4

i recently set up a FreeNAS server with the following specs:

2.2Ghz AMD Processor

5GB RAM (just put in what i had)

500GB system drive (with a data partition, probably UFS?)

2x1TB data drives in a ZFS stripe configuration

Gigabit network at both server and my pc and gigabit switch.

The problem is that both my read and write speeds are very bad. I get about 6MB/s write and one meg or two more in the read department. This doesn't allow for smooth playback of 1080p movies using a WDTV Live HD player.

No scurb etc was running at the time. Cables are cat6 and distances are very short. I have verified gigabit speeds from a different machine on the same switch. I have measured the same speeds over three days and rebooted the entire network many times.

I got better speeds (around 9MB/s) when the very same drives were in a QNAP TS-210. I doubt that my 2.2Ghz machine is slower than the 800Mhz QNAP. Also, i tried transfering the movie to the 500GB system drive which is not ZFS, and the movie worked without a hitch. So i really think it must be the ZFS. But could it cause such a drop in performance? Config issue perhaps?

2 Answers 2

1

Turns out this was a problem with NIC "Device polling". As soon as i turned it off i get sustained write speeds of 85MB/s.

2
  • where did you turn this off?
    – Ryan Sharp
    May 2, 2011 at 20:57
  • @Ryan There is a setting in the web interface: Network > LAN Management
    – sblair
    May 5, 2011 at 18:59
0

With the right card, Device Polling speeds things up, but it really depends on the speed of the CPU and the style of Ethernet Interface.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .