slow acces on shared folder with thousands of files

[agrob80]

Good Day

On the Qnap TS469U we have a shared folder which is accessed from windows clients over smb. in this folder, there are subolders and some of those subfolders have several thousands of files. If we access one of those folder, it gets about 30-60 seconds until the files are shown. In windows explorer on top you can see the green progress bar "counting" up. This only happens to folder with many files. Is there anything we can change this behavior?

Thanks

[pwilson]

Good Day

On the Qnap TS469U we have a shared folder which is accessed from windows clients over smb. in this folder, there are subolders and some of those subfolders have several thousands of files. If we access one of those folder, it gets about 30-60 seconds until the files are shown. In windows explorer on top you can see the green progress bar "counting" up. This only happens to folder with many files. Is there anything we can change this behavior?

Thanks

Not really. Windows bogs down in folders, (including shared ones) if they have a lot of files. All you can do is keep directories from getting too large until Microsoft finally fixes this issue in Windows.

Excellent troubleshooting, you have identified the issue correctly. Please complain to Microsoft.

[agrob80]

thanks for your reply
are you sure it is "only" a problem on windows os? if i access a shared folder on a windows server via smb i dont have those performance problems...

thanks

[pwilson]

thanks for your reply
are you sure it is "only" a problem on windows os? if i access a shared folder on a windows server via smb i dont have those performance problems...

thanks

Windows Server is still Windows, so it too shares this "Microsoft" issue. Please complain to Microsoft about this issue.

[agrob80]

well i DONT have this problem when i access a smb share on a Windows Server with thousands of files from a windows client... It onyl happens when i access a smb share on a QNAP Nas... Anyway i posted in a MS Forum already.

[schumaku]

While the protocol is the same, Windows Servers and the NAS use different software. Fact is that access to folders with large numbers of files is ineffective here. The amount of resources of the service process is simply not tuned to a large number of files - neither in SMB nor in AFP. Definitively a NAS issue - or say limitation. Avoid large numbers of files - simple deal.

[dolbyman]

maybe your windows server is not set to generate thumbnails for each of the files or maybe has a different virus scanner

That could be reasons (on top of the mentioned SMB issues) why windows client machines accessing it slower.

[agrob80]

Thanks for the answers. Tested many different settings none worked.

i created now a iscsi lun and connected this lun to a windows server. configured this new disk on the server and created a shared folder on the windows server.
if i copy a folder from the qnap share with about 10k files to this windows share (on the iscsi lun) and access it from a windows client, i can see instantly all the data... accessing the same data over qnap (linux) samba share takes between 30 and 45 seconds.

lession learned, do not use samba share on a qnap system in a windows environment...

[agrob80]

another interessting fact about this problem. As i wrote before, i solve it with using iscsi..

BUT

i have an usb 3.0 disk attached to the nas box. disk is formated ntfs. i use bultin backup station software to copy the data from the file share on the NAS Box to this USB Disk. I can access this USB disk as share over the NAS Box as well. if i access the files this way, it is fast.

\\NASBOX\Share -> slow
\\NASBOX\ShareUSBAttachedDiskNTFS -> fast

So it seems to be a problem only with NAS "local" shares on the ext filesystem. Problem does not occure if accessing a share on the nasbox which points to an usb connected disk with ntfs filesystem.... strange. in the end i do not recommend someone implentent a samba share on a qnap nas in productive environment in a company. Use iscsi Luns instead (connected to a windows server system)

[storageman]

Use iscsi Luns instead (connected to a windows server system)

You're right about browsing large numbers of files, it's a drawback of the translation process reading EXT4 via Windows but I guess you've yet to find out the foibles of running ISCSI on NAS, freezes, reboots, loss of LUNs, corrupt ISCSI.conf, etc.

[agrob80]

......but I guess you've yet to find out the foibles of running ISCSI on NAS, freezes, reboots, loss of LUNs, corrupt ISCSI.conf, etc.

So why should i use a qnap nas then... it ** accessing samba from windows clients and as you wrote, iscsi is also not stable...

[Trexx]

Which QTS version are your running? Which Windows OS version are you using to access it with? Have you enabled SMB 3.x support?

[agrob80]

QTS 4.1.3 (2015/04/08)
SMB 3.0 is also enabled on the Qnap Box

It doesn't matter from which OS i access the SAMBA Share (Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Server 2012 R2)
We are going for iscsi. If tests this night are successful we change it.

[forkless]

maybe your windows server is not set to generate thumbnails for each of the files or maybe has a different virus scanner

That could be reasons (on top of the mentioned SMB issues) why windows client machines accessing it slower.

What's more likely is that the Explorer view on the client is not set to 'Details' so it will try to 'thumb' all the files in said folder, this enumeration is slow (as to be expected) on massive folders. I'm fairly sure once (s)he switches the Explorer view the performance will be more in line of expectation.

I would suggest using the Policy Editor to disable thumbnail generation for network shares to prevent users to accidentally switch views and bring the 'pain' onto themselves.

[schumaku]

What's more likely is that the Explorer view on the client is not set to 'Details' so it will try to 'thumb' all the files in said folder,

Nope. Create a folder with five ten or hundred thousands of files - any dummy data, even zero or a few dummy bytes and random file names / extensions.