scp/sftp over lan slow/stalled with larger files
 

Hello :)

Having set up my first, simple lan the other day, I'm having problems with slow or stalled file transfers from one of the computers to the other (but not so much back the other way).

Before I explain further... my setup is:
One VIA KT266A based system using the onboard ethernet, running Mandrake 10.0.
One nforce2 based system using the onboard ethernet, running both Mandrake 10.0 and Slackware 10.0rc2.
Connected together via a PTI PAE-CE84 (generic conexant) ADSL modem/4 port router using DHCP.

I have been using sftp and scp (from the ssh package) to get and put files from one computer to the other. I have done this from each computer and to a point it works either way. However, transfers from the nforce machine to the VIA machine never go beyond about 370KB/s and average about 240KB/s, which seems a bit slow to me when I'm using 10/100 gear, but at least this is useable. In the other direction though, transfers from the VIA machine to the nforce machine usually just stall. They start for maybe 10 seconds or so at around 30KB/s before tailing off to under 10KB/s for around another 20 seconds before just stopping. Interestingly i can individually transfer a lot of small (30KB) files and it's fine but if i transfer a lot of small files in one go then it stalls. If i try to transfer just one small file after canceling a larger, stalled download then i cannot....

The setup of the VIA system has stayed the same throughout my attempts. The nforce system has both Mandrake and Slackware installed on it and I have used both the forcedeth and official nvnet drivers for the onboard ethernet. Neither distro or driver change made a difference. I have also disabled the firewalls on both systems (with the adsl cable pulled out of the router of course ;) ) which made no difference. It makes no difference if I'm getting or putting or use scp not sftp.

I am a little frustrated :scratch: , please help... I have no experience in this area and have no idea where to start googling for a solution. So even just a few ideas as to what it could be would be very much appreciated.

thank you

I have a nForce thing too, and it work's not too, so I bought a new PCI-Networkcard and ignore the onboard stuff (I will never buy anything from NVIDA again!)

Yes, from the browsing I have done I got the impression that it may be the nforce at fault, hence trying the two drivers. The thing is though that I get my internet through the same port and it appears to only be limited by the adsl bandwidth. I can download any size/number of files from the internet with no problem at all.