[ale] Network Performance Gurus - Question about Ubuntu basedNAS

[Greg Freemyer]

Jim,

The device spec is at http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=104

I guess the review url is not usable.  Sorry.

Greg

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 2:06 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> My bad. The original link to the qnap didn't work (session id crap, I
> guess). I grabbed the NAS device on the page I _did_ get and it was not
> the same gizmo.
>
> On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 12:56 -0500, Shane McKinley wrote:
>> I use jumbo frames on my iSCSI openfiler system (9000MTU) and I can max
>> out 1Gb. This is a quadcore system w/ 4GB RAM.
>>
>> Shane
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Greg Freemyer [mailto:greg.freemyer at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 1:53 PM
>> To: ale at ale.org
>> Subject: Re: [ale] Network Performance Gurus - Question about Ubuntu
>> basedNAS
>>
>> Jim,
>>
>> Per the spec, it has 2 NICs.
>>
>> And per the review:
>>
>> The two gigabit Ethernet ports are provided by two Broadcom BCM5787
>> NetLink Gigabit Ethernet Controllers with PCI Express. Those last two
>> words are encouraging, since a PCI Express interface should provide more
>> bandwidth headroom for gigabit network transfers. But I was disappointed
>> to find that QNAP has chosen to not enable jumbo frame support in the
>> 509 Pro!
>> ...
>> QNAP responded that the Broadcom BCM5787 does not support jumbo frames.
>> But they chose it because it had the best throughput of the chipsets
>> they evaluated.
>>
>> Greg
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > 87MB/s is the theoretical MAX for TCP using normal frame sizes. By
>> > using jumbo frames more data per packet is transferred (i.e. lower
>> > framing overhead).
>> >
>> > The 802.3ad load balancing data shows there is some poor network
>> > performance in the device. With a single client connection to a bonded
>>
>> > dual server it was possible to max out the client line. HOWEVER! A
>> > look at the hardware shows the server has a single NIC so it must have
>>
>> > been the CLIENT causing the bottleneck.
>> >
>> > So the 802.3ad data sounds suspicious to me as the server only has a
>> > single 1Gbit NIC.
>> >
>> > On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 13:07 -0400, Greg Freemyer wrote:
>> >> Network Guru,
>> >>
>> >> I've done lots of work with 100 Mbit, but not much performance
>> >> testing with 1Gbit/sec Ethernet.
>> >>
>> >> I'm looking at the QNAP TS509 NAS unit (reviewed at
>> >> http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30549/75/1/1/).
>> >>
>> >> It is running Ubuntu internally (customized I'm sure).
>> >>
>> >> Per the last page of the review, it shows max. read throughput at
>> >> about 56 MB/sec. (via what client?)
>> >>
>> >> But one gets the impression, that it is the Ethenet link that is
>> >> limiting the speed, not the disks/CPU.
>> >>
>> >> And from the post
>> >> http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=492
>> >>
>> >> One reads that load balancing via LACL (802.3ad) allowed at least one
>> >> TS509 user to get 87 MB/sec with a single client workstation.
>> >>
>> >> And with two clients, the user is claiming 62 MB/sec per client
>> simultaneously.
>> >>
>> >> == questions
>> >>
>> >> 1) With a single socket, does 1 Gigabit ethernet tend to max out at
>> >> only 60MB/sec or so?  Or is that more likely a limitation of a
>> >> Windows client PC?
>> >>
>> >> 2) If I get a LACL (802.3ad) compliant switch, do I just need 2 cat5
>> >> cables from it to my NAS and my client machines get accelerated via a
>>
>> >> single gigabit connection?  Is the answer OS dependent?
>> >>
>> >> 3.1) In particular, I have a Fedora box I want to connect and get as
>> >> much throughput to/from the NAS as possible.  Will I also need to
>> >> implement load-balancing on it via LACL?
>> >>
>> >> 3.2) And what about XP?  Vista?
>> >>
>> >> 4) For my Fedora box, do any of the performance tests even mean
>> >> anything for this NAS, since they were testing via Windows clients.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Greg Freemyer
>> Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
>> First 99 Days Litigation White Paper -
>> http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pd
>> f
>>
>> The Norcross Group
>> The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com
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-- 
Greg Freemyer
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
First 99 Days Litigation White Paper -
http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf

The Norcross Group
The Intersection of Evidence & Technology
http://www.norcrossgroup.com