Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Questions about using NAS on Mac OS.
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bryn
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 5:20 pm

Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by bryn »

Dear friends,
I'm the happy owner of a QNAP TS-639 Pro. Inside it I have placed six Western Digital 2.0TB drives, configured as RAID 5. I have started making a series of tests under Mac OSX and I must say I'm really pleased of the results, even if it looks the AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) implementation on the QNAP still does have some small bugs here and there.
Below you can find a graph of the test performed on my TS-639 Pro, showing the write/read performance with files ranging from 4KB and 100MB, using both AFP and iSCSI.

Image

From the graph above, you can see how the AFP reading perfomance is definitely better than the iSCSI protocol, at least while reading files smaller than 20MB, reaching a reading peak of about 106MB/sec. On the other hand, writing speed under AFP is very low with files smaller than 4MB (always under 20MB/sec) and it's almost always slower that iSCSI, which may reach writing speeds of about 50MB/sec.

Please note that the tests have been made with an Apple PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz with 4.5GB di RAM and Mac OSX 10.5.6.

Note:
Lettura = Reading speed
Scrittura = Writing speed
QNAP TS-639 Pro fw 4.0.1
Cybix
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by Cybix »

your network environment? (switch)
bryn
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by bryn »

Switch: Netgear GS605 v2 (5 port 10/100/1000M Switch)
Computer: Apple PowerMac G5 Quad - 4.5GB RAM - Ethernet Gigabit
QNAP TS-639 Pro fw 4.0.1
EvilTed
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by EvilTed »

OS-X gives by far the best results using NFS in my testing.
Samba was second best and AFP was last.

ET
sodium
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by sodium »

There are a lot of AFP speed improvements in 10.5.7 and 10.5.8, you did not mention the FW level of the NAS (there are improvements there also :) )

testing with file size < main Memory does not provide accurate information (you are testing the performance of the memory) and please do not stop at a file size of 100Mbyte (you will be surprised what happens at the 1Gbyte, 10 Gbyte and 50 Gbyte range :) )
Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes & lost data. Guess which has occurred.
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ookami
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by ookami »

Hi, on my qnas 459 pro I get the following results using xbench (free tool for mac)

NFS

Code: Select all

	
	System Info		
		Xbench Version		1.3
		System Version		10.6.3 (10D573)
		Physical RAM		4096 MB
		Model		MacBookPro5,2
	Disk Test		
		Sequential		
			Uncached Write	3.42	2.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	123.23	69.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	13.33	3.90 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	117.41	59.01 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random		
			Uncached Write	345.25	36.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	226.04	72.36 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	476.82	3.38 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	462.81	85.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]

And the same test on a iSCSI disk

Code: Select all

	System Info		
		Xbench Version		1.3
		System Version		10.6.3 (10D573)
		Physical RAM		4096 MB
		Model		MacBookPro5,2
		Drive Type		QNAP iSCSI Storage
	Disk Test		
		Sequential		
			Uncached Write	73.94	45.40 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	34.47	19.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	25.40	7.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	117.11	58.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
		Random		
			Uncached Write	331.93	35.14 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Write	55.37	17.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
			Uncached Read	1024.33	7.26 MB/sec [4K blocks]
			Uncached Read	296.91	55.09 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Now, I would looove to use iSCSI for all my stuff, but its just too damn unstable on snow leopard using the globalSAN solution.
Even without using sleep-mode on my mac (which is a sure "kernel-kill-hang") I still get occational crashes, leading to finder.app's demise.
(And trying to restart finder, shutdown finder but is unable to start it again. (-10810 error) :cry:
It's really a shame this protocol cannot be used on snow leopard with a little less "anxiety".
(this was one of the main reasons for me to get this NAS for use with video editing and to serve vmware images.) Instead I am left with NFS, which kinda does the job... but not to the point where I can say that I am not still disappointed. :?

"oh but have you tried used AFP instead?"
Yes, thank you for asking good sir! that was the second reason I got this NAS...and "naturally" it turns out using this protocol crashes the NAS on the current FW. *sigh* Really looking forward to having the AFP problem solved so that I might use the Timemachine feature.
All in all, the feature package that sold the product is just not available with the current issues.

Okay then why not use SMB instead?
Well I am living in a guesthouse, where the local LAN has a lot of users, and I don't want my NAS showing up in peoples home network folders because of this.

(edit #1)
Just wanted to say that despite all my complaints, I still think this is a great product and I look forward to being able to use all the features.

(edit #2)
Seriously!? 2 firmware upgrades later and base functionality is still broken!?! :cry:
Don't get me wrong, its not that they should'nt release FW even if only to fix other bugs, I am just disappointed that I still cant use what I paid money (a lot of money) to get. :(
P3R
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by P3R »

morice wrote:The Qnap and the switch are in "trunk mode"? (802.3ad) Use jumbo frame? (9000) all these setting do a different performance on LAN...
The only switch I see mentioned in this thread (Netgear GS605) doesn't support 802.3ad as far as I can see.
P3R
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by P3R »

Jumbo frames yes, 802.3ad no. I commented on the latter.
bottlething
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Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by bottlething »

hi there,

Regarding the ISCSI & globalSAN, I agree 100% after trying (all) releases (beta & stable).....

But try their ancient 3.3 - Nothing I do to my MacBookPro, network or QNAP disturbs the ISCSI share :) I can even reboot the switch while the ISCSI is mountet, without any problems...

and putting the mac to sleep is a trivial thing around here..!



[quote="ookami"]Hi, on my qnas 459 pro I get the following results using xbench (free tool for mac)

[b]NFS[/b]
[code]
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D573)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,2
Disk Test
Sequential
Uncached Write 3.42 2.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 123.23 69.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 13.33 3.90 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 117.41 59.01 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 345.25 36.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 226.04 72.36 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 476.82 3.38 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 462.81 85.88 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[/code]

[b]And the same test on a iSCSI disk[/b]

[code]
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D573)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,2
Drive Type QNAP iSCSI Storage
Disk Test
Sequential
Uncached Write 73.94 45.40 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 34.47 19.50 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 25.40 7.43 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 117.11 58.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random
Uncached Write 331.93 35.14 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 55.37 17.73 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 1024.33 7.26 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 296.91 55.09 MB/sec [256K blocks]

[/code]

Now, I would looove to use iSCSI for all my stuff, but its just too ** unstable on snow leopard using the globalSAN solution.
Even without using sleep-mode on my mac (which is a sure "kernel-kill-hang") I still get occational crashes, leading to finder.app's demise.
(And trying to restart finder, shutdown finder but is unable to start it again. (-10810 error) :cry:
It's really a shame this protocol cannot be used on snow leopard with a little less "anxiety".
(this was one of the main reasons for me to get this NAS for use with video editing and to serve vmware images.) Instead I am left with NFS, which kinda does the job... but not to the point where I can say that I am not still disappointed. :?

[b]"oh but have you tried used AFP instead?"[/b]
Yes, thank you for asking good sir! that was the second reason I got this NAS...and "naturally" it turns out using this protocol crashes the NAS on the current FW. *sigh* Really looking forward to having the AFP problem solved so that I might use the Timemachine feature.
All in all, the feature package that sold the product is just not available with the current issues.

[b]Okay then why not use SMB instead?[/b]
Well I am living in a guesthouse, where the local LAN has a lot of users, and I don't want my NAS showing up in peoples home network folders because of this.

[b](edit #1)[/b]
Just wanted to say that despite all my complaints, I still think this is a great product and I look forward to being able to use all the features.

[b](edit #2)[/b]
Seriously!? 2 firmware upgrades later and base functionality is still broken!?! :cry:
Don't get me wrong, its not that they should'nt release FW even if only to fix other bugs, I am just disappointed that I still cant use what I paid money (a lot of money) to get. :([/quote]
bryn
Starting out
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 5:20 pm

Re: Test TS-639 Pro + Mac OSX

Post by bryn »

Dear friends,
After a couple of years since my first post, I decided to add some information related to additional tests I made with a Solid State Drive (251GB Apple SSD TS256C) and an internal Hard Disk (2TB Hitachi HDS722020ALA330) compared with the same TS-639 Pro RAID 5 setup I used for the first tests.

Below is the result for the latest tests:

Image

As you can see, the QNAP NAS accessed through AFP allows constantly faster reads than even the internal drive. The SSD, as expected, is on another planet though...

Average speed:
  • 1] SSD Read - 223.2 MB/sec
    2] SSD Write - 218.2 MB/sec
    3] QNAP TS-639 (AFP) Read - 85.0 MB/sec
    4] Internal HD Write - 79.6 MB/sec
    5] Internal HD Read - 73.9 MB/sec
    6] QNAP TS-639 (Samba) Read - 50.3 MB/sec
    7] QNAP TS-639 (Samba) Write - 38.5 MB/sec
    8] QNAP TS-639 (AFP) Write - 20.7 MB/sec
Tech notes:
  • Test made using QuickBench 4.0 (from Speed Tools Utilities Pro v.3.6)
  • Apple iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 with 16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM
  • Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)
  • QNAP TS-639 Pro NAS RAID 5 with 6x2 TB HDs
  • Wireless-N ADSL2+ Modem Router Gigabit Netgear DGN3500
QNAP TS-639 Pro fw 4.0.1
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