Very slow (~2KB/s) network file transfer of files bigger than a specific size

tsoj

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Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
8
I built a small home samba server. It had acceptable network speeds (lower bound for transfer capacity is ~20 MB/s, most likely limited by my WIFI connection).
I can't pinpoint the exact point when it started to become slow, but at the time I did experiments with some rsync configurations where I copied multiple times lots of files to the FreeNAS server (500'000 or more files, 40GB or more).

I played around with this command:
Code:
truncate -s 132002 testfile.txt && scp ./testfile.txt myuser@freenas:/tmp/ 

What I found is that the transfer speed is ~3MB/s when the testfile.txt is truncated to 132002 bytes or less and if truncated to 132003 bytes or more it is very slow (~2KB/s)

As far as I remember I didn't change any settings in the web GUI other than creating a pool, creating a number of datasets, users, samba shares, and ACL rules. Also two cronjob SMART test, disabling SMART on standby hard drives, setting the HDD standby time to 60 min, setting the HDD power level to Minimum, setting the HDD acoustic level to as quiet as possible.

I disabled all services, except for SMART and ssh and tried restarting the system. (didn't help)

System is:
Code:
FreeNAS-11.3-U4.1
Motherboard: ASRock J4105B-ITX
RAM: 1x Crucial CT8G4SFS8266 8GB
HDD: 2x WD WD80EFAX Red 8TB (Mirror pool)
Boot drive: USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1 16GB mirrored with Intenso Speed Line 16GB
(using on-board network card)


I also tried accessing the FreeNAS machine from another computer but it didn't help. What could be the source of this problem?
 

tsoj

Cadet
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
8
So it seems like this same issue happens with another Linux OS instead of FreeNAS so it might be a hardware failure. Anyway, if someone has any idea about this, I would be still happy.
 

JaimieV

Guru
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
742
The on-board network card is a Realtek RTL8111H, which I don't know anything negative about but just noting here for more educated guesses.
 

sretalla

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Jan 1, 2016
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That equates to around 128 Kbytes. Perhaps packets smaller than that are not offloaded to the card for processing.

Have a look at the setting for Network | Interfaces | That interface | Edit, then play with the setting for "Disable Hardware Offloading" and see if it makes a difference.
 

tsoj

Cadet
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
8
Was most likely a problem with the Speedport W 724V Router. The problem affected all machines connected via ethernet. I just noticed it now because usually, I have all machines connected over WIFI. And WIFI always worked. I restarted the router and it seems like the issue has been resolved. In hindsight, I should have thought about it way earlier.
 
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