Hello Charles,
file transfers from Samba to WinXP SP2 clients: the speed is
varying, but is about 1-2Mb/s at best.
I'm assuming for the rest of this that you mean MB/sec not Mb/sec when
referencing transfer speeds...
Yes, that is correct, sorry for confusion.
b) Transfering to/from Samba server from Gentoo Linux on the same
PC where WinXP is installed (so, completely the same hardware and
connection) is also at normal speed.
So, you are running something in a VM?
No, I just have both WinXP and Gentoo Linux installed on client,
booted first in WinXP and then in Gentoo and tested for each of them
transfer speeds
to Samba on server.
c) Transferring to/from WinXP to the server where Samba is
installed using any other protocol (such as HTTPS or SCP) is also
at normal speed.
Define 'normal'...
More or equal to 10 MB/s, see trace logs in my original letter, SCP
speed is listed in the last trace log.
3) If there is any other network activity, transfer speed is
increased up to normal level: f.e. doing two simulteneous transfers
from Samba server to WinXP client gives 5Mb/s at each transfer, as
expected.
Again, define 'normal'?
100Mb network connections should give @ 12MB/sec transfer speeds, no?
So 5MB/sec speeds are certainly not 'normal'.
They are, as 5+5=10, transfers are done _simultaneously_. 10MB/s is of
course less than 12MB/s, but I do not consider 10MB/s speed, including
protocol
overhead, to be particularly slow.
TCP dumps are fine, but you neglected to provide the most important
thing for initial troubleshooting assistance: where is your config?
As I've experimented a lot with different config options, I do not
really think that there's still left smth related to speed I missed to
try, and also it doesn't look like misconfiguration issue, as I've
used as the basis default smb.conf provided in Gentoo distribution,
but you're right - I cannot be sure as I'm not really experienced with
Samba, sorry about that. My config is attached in the end of e-mail.
5) Playing with "socket options" does not give any results.
Modern linux kernels (2.6+) do *not* need to have these values tuned,
so it is recommended to not set them *at* *all*. Just delete these
entries.
Yes, I read these options should not be needed, but if you read my
original e-mail till the end, you should have noticed there options
*did* play role in my setup.
Specifically, using advices from the article
http://www.dd.iij4u.or.jp/~okuyamak/Documents/tuning.english.html
about SO_SNDBUF does not improve situation (but read below).
Well, since this article is dated from 2000, I don't think I'd trust it much.
That's correct, but this is the only information I was able to find
initially that seemd to be more or less relevant to my problem :-(
7) I've tested several WinXP clients with different hardware, all
with the same results.
What about the NIC on the Samba server? If all clients are affected the
same, then that is the NIC you should focus on (if it is indeed a
hardware issue).
Theorecitally, this *could* be the possibility, but I doubt this is
hardware issue, as the problem seems to happen in very particular
environment - if there were problems with NIC, I would expect at least
some sign of it in other applications, but there is none. I did not
state it in the original e-mail, but "hardware" statistic, listed by
ifconfig for the interface is fine - no collisions, errors, or
whatever. The NIC on server is on-board Realtek RTL8111B (Gigabit),
using default Linux Realtek 8169 driver, all options are by default,
communication with clients happens through BCM5325e switch (100 Mbit),
which is part of Asus Wl-500g Deluxe router, also no problems noted
there.
I think you need to go back to square one, and start over, but with up
to date references - like the excellent 'Samba-3 By Example' and/or
'The Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide'.
While I can agree that everyhing is possible, I do not think I was
lucky enough to screw the default config that much ;-) As you can see
from my config, the main changes there were authentication-related, to
use LDAP server, and changes related to PDC. I cannot be 100% sure,
but I do not see the way how use of LDAP server or PDC-related options
could lead to particularly high number of TCP packets retransmissions
in communication between client and Samba ...
Here's the config. LDAP user/group managing scripts are not specified
in config as I've configured all users/groups once and there should be
no changes in foreseeable future. ***text*** denotes my specific site
information.
============smb.conf=================
[global]
workgroup = ***WORKGROUP-NAME***
netbios name = ***SERVER-NAME***
server string = PDC [on Gentoo :: Samba server %v]
printcap name =
load printers = no
printing =
log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
max log size = 50
log level = 3
hosts allow = 192.168.1. 127.
map to guest = bad user
security = user
encrypt passwords = yes
# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
# Working range for SO_SNDBUF with WinXP registry patches is 1404 - 1872
# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_SNDBUF=1500
interfaces = eth0 lo
local master = yes
os level = 65
domain master = yes
preferred master = yes
domain logons = yes
logon script = login.bat
logon path =
logon home =
passdb backend = ldapsam:ldaps://localhost
ldap admin dn = cn=Manager,dc=***my-site-dc-specification***
ldap suffix = dc=***my-site-dc-specification***
ldap machine suffix = ou=computers
ldap user suffix = ou=accounts
ldap group suffix = ou=groups
name resolve order = host bcast
wins support = yes
dns proxy = no
dos charset = 866
unix charset = KOI8-U
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
path = /home/%U
browseable = no
valid users = %S
guest ok = no
inherit permissions = yes
writable = yes
[btg]
comment = BTG working place
path=/usr/share/btg
browsable = yes
guest ok = no
writable = yes
[netlogon]
comment = Network Logon Service
path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon
guest ok = no
writable = no
browseable = no
============smb.conf=================
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