I did setup a Samba server on a SUSE 10 machine

The server is accessed from SMB network clients from SUSE 10, SUSE 9.3, Windows and MAC OS X.

I do have a 1GB switch here and therefore I was curious about bad performance copying files from an to the Samba server (ot from/to a netatalk server on the same server). Therefore I tried copying a 50MB file between the server and the different clients here.
The result is quite curious like you will see from the following table:

Protocol Server Client --> <-- [copy directions]
1. SMB SuSE10 SuSE10 fast fast
2. SMB SuSE10 SuSE9.3 fast fast
3. SMB SuSE10 WIN2K fast slow
4. SMB SuSE10 OSX fast slow
5. AFP SuSE10 OSX slow fast

Protocol: connecting client with this protocol to the server
--> means copying file from server
<-- means copying file to server

What seems very curious to me is that the performance problem using the MAC OS X samba client and the MAC OS X AFP client is different!

If I'm running SuSE9.3 as a server on the same hardware I don't have these performance problems.

Any hint would be helpful.

Thanks!

Wolfgang

I have the same problem and did not know it was related to suse10.0

copy files from suse to windows is slowwwww.

Is this a known issue that will be solved in 10.1?

I solved the problem by installing the nforce driver for Linux from nvidia on the suse 10.0 box.

(My nic is onboard gigabit with nforce2 chipset)

Nice for you!
My onboard gigabit is an ASUSTeK Marvell 88E8001 Controller.
The controller is recognized by SuSE 10. I don't know any other driver for the controller ...

Yes, suse also detected my card, but with the slow connection as a result.

I did a search for you, please visit;

http://www.marvell.com/drivers/drive...dId=120&pId=10
http://www.marvell.com/drivers/drive...dId=107&pId=10

And try the Marvell driver

Thanks for the links to the marvell driver!
I did the download and will try to install the driver.

Hi Fire!
I'm not quite sure how to install the marvell driver. Is it enough to start the script ./install.sh? I did that and the script works fine (I have choosen the Installation option) but the performance is still slow. What else to do? How did you install your driver?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Wolfgang

Hello Wolfgang,

I did read the Marvell readme and found the script generated an module object file with the Installation option(usually somewhere below directory /lib/modules/...) I hope you found it and that it is called sk98lin.ko

To load this module you need to enable this in your kernel. See the instructions in the file sk98lin.txt. (My driver installer took care about this part for me )

After that the module can be loaded with:
modprobe sk98lin
depmod -a

check if module is loaded with:
/sbin/lsmod | grep sk98lin

If the module is loaded you go to YaST and edit your networkcard configuration. Open "advanced" "hardware details" and modify [module name] to sk98lin and [options] can be left empty.

After saving the new driver is activated.

Please make a backup of your system before you proceed.

The install script for the marvell driver (DriverInstall/.install.sh) gives some output into the file install.log. There I found some warnings but the driver obviously was built since the file sk98lin.ko somewhere in the /lib/modules/... directory has the right date and time. As far as I can see the driver installer does all the work for me too. But there was no change in the (bad) performance of file copying with samba clients to the server. :-(
I will attach the install.log from the marvell driver install below. Perhaps anybody will be able to interpret the warnings.

Thanks a lot!


+++ Install mode: User
+++ Driver version: 8.32.2.3 (Apr-27-2006)
+++ Kernel version 2.6.13-15.8-smp
+++ smp_count=1
+++ cpu_number=2
+++ kernel_machine=i686
+++ Architecture: i386
+++ Unpack the sources
+++ ====================================
+++ tar xfv sk98lin.tar
2.4/
2.4/h/
2.4/h/skdrv1st.h
2.4/h/skdrv2nd.h
2.4/Makefile
2.4/skge.c
2.4/skproc.c
2.4/skdim.c
2.4/sky2.c
2.4/skethtool.c
2.6/
2.6/h/
2.6/h/skdrv1st.h
2.6/h/skdrv2nd.h
2.6/Makefile
2.6/skge.c
2.6/skproc.c
2.6/skdim.c
2.6/sky2.c
2.6/skethtool.c
common/
common/h/
common/h/lm80.h
common/h/skaddr.h
common/h/skcsum.h
common/h/skdebug.h
common/h/skerror.h
common/h/skgedrv.h
common/h/skgehw.h
common/h/skgehwt.h
common/h/skgeinit.h
common/h/skgepnm2.h
common/h/skgepnmi.h
common/h/skgesirq.h
common/h/skgetwsi.h
common/h/skqueue.h
common/h/skrlmt.h
common/h/sktimer.h
common/h/sktwsi.h
common/h/sktypes.h
common/h/skversion.h
common/h/skvpd.h
common/h/sky2le.h
common/h/xmac_ii.h
common/skaddr.c
common/skcsum.c
common/skgehwt.c
common/skgeinit.c
common/skgemib.c
common/skgepnmi.c
common/skgesirq.c
common/sklm80.c
common/skqueue.c
common/skrlmt.c
common/sktimer.c
common/sktwsi.c
common/skvpd.c
common/skxmac2.c
common/sky2le.c
common/sk98lin.txt
common/sk98lin.htm
common/sk98lin.4
misc/
misc/Configure.help
misc/Kconfig

+++ Compile the driver
+++ ====================================
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8'

WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8/Module.symvers
is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.

CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skge.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sky2.o
/tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sky2.c:340:5: warning: "USE_SYNC_TX_QUEUE" is not defined
/tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sky2.c:905:5: warning: "USE_SYNC_TX_QUEUE" is not defined
/tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sky2.c:2317:5: warning: "USE_SYNC_TX_QUEUE" is not defined
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skethtool.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sky2le.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skdim.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skaddr.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skgehwt.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skgeinit.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skgepnmi.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skgesirq.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sktwsi.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sklm80.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skqueue.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skrlmt.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sktimer.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skvpd.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skxmac2.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skproc.o
CC [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/skcsum.o
LD [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sk98lin.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sk98lin.mod.o
LD [M] /tmp/Sk98IUogFlHLINMdViSITrIQg/all/sk98lin.ko
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.13-15.8'
Check the driver
====================================

Did you perform this in a terminal as root?

What is the output of: /sbin/lsmod | grep sk98lin ???
Please post it.

You should see something like this:
sk98lin 69345 0

If this is true go to YaST to:
Note, modify your existing networkcard configuration. Do not add a new one.
After this action in YaST you are using the new driver.

If it does not solve your problem I suggest to restore your backup and proceed with the original suse driver.

I did proceed the steps for installation like you had written. lsmod says: # lsmod | grep sk98lin sk98lin 209368 1 In YaST I hadn't to change anything because the previous driver already was sk98lin. I didn't add a new network card. Copying from Windows or MAC OS X samba clients to the server still is ugly slow :-(. Do you think trying an other network card could solve the problem? I only have little hope that SuSE 10.1 does not have the same problem.

I am very sorry this update did not improve anything.

If there is only one sk98lin.ko on your system with the time and date of installation, your new driver is up and running.
You could try and play with the options given to the module (in YaST), but I prefer to leave it blank.

Hopefully your ethernet is not more slow as before!

Waiting for suse10.1 can be short, I believe it is coming out this week. But you have no grantee it solves the problem. If it does I like to know.

Buying an new card from a different brand can be a solution, but the one on your mainboard 1000Mbps should work too...

Try to goole for more answers and keep me updated.

In the meantime I've installed SuSE 10.1. But it is no solution for my network problem here.

When I first did the installation and directly afterwards set up a SMB-Server copying files between server and clients runs very fast (as it should do with a MBit network). After rebooting the the server once the problem with very, very bad performance comes up again.

I'm very confused and without any idea what's wrong with my installation. Up to now I couldn't find any hint in the internet to solve the problem.

Quite frustrated greetings,

Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang,

Sorry to hear your network is still slow, even with SuSE10.1. Personally I decided not to update 10.0 because it took me a lot of effort to make everything work.

I do not think anything is wrong with your installation, the best thing for you is to add an 100Mb pci nic in your system. I would prefer 3COM because Linux never let me down with this brand. Even with 100Mb your network speed will be faster than with the 1000Mb onboard u use now. Those "old" 100Mb cards are very cheap.

In the meantime keep searching for updates from Marvell.

I am out of options, hopefully someone else joins this thread with new ideas.

Greetings, Fire!

Hi Fire!

in the meantime I solved the problem with update to SuSE 10.1 and using a new GB-ethernet card.

Samba and afp performance is fine now.

Wolfgang