Is my network speed right, or is there something wrong?

Anchundan · 10 Oct 2016 at 12:08

I'm a bit confused by this. I have the following hardware:

Synology DS213Air: Gigabit Ethernet with 2x4TB of WD Reds (not RAID)
Asus RT-AC88U WiFi Router: 8x Gigabit LAN Ports
Motherboard Asus Z97 Sabretooth Mark S: Dual Gigabit LAN controllers (only 1 connected to wifi router)
D-Link DGS-105 Gigabit Switch
HuaWei Echolife HG8321R GPON ONU FTTH (no idea what kind of network speed, but it's just the fibre link)

I'm sending large files to my Synology through windows explorer and only getting maximum 26MB/s, average 22MB/s speeds. Is there something wrong? I'm in an apartment, not a house, so the network distances are not great.

ov_sjo · 10 Oct 2016 at 12:10

Doesn't sound terrible. Write speed will vary depending on the disk, fragmentation, protocol, etc. What kind of read speeds do you get?

Steveocee · 10 Oct 2016 at 12:55

Sending large files how?
Wifi? Ethernet?

cp88 · 10 Oct 2016 at 15:36

Should be better if using wired.

Try messing about with jumbo frames.

Steveocee · 10 Oct 2016 at 19:59

cp88 said:
Should be better if using wired.

Try messing about with jumbo frames.

You can max out gigabit Ethernet without jumbo frames.

cp88 · 11 Oct 2016 at 08:37

Steveocee said:
You can max out gigabit Ethernet without jumbo frames.

I'm aware of that

enigma27 · 11 Oct 2016 at 08:48

For comparison I send large files (10+gig) to my NAS and it usually tops out around 105-110 transfer rate.

This goes PC - Switch - 2nd switch - NAS all with gigabit ports..

From you post its unclear if you are transferring via Wifi or Lan. If Lan then something does not sound right.

Armageus · 11 Oct 2016 at 08:54

cp88 said:
Should be better if using wired.

Try messing about with jumbo frames.

cp88 said:
I'm aware of that

Then surely you are aware that they shouldn't be needed, especially not in a home environment. They have the potential to cause other issues.

OP doesn't say what the source drive is, but could be large fragmented file on a hard drive in his PC.

Steveocee · 11 Oct 2016 at 09:03

cp88 said:
I'm aware of that

Why suggest it then?

Surely the first step is to check the physical (if any) connections?

Quartz · 11 Oct 2016 at 10:51

Yes, are all links wired?

Anchundan · 11 Oct 2016 at 10:58

Sorry, yes, all wired. RJ45 from PC into the wall, RJ45 from wall to router, RJ45 from router to Synology.

I just tried the jumbo frames at 4088 and 9014, and now I'm only getting speeds of 11.4MB/s! (I did enable jumbo frames at the router, and restarted, etc). So I've disabled it all, and restarted, and still only get max. 11.4MB/s.

I've looked at my network adapter properties, and under Link SPeed, it says Link Status Speed 100.00 Mbps/Full Duplex and speed and duplex is set for Auto Negotiation.

I ran the diagnostics on the connection and it says "Link speed: 100Mbps. The link partner is not capable of higher speeds."

... So I'm confused. As my original post, everything is supposed to be Gigabit.

Armageus · 11 Oct 2016 at 11:05

Check on the Router's stats to see what it thinks everything is connected at (e.g. the Synology might be showing 1Gb but the PC only 100Mb)

Could just be an old/cheap/poor cable - (some of the cables bundled e.g. with Fibre routers etc are thinner and only have 4 wires and so are only capable of 100Mb)

Quartz · 11 Oct 2016 at 11:39

Anchundan said:
I've looked at my network adapter properties, and under Link SPeed, it says Link Status Speed 100.00 Mbps/Full Duplex

There's your problem. It should say 1 Gbps or 1000 Mbps.

On which box is this? Is it the PC or the NAS? Assuming it's the PC, there are two things to try: firstly the other network port and secondly a new network cable.

Anchundan · 11 Oct 2016 at 11:59

Thanks, it's the PC connection. I've just uploaded newer drivers for the PC connection (Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V), and have noticed a newer firmware for the router too so installing that now.

I think first thing I'll do is connect directly from this PC to the router, as the decorators put the network cables in the wall, and I have no idea what kind of cable they used. Then I'll check the other network connection.

Edit: I can't find anywhere in the router's stats to see what speed everything is connected, not sure it has this for wired connections.

bledd · 11 Oct 2016 at 13:49

All cables ok?

Give more info.

Anchundan · 12 Oct 2016 at 06:04

OK, more info:

This morning I connected my 2nd network port into the wall, and the result was the same, 11.4MB/s.

Then I connected my PC directly to the router using a "CAT 7 Giga-Speed LAN cable" and another from the router to the Synology, and my speed jumped up to an average of 32MB/s, maxing at 35MB/s.

The file I am copying is a 4GB MP4 file, copied from my SSD on my PC to the 2x4TB WD Red drives on my Synology.

So 35MB/s is not exactly Gbps speed, but it's a lot better than 11.4MB/s, so I have to conclude that whatever the cowboys who installed my network cabling into my walls put in there is of pretty low quality.

I think maybe I'll have to go for a wireless adapter to get this speed any faster.

ov_sjo · 12 Oct 2016 at 07:02

They may just not have terminated the faceplates properly..

Armageus · 12 Oct 2016 at 07:11

ov_sjo said:
They may just not have terminated the faceplates properly..

Or may have cheated and used one cable for two ports

Quartz · 12 Oct 2016 at 10:19

Anchundan said:
The file I am copying is a 4GB MP4 file, copied from my SSD on my PC to the 2x4TB WD Red drives on my Synology.

You probably want to try with a larger test set - 100 GB or so - so as to totally soak any caches.

Quartz · 12 Oct 2016 at 10:20

ov_sjo said:
They may just not have terminated the faceplates properly..

Armageus said:
Or may have cheated and used one cable for two ports

These are both worth checking.