X520 speed issue

[Stryf]

So I have good news if you're a linux/unix fan.

I installed freenas on the workstation that my Win10 resides on and the iperf results were really good. Running iperf from freenas to freenas I was getting between 7.9gb/s and 9.5gbs on both sides using command "iperf -c <ip> -i 2 -t 10 -d". I then installed Ubuntu on the same thumb drive that the test freenas was on and got the same results. The only conclusion I can come up with is its an issue with the Win10 operating system or drivers. I'll attempt older drivers or drivers from a new model next.

 

[CookiesLikeWhoa]

A nahelem should be able to do 10Gb, assuming you don't end up bottlenecked somewhere else. I have the lowest end 1366 CPU in my test rig (2.0Ghz I believe) and it can saturate 10Gb.

Quick question, I assuming your talking about your desktop and not the NAS? Only reason I ask is I'm contemplating dropping my two e5 2675 v3's into an esxi host and messing around with a freenas installation on that (among other things). Am I looking for trouble with such a low base clock speed? (1.9 Ghz base, 2.0Ghz all core turbo and 2.3Ghz single core turbo.)

So I have good news if you're a linux/unix fan.

I installed freenas on the workstation that my Win10 resides on and the iperf results were really good. Running iperf from freenas to freenas I was getting between 7.9gb/s and 9.5gbs on both sides using command "iperf -c <ip> -i 2 -t 10 -d". I then installed Ubuntu on the same thumb drive that the test freenas was on and got the same results. The only conclusion I can come up with is its an issue with the Win10 operating system or drivers. I'll attempt older drivers or drivers from a new model next.

I have a Windows 7 installation kicking around. I'm going to give that a try as well see what happens. On the Windows 10 workstation I'm currently running the Windows 8.1 drivers. Didn't see any change from the default drivers. I'll try the Win 7 Drivers when I get a chance.

All else fails I'll try a Chelsio T520/420 in the Windows station and see what happens.

 

[CookiesLikeWhoa]

Quick update.

Tried drivers for Windows 7. Didn't really help the case much. I tried using a Windows 7 workstation with an intel 750 SSD and I managed to get reads at 9.1gb/s and writes at 5.5gb/s. Huge improvement and that was with just changing to jumbo frames. All else was stock. Didn't bother tuning much more from that. Indicating this might be a Windows 10 issue.

Put the card back into my Windows 10 station. Was getting the same 4gb/s reads and 1.2 gb/s writes. So I disconnected my Intel nic and before you all burn me at the stake it was setup on the same subnet as my Intel 520 because I'm a noob. And all of a sudden I'm getting 9.6 gb/s reads. Still getting the 1.2gb/s writes, but those reads... Only thing I have going jumbo frames and "mtu 9014 rxcsum txcsum tso4 lro" in my interface options on the freenas.

 

[Stryf]

I believe I found the issue with Windows 10 so give it a try CookiesLike. My download is now 400-800MB/s (previously capping at 300 solid).

Instructions:
The "SMB Direct" feature is turned off by default on the Windows 10 Pro so in order to turn it on you go to appwiz.cpl, click Turn Windows Features On or Off , and check the box for SMB Direct and Services for NFS, and of course reboot the workstation. I unchecked SMB 1.0 / CIFS File Sharing Support but haven't tried testing with it still on. I set CIFS protocol to minimum SMB3 and max SMB3_11 on the Freenas side.

 

[CookiesLikeWhoa]

Gave those settings a shot and unfortunately nothing changed. I'm able to get 1.12GB/s reads off but it caps at 178MB/s writes. Realistically this should be fine, but I really wanted to figure out what's going on.

On another note, iSCSI has perfect 1.15GB/s Reads and Writes. So it's something with CIFS and Windows 10.