Gigabit is slow

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I have a vista computer networked with a network attached storage box. Both
are running g-bit cards and are hooked up to a g-bit switch. I only get
transfer rates of around 12.9 m-bytes per second which is not much
improvement over the 8 m-bytes i was getting on my 100 m-bit switch. I have
disable remote differential compression but that didn't help.
 
Remember that your NIC transfer rate is only part of the equation.
Your hard drive has a limited transfer rate + the overhead of Windows
when copying. That could be part of the reason why your connection is
slower than what you feel it should be.

-
Jeffrey Randow
(e-mail address removed)
Windows Networking MVP 2001-2006
http://www.networkblog.net
 
Well, my vista comp is a c2d e660 over clocked to 3 ghz, 2gb ram, sata 3.0
160gb hdd. My nas box is a p4 2.6 with 512 ram, ata100 500gb hdd. I would
have to think I should be getting more throughput.
 
In message <[email protected]> JustinD
Well, my vista comp is a c2d e660 over clocked to 3 ghz, 2gb ram, sata 3.0
160gb hdd. My nas box is a p4 2.6 with 512 ram, ata100 500gb hdd. I would
have to think I should be getting more throughput.
Click to expand...

You could well be hitting the limits of the ATA100 drive before any
others. Also, depending on the chipset and motherboard design in place,
they may not be able to handle anything near gig-e speeds sustained.

(For example, if both the IDE and gig-e controllers are on the same PCI
bus, you'll hit the bus' limits before anything else)
 
Make sure you have the very latest drivers for the card in question, I had
the same problem with the Microsoft driver, but as soon as i loaded the
correct driver from HP's website the transfer rate shot up to what it should
have been before.

John
 
The only other thing I can think about is to make sure that the NIC is
set to work in Gigabit mode, full duplex is enabled, etc...
 
In message <[email protected]> JustinD
I have a vista computer networked with a network attached storage box. Both
are running g-bit cards and are hooked up to a g-bit switch. I only get
transfer rates of around 12.9 m-bytes per second which is not much
improvement over the 8 m-bytes i was getting on my 100 m-bit switch. I have
disable remote differential compression but that didn't help.
Click to expand...

A couple other thoughts, what gigabit switch? A fair number of the
cheaper ones simply can't handle gigabit switches.

I had a first generation D-Link that could barely sustain 150Mb/s.
Swapping out nothing but the switch brought me to over 300Mb/s. You'll
probably need jumbo packets to go much faster, which I have not yet
attempted as I've got some devices that don't play nicely in that
environment.
 
It is a netgear business class 5 port switch so it is not an off brand or
anything. I ordered some cat6 cables to take place of the cat5es in my walls
so I'm going to have to fish those when they come.
 
In message <[email protected]> JustinD
It is a netgear business class 5 port switch so it is not an off brand or
anything. I ordered some cat6 cables to take place of the cat5es in my walls
so I'm going to have to fish those when they come.
Click to expand...

I can't say I've ever worked with Netgear's business class hardware, but
their residential grade hardware leaves a lot to be desired. Likely
their business class gear is better.

What is your CPU utilization looking like while data is transferring?
 
Cat6 didn't help, still running around the same give or take depending on if
it likes me or not at the moment.
 
DevilsPGD said:
In message <[email protected]> JustinD


You could well be hitting the limits of the ATA100 drive before any
others. Also, depending on the chipset and motherboard design in place,
they may not be able to handle anything near gig-e speeds sustained.

(For example, if both the IDE and gig-e controllers are on the same PCI
bus, you'll hit the bus' limits before anything else)
Click to expand...

I concur with the opinion that you are probably limited by the hard drives.
I switched to a D-Link DNS-323 with two Sata II drives hooked up as a mirror
and I can get transfer rates close to 200 mps. Remeber, you have to figure
the seek time into any transfer rate calculation. With buffered mirrored
drives, the nas unit can alternate between drives and significantly reduce
the impact of the drive seeking.
 
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