Issues copying large number of files

[kriswithak]

I recently got my first freeNAS set up. I'm running the most current version of 8.3.1 x64.

I configured my DNS and AD, set up my volumes, CIFS (smb) shares, and set my permissions. All good.

I have 4 drives: One 160gb UFS | One 4tb UFS | Two 160gb mirror ZFS w/ ZIL on 16gb flash | Two 40gb mirror ZFS w/ ZIL on 16gb flash.

I'm able to read/write/modify/delete with my users and groups at each client just fine, however, when I began copying over our "Public Drive", I had some issues. Copying from root did nothing. No error or anything. Copying a few folders at a time works. Copying a folder with a huge folder structure inside, doesn't work however.

I attempted to do it by copying the entire file-structure from the device's root, like I would from one NTFS drive to another. The device the old "Public Drive" is shared from is an ext. USB 160gb fireproof/waterproof hard drive. It is shared over the network, but I copied it from the machine it is actually attached to, but over SMB. I rebooted everything and played with permissions and things. I think I might try copying from CMD next to see what happens.

Question: Does freenas have a limitation on file-folder structures? Perhaps copying a large structure isn't allowed, because it could corrupt values or something of that nature, or am I experiencing an actual problem I should be troubleshooting?

Currently I am copying a handful of folders at a time, but I expected I'd be able to grab everything and just move it over via SMB. Is that not the case? Also, I'm trying to avoid connecting the device directly to the NAS for an import, because I don't want to bring the drive down during business hours. This way keeps my downtime low.

 

[joeschmuck]

Okay first let me say that I appreciate you listing most of your system configuration as requested in the forum rules, and in your case I think it will be key in isolating your problem, like maybe the ZIL. Please list your CPU and RAM info.

Question: Does freenas have a limitation on file-folder structures? Perhaps copying a large structure isn't allowed, because it could corrupt values or something of that nature, or am I experiencing an actual problem I should be troubleshooting?

There is no limitation.

I highly recommend that you run MemTest86+ on your system for 3 complete passes. I had a problem recently where only when I was transferring a huge amount of data quickly that it would bomb out. I had memory stability issues. The other thing could be your ZIL. If I read you post correctly you have a ZIL located on a FLASH drive (two of them)? Could you explain exactly what type of drive this is. If this is a USB Flash drive then you have the wrong idea of what a ZIL is for and that is likely causing your problems, or maybe I misunderstand.

-Joe

 

[kriswithak]

Okay first let me say that I appreciate you listing most of your system configuration as requested in the forum rules, and in your case I think it will be key in isolating your problem, like maybe the ZIL. Please list your CPU and RAM info.

There is no limitation.

I highly recommend that you run MemTest86+ on your system for 3 complete passes. I had a problem recently where only when I was transferring a huge amount of data quickly that it would bomb out. I had memory stability issues. The other thing could be your ZIL. If I read you post correctly you have a ZIL located on a FLASH drive (two of them)? Could you explain exactly what type of drive this is. If this is a USB Flash drive then you have the wrong idea of what a ZIL is for and that is likely causing your problems, or maybe I misunderstand.

-Joe

Thank you very much for your quick reply! I perused the forums a little and saw how important specs were. I should have included the CPU and RAM, here you are:

CPU: 3.24ghz x64
Ram: 2gb

I knew the Ram was a bit below spec... I am ordering more ram today. I was hoping 2gb would be enough to get it set-up.


I did use the ZIL on two actual flash drives... after reading your response I did more research and realized my mistake. I change those drives to UFS this morning. I did not have any luck with copying a large file-folder structure after changing it tho. Copying via Windows over SMB still would not do anything, no error either.

I have not checked any logs yet - My first step into freeNAS was 24 hours ago, with minimal (~6hours) research prior. Still need to familiarize myself with it.

UPDATE:
Before doing a memtest or hunting down my logs, I just tried doing a Xcopy from root in CMD on the Windows machine, copying from local path to FQN path. So far... it's working brilliantly. I can't fathom why it wouldn't then work in the normal Windows Explorer... the machine I am copying from has 16gb of ram.

Just had a thought: part of the reason I am changing to NAS is because we began experiencing some Corruption issues. We have a shared public drive that 5-6 people access daily, and work directly off the files stored on the drive. This has worked fine for a couple years, but traffic has increased. Anyways--> I noticed if a group of folders wouldn't copy, and I tried copying a few folders at a time, that I would come across one that was corrupted and had to skip. Then, during xcopy, out of 14,000 files or so, 2 errored and xcopy returned Corrupt warning on them.

I'm wondering if the corrupted files are cancelling the copy-via-shell. Perhaps using Xcopy and CMD is my solution until I can take care of these corrupted files. I'm gonna try running CHKDSK again before doing any more copying.

 

[cyberjock]

With 2GB of RAM you are asking for problems. Just as the manual says, you shouldn't be using ZFS until you have more if you value your data.

 

[kriswithak]

Right,

as I said, I already changed the ZFS to UFS, and dropped the ZILs; and I ordered some more Ram. I don't think the Ram is the issue tho: I've been monitoring my Ram load and I have plenty of free ram while performing operations.

I'm thinking the issue might have something do do with the corrupted files, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the actual exception is being thrown by Windows too, not NAS. I suspect this, because the transfer works fine in CMD with Xcopy. But in Xcopy I get corrupted file warnings (5 now out of 14,000 files), while transfering via windows-shell gave no warnings and simply failed. I think it's because the windows shell isn't handling the corrupted files properly, but xcopy just skips and prints a message.

I'll do some testing on that, I'm about to run ChckDsk, and I'll see what happens when I try copying afterwards from windows explorer.

 

[cyberjock]

My comment was a warning that you should stay with UFS as you are until you have more RAM. If you have corruption issues I'd bet money that's more of the problem than a FreeNAS issue.

Sounds like you are doing a fine job of narrowing down the issue yourself. :)

 

[kriswithak]

I try to be as self-sufficient as possible, thanks! :)

I agree- everything is pointing to corruption issues, methinks, and I don't think it is a problem with freeNAS, either. I'm halfway through CHKDSK now, then I'll try copying from shell again.

Even if I solve this myself, hopefully having this data on this forum might help someone else someday.


As for my Corruption issues on my NTFS external USB drive that I am currently replacing with the NAS; I believe I found the problem there. A known issue with CIFS/SMB network shares which causes corruption when more than one client works on a file; they have two hotfixes for Windows 7. If this is the case, I suspect we might still get corruption issues even on the freeNAS. I'm going to try these hotfixes out, hopefully the data corruption will end.

Corrupted Data over CIFS SMB Windows Network Share Issue and the Fixes for It:

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Hot Fix 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028965
Cause-
This issue occurs because a user queries the local cache for attributes of a shared file regardless of the opportunistic lock status in the SMB2 environment. When other users change the shared file, the original user obtains incorrect file attributes if the local cache is not updated in time. Therefore, a data corruption issue occurs.

Hot Fix 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2618096
Cause-
This issue occurs because the SMB redirector (Mrxsmb20.sys) incorrectly reports the position of the end of the file. Therefore, an application may unknowingly request to write to an incorrect location and cause the file to be corrupted.
________________________________________

Here is a Business Software that relies on Windows Network File Sharing (SMB) that discusses their clients experiencing the same problems, and how applying these two hotfixes solves the issue:
http://www.caseware.com/support/caseknowledge/kb-271

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[joeschmuck]

I'm glad you removed those ZIL's and of course there is no need to ping you about the super low RAM quantity you have. I hope you are installing much more, 16GB would be ideal for your situation and frequently used data would be cached in the unused RAM thus speeding things up quite a bit. Your CPU is more than capable. Again, once you build your system (add the RAM) run MemTest86+ for 3 complete passes (overnight). If you have any errors then you need to address those. I think everyone should run that test and Prime95 as well (only for a few hours tops!), you really want to see how stable your system is before ploping on some software and then your important data. My RAM although rated at 1600MHz had to be lowered to 1066MHz due to an unfortunate limitation in my MB. And yes, my MB was rated at 1333MHz so it didn't matter. I may have forgotten the actual speeds but I think that is about right for me.

And like my buddy CyberJock said, you are doing a fine job working the issue yourself.

 

[kriswithak]

No updates to report yet. Ram should be here next week, and I will attempt it again then.