NASLite Network Attached Storage

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the response. I just bought NASLite+ M2 and it's even worst that I thought. I am only getting 4MB/sec when I was getting 20MB/sec (max on FreeNAS).

Check out my thread here: http://www.serverelements.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2973

The thing is, I have very few cards in the system. 1 x Trendnet Gig NIC, the Adaptec 2410SA and the Asus Voodoo3 card. That's all, everything else, I have removed.

I have created the 2 x 1TB drives in the Adaptec BIOS (before NASLite boots) as a RAID0 array and then just format them in NASLite's console menu, then exported the disk. 4MB/sec (peak) is really moving backward and something I cannot compromise on.

I will try moving around the cards, but I don't think it will make any difference. Is the Adaptec 2410SA drives in this NASLite+? It's really sad to see that I just blown 35USD over something that stated the Adaptec 2410SA is supported.

Thanks for any advise you can partake.

Well for starters I would get rid of the trendnet card, get one of the Intel gigabit NICs. They perform much better and the drivers are solid!

You have allot of things on the PCI bus, just about everything on the motherboard hangs off of it internally. That is why I say be sure that everything is turned off that can be turned off in the BIOS. Having unshared IRQs for the SATA and NIC cards is the only way you are going to get the speed you are looking for.

Adaptec use to be a great maker of hardware but in the last few years I have been very dissatisfied with them, especially their support and customer service. I prefer LSI and 3Ware. Both perform great and seem to have far less issues. They also are active in their support of the need for Linux drivers. The card you have is supported and does perform well, BUT, you may have issues from the MB side of things. You may have a BIOS that conflicts and may need to be upgraded. Same for the SATA card as well. For instance, my 8800 cards would not work in my machine until I did a BIOS upgrade.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Ok,

Let me try minimizing the IRQ stuff, and at the same time, try to upgrade my Adaptec to b8209 firmware, Dec 2006. It is now at 8205 dated Aug 2005.

The trendnet card has proved to work well on FreeNAS, and I was able to achieve 50MB/sec on the 160GB ATA Seagate old drive which is connected to the ATA connection on the motherboard. I tried 2 other cards, a LinkSys EG1032 and a Compex TX1000, all gigabit on FreeNAS and it didn't work well for me at all.

I will try the above and report on the findings.

Thanks.

Hi,

I posted my logs here if it helps: http://www.serverelements.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2973&p=15771#p15771

It's pretty much voodoo to me, would need your help in pointing out anything if you can see it.

Thanks.

Hi

I have switched off all the IRQ that is not being used, and to leave AUTO (there is no disabled) when I can't disable it.

Speeds are now worst. Copying a 5GB file takes 35 mins. I have logged into console via telnet, and checked the Current Network Traffic under Tools:

CURRENT NETWORK TRAFFIC

Sampling ...

17117 packets sampled in 5 seconds
Traffic average for eth0

rx 3751.54 kB/s 2575 packets/s
tx 55.34 kB/s 848 packets/s


Really bad performance.

What else can I try? Thanks again!

Any specific reason why I can't just copy a single 5GB file and do a rough comparison? So far, I have tested the same file, on the same initiating client machine (Mac Pro), on the same network:

1. Copy a 5GB file from Mac pro to Mac mini connected to a FW800 external casing (SATA drive): Less than 1 min, 65MB/sec

2. Copy a 5GB file from Mac pro to Mac mini internal 2.5" (SATA drive): Less than 3 min, 48MB/sec

3. Copy a 5GB file from Mac pro to PC NAS box running FreeNAS (ATA drive 160GB connected to motherboard): Less than 3 min, 45MB/sec

4. Copy a 5GB file from Mac pro to PC NAS box running FreeNAS (SATA drive 160GB connected to Adaptec 2410SA): Less than 4 min, 20MB/sec

5. Copy a 5GB file from Mac pro to PC NAS box running NASLite+2 (SATA drive 160GB connected to Adaptec 2410SA): Less than 32 min, 4MB/sec

In # 4 & 5, I have formatted the drives to RAID0 inside the Adaptec BIOS on bootup of the PC, prior to FreeNAS or NASLite running, and then formatted/initialized it again in the NAS OS.


I am very puzzled. If this card is supported in NASLite+, why is it performing the worst of the lot? BTW, I have tried reaching the company via email and twitter many times, but have yet to receive any response. It looks like the people in this forum are more helpful than the company itself. High points for an active forum, but fail points on the company support.

Anyone has a direct link to someone in support that can look at this peculiar issue?

This is not the appropriate sub forum for NASLite-M2 discussion.