Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Steve Tomporowski]

Greg,

What do you mean by 'Could be A/V as well'?  I don't think you mean A/V 
to mean audio/visual.  LOL  Incidentally, one of the things the local 
guy did was put PrimoCache on my computer.  It didn't work because it 
doesn't reach across a network.


Steve

On 11/8/2021 8:08 PM, Greg Sevart wrote:

It *is* possible that running low on disk space could slow down transfers. For example, 
TLC/QLC disks typically have a portion of the NAND that they use in a type of 
"SLC-mode" cache to mask the vastly slower writes inherent to TLC/QLC - but if 
the disk is nearly full, some of them will have to abandon that strategy. SMR rust 
spinners can sometimes be similar if they use some CMR tracks as a cache. So, it is 
indeed possible that nearly full disks can impact performance, but I doubt that's the 
issue. It seems more likely to me that the initial copy is being put into a memory 
buffer, then it's having to slow way down as that buffer is filled or it's finalizing the 
transfer. Could be A/V as well.

I'm currently rebuilding some of my home fileservers and am experimenting with 
a piece of software called PrimoCache. The idea is that it will let you put 
either a memory or a SSD cache in front of big, slower rust spinners. I've 
sized my cache (in this case, 800GB of enterprise-class SAS3 SSDs in a RAID10 
fault-tolerant arrangement in front of 64TB of spinners) such that any normal 
transfer should fit within that cache, but if I do exceed it, performance 
definitely does slow down. I'm planning on using DFS-R to replicate to an 
offsite fileserver for additional fault tolerance.

-Original Message-
From: Hardware  On Behalf Of Thane K. 
Sherrington
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 4:28 PM
To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check taskmgr, 
what is your network utilization?

It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.

Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.

T


On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:

Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for
had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we
obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the
network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now
on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number
of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about
1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.
I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time
it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until
it finishes.

Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen
when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users
accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present
some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is
this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have
been lied to before by them.

Thanks...Steve

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Greg Sevart]

It *is* possible that running low on disk space could slow down transfers. For 
example, TLC/QLC disks typically have a portion of the NAND that they use in a 
type of "SLC-mode" cache to mask the vastly slower writes inherent to TLC/QLC - 
but if the disk is nearly full, some of them will have to abandon that 
strategy. SMR rust spinners can sometimes be similar if they use some CMR 
tracks as a cache. So, it is indeed possible that nearly full disks can impact 
performance, but I doubt that's the issue. It seems more likely to me that the 
initial copy is being put into a memory buffer, then it's having to slow way 
down as that buffer is filled or it's finalizing the transfer. Could be A/V as 
well.

I'm currently rebuilding some of my home fileservers and am experimenting with 
a piece of software called PrimoCache. The idea is that it will let you put 
either a memory or a SSD cache in front of big, slower rust spinners. I've 
sized my cache (in this case, 800GB of enterprise-class SAS3 SSDs in a RAID10 
fault-tolerant arrangement in front of 64TB of spinners) such that any normal 
transfer should fit within that cache, but if I do exceed it, performance 
definitely does slow down. I'm planning on using DFS-R to replicate to an 
offsite fileserver for additional fault tolerance.

-Original Message-
From: Hardware  On Behalf Of Thane K. 
Sherrington
Sent: Monday, November 8, 2021 4:28 PM
To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check taskmgr, 
what is your network utilization?

It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.

Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.

T


On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
> Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for 
> had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we 
> obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the 
> network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now 
> on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number 
> of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about
> 1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat. 
> I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time 
> it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until 
> it finishes.
>
> Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen 
> when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users 
> accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present 
> some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is 
> this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have 
> been lied to before by them.
>
> Thanks...Steve
>
>

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Steve Tomporowski]

Thanks for that one, Lopaka.  That sounds like something I can feed the 
local guy to suggest.  The ticket for slow network has been in to the 
third-party IT for seven months now.  I'm not the only one that 
experiences the problem but it seems to vary throughout the department.  
I'm not even sure if everyone in the area is on the same router.  Plus, 
the fact that I'm just a user and not IT means I can only cause so much 
trouble. ;-)



On 11/8/2021 6:08 PM, lopaka polena wrote:

Not sure if this helps but I have a couple netgear switches that I have to
reboot about 1x every month when I notice slowdowns during large file
transfers. Once rebooted the network throughput goes back to normal. (IE
goes from about 10 mbps to 75mbps). Seems weird to me but always fixes the
issue

lopaka


Virus-free.
www.avast.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

On Mon, Nov 8, 2021 at 2:28 PM Thane K. Sherrington <
th...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:


So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check
taskmgr, what is your network utilization?

It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.

Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.

T


On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:

Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for
had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we
obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the
network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now
on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number
of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about
1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.
I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time
it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until
it finishes.

Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen
when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users
accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present
some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is
this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have
been lied to before by them.

Thanks...Steve

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[lopaka polena]

Not sure if this helps but I have a couple netgear switches that I have to
reboot about 1x every month when I notice slowdowns during large file
transfers. Once rebooted the network throughput goes back to normal. (IE
goes from about 10 mbps to 75mbps). Seems weird to me but always fixes the
issue

lopaka


Virus-free.
www.avast.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

On Mon, Nov 8, 2021 at 2:28 PM Thane K. Sherrington <
th...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:

> So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check
> taskmgr, what is your network utilization?
>
> It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.
>
> Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.
>
> T
>
>
> On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
> > Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for
> > had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we
> > obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the
> > network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now
> > on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number
> > of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about
> > 1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.
> > I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time
> > it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until
> > it finishes.
> >
> > Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen
> > when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users
> > accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present
> > some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is
> > this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have
> > been lied to before by them.
> >
> > Thanks...Steve
> >
> >
>
>
>
>

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Steve Tomporowski]

I don't have access to the server nor do the network guys willing to 
admit there's something wrong with the server.  Frustrating both me and 
the local IT guy.  But thanks for confirming that low disk space has 
nothing to do with slow access.  One thing I did notice that when 
editing a photo that 'Save a copy' just went into an endless loop but 
when I close the window, the file was saved fine.  Sounded like some 
kind of 'complete' message wasn't getting through.


Thanks...Steve

On 11/8/2021 5:41 PM, Thane K. Sherrington wrote:

What's the NIC/CPU/Hard drive utilization on the server?



On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for 
had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we 
obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the 
network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months 
now on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a 
number of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer 
for about 1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse 
and repeat. I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, 
most of the time it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds 
of waiting until it finishes.


Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen 
when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users 
accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present 
some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is 
this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have 
been lied to before by them.


Thanks...Steve

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Thane K. Sherrington]

What's the NIC/CPU/Hard drive utilization on the server?



On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for 
had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we 
obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the 
network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now 
on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number 
of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about 
1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.  
I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time 
it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until 
it finishes.


Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen 
when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users 
accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present 
some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is 
this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have 
been lied to before by them.


Thanks...Steve

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Richard Quilhot]

Look for other processes on the server that are taking up bandwidth, like a
backup running long or backing up off-site.
Rick Q
quilh...@gmail.com



On Mon, Nov 8, 2021 at 5:28 PM Thane K. Sherrington <
th...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:

> So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check
> taskmgr, what is your network utilization?
>
> It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.
>
> Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.
>
> T
>
>
> On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
> > Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for
> > had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we
> > obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the
> > network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now
> > on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number
> > of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about
> > 1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.
> > I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time
> > it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until
> > it finishes.
> >
> > Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen
> > when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users
> > accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present
> > some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is
> > this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have
> > been lied to before by them.
> >
> > Thanks...Steve
> >
> >
>
>
>
>

Re: [H] Slow Network Transfers

[Thane K. Sherrington]

So this is an internal link?  What is the link speed?  When you check 
taskmgr, what is your network utilization?


It sounds to me like an overloaded link or a switch issue.

Never heard of slow transfers due to low disk space.

T


On 05-Nov.-2021 5:13 p.m., Steve Tomporowski wrote:
Ok, I need some advice from people I trust.  The company I work for 
had transitioned from in-house IT to Bell Technologies, so we 
obviously swimming in 'tickets'.  We have a main data drive on the 
network, the 'K' drive and I've had a ticket in for about 8 months now 
on slow transfers.  The symptoms are this:  When transferring a number 
of files from a laptop/desktop, there will be data transfer for about 
1 to 2 seconds, then 20 to 30 seconds of nothing.  Rinse and repeat.  
I've also noticed that if you transfer a single file, most of the time 
it will transfer 99%, then you have 20 to 30 seconds of waiting until 
it finishes.


Now to the question.  I've just been told that slow transfers happen 
when there is low disk space.  Obviously we have a lot of users 
accessing the network drive but the slow phenomenon wasn't present 
some time ago and has been persisting for a couple of years now.  Is 
this third-party IT organization correct or blowing smoke.  I have 
been lied to before by them.


Thanks...Steve