Sharing multiple datasets with CIFS

[komengsky]

I want to ask if any of you have experienced what I have. The following is my hardware spec.
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz
4GB of RAM
4 Hard Disks (2 on SATA and 2 on IDE)
File System: ZRAID2

So far I have setup my freenas with 1 volume and about 15 or so ZFS datasets. This is because I want to create a CIFS share for each dataset. The following is the snapshot.

The first time I set it up, I got issues with not being able to access it. After browsing through some forums, I managed to get it up and running by adding some custom configuration to /boot/loader.conf. However, after some time it started to slow down. So based on some reading I turned off AIO and enable large write from the CIFS setting. It looked to be ok the first few days. But after a week the problem seemed to show up again. The speed is not consistent. Sometimes it's fast, sometimes I had to wait for about 15seconds or so before the folder content appears. On some XP machines, it took even longer up to a point where it almost hangs the windows explorer.

I am running out of ideas of how to trouble shoot this problem. This is the first time I am using freenas and the intention is to replace our hogging Windows Server 2008. This is for a small office setup.

I don't really know how to test the read and write tests over the network because I am using windows 7. So how do I test using iperf because everytime I tried to use it it says "access denied". I don't have any Firewall turned on. Do I need to open any port for that?

So is increasing the RAM the only probable solution?

I really need a solution fast because otherwise, I might have to turn to linuxmint or any lightweight linux distro as a file server.

 

[ProtoSD]

Komengsky,

Your post was moved because your questions was unrelated the the original posters question. This is considered "Hijacking" someones thread. Please be careful not to do that anymore.

 

[komengsky]

Sorry I rushed a bit and didn't pay attention to the rules. But my problem is exactly the same, which is with the CIFS speed. That's why I was sort of divided whether to post it as another thread or to simply reply the existing one.

 

[ProtoSD]

I just posted in another thread a few days ago about some auxiliary parameters you can try that might help. Let me see if I can find the link for that thread and update this post.

EDIT: Ok, here it is:

http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?6705-CIFS-traversal-very-slow

 

[komengsky]

Thanks protosd. I'll give those settings a shot and see what happens within a week or two without having to reboot the machine.

 

[komengsky]

Hi Protosd,

Just want to update on the performance based on the settings. So far so good. It's been a few weeks now and no more slow hiccups every now and then.

 

[ProtoSD]

Thanks for the feedback! I've had a couple of people report good results. I think this is the direct link to my post with the settings for anyone trying to follow this:

http://forums.freenas.org/showthread.php?5338-Browsing-directories-slow&p=26269&viewfull=1#post26269