NFS and transfer speeds

[ARC2300]

I just set up NFS on my network server and Gentoo box.

Transferring files from the server to the client is fast, maxing my LAN out at 12.2MB/s. However, transferring files from the client to the server is slow, 350KB/s to be exact.

I compiled server support and client support in the kernel for the Gentoo server, and just client support for the Gentoo client. Is there an option somewhere I have to tick, or is this just inherent for NFS??

My options for the mounts are rw,sync (reading a guide on the net somewhere, "sync" was the way to go in case the server ever locked or something to that affect).
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[hardcore]

Do you have portmap started on the client? And you might want to try adding NFS server support on the client.
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[hinken]

Isn't starting portmap only the solution to slow mounting not transfer speed?
Im having the same problem as ARC2300 but I'm looking for another protocol for streaming. Lufs is the fastest I have tried but is a really pain to install.(only nitro and love have a patch for it).

my fstab looks like this for nfs:

[joaander]

I had this exact same problem with NFS (machine A to B fast, B to A slow). I spent a long time trying to debug it and noticed that samba had a similar behavior. Eventually, i tried iperf between the two machines which showed the same also: 94Mbit A to B. ~200K/s B to A. So, in my case, the problem was at the network level.

I eventually found the problem by borrowing a friends 100baseT switch for a day, with which i experience none of these problems. I promptly orderd a replacement switch and threw my old one out, as it seems to have been the problem. I've had no problems since.

YMMV, but I suggest trying iperf and seeing what sort of network transfers you get between the two machines.

[ARC2300]

I will try that, but I sure hope it's not my switch, as it's a 3Com OfficeConnect 10/100. But it could be that for some reason the link is downgraded when transferring from client to server.

I will check that out, though, and report back. Thanks for the suggestions, all.

[edit]I ran iperf, and found that UDP to and from the server and client was extremely slow. . .so I'm going to try compiling in server support to the client and NFS over TCP to see if that helps.

[edit2]Did no good whatsoever to compile server support into the client's kernel. If anyone has any other suggestions, please, do post. I'll keep looking around for a solution since others have the same problem.

And running iperf with TCP shows about 12-13MB/s up and down, so I know now that it's a software thing, not hardware related.
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[hardcore]

It could be your network card drivers. Check to see if the manufacturer has drivers on their site.
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[ARC2300]

[hardcore]

Try adding these to your mount options

[ARC2300]

[ARC2300]

Okay, I think I have something!!!

My options for NFS mounts on my client are rw,async,hard,intr and my transfers now are at 12MB/s!!!

The /etc/exports options for my shares on the server are rw,sync.

Changing the options in /etc/fstab on the client speeds up transfers to the server, but changing the options in the /etc/exports file on the server doesn't really do a whole lot.

Reading on sync and async on sourceforge, the only thing I really got out of it was that if your server is prone to reboots a lot, use sync. If not, async shouldn't give you much troubles, then.

Here's a link:

http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/performance.html#SYNC-ASYNC

[edit]I used "time" to time the copy of several large movie files from server to client, and then client to server. The client to server is a little slower (approximately 2 seconds for every 100MB), so it's not that much of a problem.
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