CIFS performance and file locking

[cuuba]

Hi,

I really hope you guys can help me out - I'm experiencing some problems with my new setup, below are some technical details:

• running FreeNAS-8.3.1-RELEASE-p2-x64 (r12686+b770da6_dirty)
• HP Microserver, with AMD Turion(tm) II Neo N40L Dual-Core Processor and 2GB of RAM
• 2 x WD Caviar Green 2TB WD20EZRX.
• single ZFS mirror volume for a total of 1.8 TB available space (I have also tried UFS (which, if I'm correct should be faster on a system with 2GB of RAM) but the results were even worse
• single CIFS share, with anonymous access
• The server is connected using crossed-over Ethernet cable to my main workstation (temporary solution)

tl;dr: navigating the folders is very sluggish, server seems to be locking files without any reason.
Now the performance results from i.e. LAN Speed Test seem OK (writing 626 Mbps, reading 613 Mbps), but in reality working with the files is almost unbearable. I store mostly photos, both in .jpg and .nef, so majority of the files are between 1-15MB. While browsing the folders it will often freeze for a few seconds (even in relatively small folders). Copying files to the server - I get between a few MB/s in case of small files, up 38-45MB/s for large files. The results while reading are similar.

I would be OK with these speeds if it wasn't for navigating the folders, which feels like browsing 1.44MB floppy disk.

Furthermore, it seems that the server will lock some files without a reason. It makes moving/renaming the folders almost impossible, as I will most of the time get an error message saying that the file or folder is locked. I have tried unlocker and similar tools, and they all show no blocking processes running on my local workstation. And as I see it there is no reason why the server should keep the files locked - its not like there are other clients connected.

I don't know if that's simply what I should expect from a NAS solution - my experience so far was only with USB storage, which in retrospect, seem much faster and smoother, even on USB 2.0. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve performance and get rid of this file locking.

 

[budmannxx]

Sounds like you tl;dr the manual. You don't have enough RAM, and you ignored the sticky which talks about your problem at the top of the very section you posted this in.

 

[cuuba]

I should have mentioned it but I did read the sticky and I have tried all suggestions from it, different tunables, CIFS parameters and network optimization. All had minimal impact on the performance. I plan on installing more RAM soon, and hope it will help.

I haven't found the file locking issue anywhere in the manual - at least not in the context of single user/workstation.

 

[cyberjock]

And why exactly are you convinced its a file locking issue? I've seen no evidence of file locking being a problem. But I could find about 100 threads of evidence that having too little RAM(even with 4GB) leads to erratic server behavior, poor performance, and all around unhappy admins.

Edit: Just for the record.. file locking via Samba is controlled entirely in RAM. So what you are really saying is that somehow file locking via RAM is ... slow?

 

[cuuba]

I'm not sure if I understand you... Why am I sure its a file locking issue? Because when I try to move/rename/delete files I get an error message saying they're locked. And tools running on my local workstation such as Unlocker and Lockhunter show no local processes currently blocking the file. Yet the file is still locked - that's the issue.