Topic: slow transfers accross the network...

[jonny]

I have SME 5.12 Routing for my Network at home. My other computers use win2k pro, and I often transfer files between the different computers. My question is this:
WHy does it take an ungodly amount of time to transfer files across my own network? I'm using cat5 for cable... everything is normal... but I'm told by a friend that there is something I have to activate in Linux to enable faster transfers or something. Any info Greatly appreciated, and I hope this is specific enough to illustrate whats going on...
Thanks,
Jonny

[Matt Q]

I'm just dropping my idea into the hat here, but do you know whether you network is running at 10 or 100 mb/s?

Matt

[Michael Smith]

Not really specific enough ... are you saying you're transferring files among your workstations, or between a workstation and your SME box?  Some hardware DETAILS might help also, specifically networking hardware, length of cable runs, etc.  How big are these files we're talking about?  What, typically, are you transferring?  (It's OK if you say "pr0n", we're grownups.)

You should indeed check 10/100, perhaps power off/power on your hub or switch, and consider a switch if you're using a hub.  You might also remove all protocols but TCP/IP on your Windows workstations.

[jonny]

Ok Here's the deal. I have Linux 5.12 running on a P3 800, with a switch, no hub. I only have two other computers, and they're hooked up to the swtich... for internet access and network access. I guess you could say all that linux is doing is holding a big harddrive for my movies (and prOn, heheh) and routing for me. When I am transfering files, they are typically close to a gig in size....
thanks,
Jonny

[Michael Smith]

OK, since you ARE using SME as a fileserver, you might check if DMA is enabled (thanx to Darrell May for this one):

http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/mitel/howto/hdparm-howto.html

That right there might account for your slow transfer ... just not getting off the disk fast enough.  Again, what's your protocol setup?  Anything but TCP/IP?  Do you have a 100-Mbps NIC as your internal interface on your SME box? (10-Mbps is just fine for the external unless you've got fiber to your home in which case I hate your guts.)

You might also update your SAMBA:

http://www.lordsfam.net/downloads/production/samba/

Search the forums for howto info if you're uncertain.

Another thing that occurs to me ... how much RAM does the SME box have?  The more, the merrier ...

[jonny]

Thats IT!!! DMA...I simply couldn't remember the name is the service, but yes, I'm pretty sure that's what I need to turn on. Thanks soo much!!! Now all I have to do is figure out how to turn it on...
Jonny

[jonny]

Ok, DMA is enabled and it seems to make no difference. Also, I should have noted that I am using sme 5.12 as 5.6 was very buggy for me. I have 256mgs of ram and a standard linksys nic...($5)
When I tryed to install samba I ran into a heap of problems...It simply would list this:



RPM version 4.0.2
Copyright (C) 1998-2000 - Red Hat, Inc.
This program may be freely redistributed under the terms of the GNU GPL

Usage: rpm {--help}
     rpm {--version}
     rpm {--initdb}   [--dbpath ]
     rpm {--install -i} [-v] [--hash -h] [--percent] [--force] [--test]
                      [--replacepkgs] [--replacefiles] [--root ]
                      [--excludedocs] [--includedocs] [--noscripts]
                      [--rcfile ] [--ignorearch] [--dbpath ]
                      [--prefix ] [--ignoreos] [--nodeps] [--allfiles]
                      [--ftpproxy ] [--ftpport ]
                      [--httpproxy ] [--httpport ]
                      [--justdb] [--n


ect,ect,ect,ect.... but never actually install the update (perhaps this is for 5.6)..hehe. Ohh I'm soo lost...
ANy h elp would be appreciated. I ahve been deligently searching the forums, but to no avail...
Thanks,
Jonny

[k_graham]

Whats your definition of a long time - and whats the comparison between 2 windows 2000 machines.

I may be off but it seems to me a IDE drive will have a sustained transfer rate of about 15 megabit or 1.85 megabytes per second so that would translate to about 9 minutes for a gigabyte.

You could also assign actual IP numbers to each computer and should if they are acting as Servers as well or E--smith server drives tend to show up on the workstation as if one of their drives.

Also see if you can set adapter at 100 megabit only on Win 2k units so they are not communicating at a slower speed.

I use 5.5 without troubles.

Ken

[Charlie Hartill]

To expand on the above post, you should check whether your NIC is autonegotiating with your switch or set to 100Mb Full Duplex etc.

Autonegotiate is great but when switch and NIC don't like each other they say they are talking fine, but spend all their time arguing about which protocol to use. I don't know the settings for your card, but often it can be easily set through ipconfig. If you force connect at 10Mbps and it's faster than or as fast as 100 then there's a problem.

Have you looked at the switch to see if collisions are happening? Does ifconfig show collisions.

Beware hdparm - I'm working this out myself since I run Level 1 RAID. It makes sense to have the 2 drives on seperate buses, both as master, but if you have a CD as slave on one, it may, in the way of the world, default to using PIO or the lowest common denominator.

hdparm was removed from 5.6 because of incompatibility with some hardware. Beware.

BTW I thought you were perfectly clear that your problem was between SME & workstations.

cxxx

[jonny]

Thank you for your advice. I just tried a simple solution after many days of frustration and of course it was the answer... My onboard NIC is bad. So all I had to do was switch NICs and the problem stopped. Hehe, I always assume its extremely complicated when it's usually just a matter of checking the most obvious and simples solutions first, then working your way up from there.
Thankyou to every one who has offered help.