dies, restarts itself. That would fit with the symptom you have.

 

[andershb]

Checked the folder, only file listing there is syslog-ng.core. I see as well that I struggle a little bit to access the UI/page when it drops.. Also checked out some related problems other users have had with win10 regarding this (disable fw, antivirus etc) but doesnt seem to help. Is there any way to do a debug within freenas somehow? The weird part for me is basically that (right now I'm copying a folder with around 360gig all together) first 10 minutes, I get the speed dropping, and that network error. But after the message a few times, it just runs fine. Like nothing have happend.

 

[Tacoman]

I ran into this issue myself. Trying to copy large files from truenas to another location. I've had a good stable system with over 200 days uptime. Doing one or two large files at a time no issues. I queue up a bunch and it has a meltdown and sometimes hardlocks truenas. I tried it with a different destination and workstation I initiated the copy from. I also tried the onboard broadcom NIC and backup Intel NIC on truenas. I think there's something in windows filecopy that truenas does not like. I finally ended up using terracopy for the copy job and didn't have any issues.