Network / SMB is very unstable

Hi there,

I have a very annoying problem with my new built unraid box (unRAIDServer-5.0-i386) (?). From the beginning everything worked fine but now

on a regular basis my connection to the share is lost when I copy files to it.

I already double checked all IPs in my network and as I am using DHCP I dont have any conflicting IPs.

Also I switched the lan cables and the router. Neither helped...

When I copy the syslog after a network loss, I don't see many entries, but there are no errors.

I reinstalled unraid already, just to make sure it is not an addon issue. But no luck.

Any hints how I should try to solve this issue?

Should I buy a NIC, because right now I am using the onboard (ASUS P8H77-I Mini ITX) NIC? Or should I swap all the SATA cables, even if I don't see any errors?

Cheers,

Chris

A good way to get started on this is to attach a full syslog from start up through a point where you are reproducing the problem. Another would be to describe your hardware set up experiencing the problem; be it Windows, Mac, or Linux host. Also what error message do you get at the client side when the connection fails? (On a Windows box anything showing up in the System or Application log files?) What, if any, plugins are you running in unRAID. Sticking your unRAID hardware/software setup in your signature is an handy way to avoid having to re-state it each time you post a question/problem.

Can you reproduce this problem when running in "Safe Mode" on unRAID?

I know you started off this in the "Landfill-SFF" thread, but it's good to get the whole scope of the problem into this thread. Thanks, I hope we can help you!

Hey,

Thanks for the answer. Right now I am running a memtest. When I start the unraid tomorrow do I have to take some actions for thr syslog or do I just copy the file after the smb fails? I read some thing about some syslog sh scripts, do I need these?

I am not at home tonight but I will post my hardware tomorrow.

Cheers, 

Chris

OK; well, syslog is written to RAM and is only saved to the USB drive when the log file gets large. I think the easiest way is to look at the log in the webGUI and copy/paste the text into "Wordpad." If you have unMENU running there's an option to download it in the "Syslog" tab.

There is a script written by a forum member that will copy the running syslog to a folder on the USB drive. It's useful in case your system locks up and unRAID becomes unresponsive. I don't think you need that right now. Just get it from webGUI or unMENU.

The memtest didn't show any errors. So good so far. Now I am running Unraid in safe mode, if an error occurs, I will post the syslog here.

I added the unraid hardware specs in my profile!

Here is the result of ifconfig:

ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr xxxxxxxx

          inet addr:192.168.1.4  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:7776690 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:3027117 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

          RX bytes:112657252 (107.4 MiB)  TX bytes:813732292 (776.0 MiB)

          Interrupt:43 Base address:0x8000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback

          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0

          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1

          RX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

          RX bytes:836 (836.0 B)  TX bytes:836 (836.0 B)

And what is suspicious, the transferrate while copying is kind of slow right now. Without parity it is between 5 MB/s and 10 MB/s on a gigabit ethernet. I think to remember that it was initially (when I set up the box) something around 30 MB/s. Or is the safe mode slowing down things?

There have been some threads on Windows 7/9 network throttling. Have you already looked into that possibility?

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Improving_unRAID_Performance#Disable_Windows_Network_Throttling

Here's another:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22079.msg267467#msg267467  that seems to have worked!

Wow! Thanks for that advice!

Seems to work, today I did a big filetransfer and no error so far.

I will report back, if I got more details!

That's great news! If you feel your issue has been resolved, you can mark the thread as [solved] or change the topic icon. Good luck with your system!

Your UNRAID server should have a static IP assigned.  Your DHCP pool should be set to assign address from 192.168.1.50 to 192.168.1.254.  The numbers from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.49 would be considered your static range, as DHCP would not assign these lower numbers because they are not included in the pool.  If your DHCP server is not set up this way it should be adjusted, and allow the UNRAID server to remain on the .4 address.  This avoids accidental changes in the IP address for the server.

Your DHCP server would normally be located on your router.

--Sideband Samurai