Problem Description:
A media editing customer uses Frametest and AJA System Test to verify storage media performance. They might observe that performance speeds only reach up to 200MB/s with a 60-drive configuration, which is significantly lower than expected. This issue persists even with file SSD cache enabled.
Symptoms:
Performance capped at 200MB/s during Frametest and AJA System Test.
Impact Scope:
Affects all GS products.
Diagnosis:
Upon checking the CIFS protocol settings, it was found that the “Allow only encrypted connections” option was enabled. This setting causes CIFS/SMB to encrypt transmission data, which can significantly impact overall performance.
Possible Causes:
The CIFS protocol is set to “Allow only encrypted connections,” leading to performance degradation.
Solution:
Change the CIFS protocol setting to “Allow only unencrypted connections” and then retest the performance. After making this change, the AJA System Test showed an increase in performance from 200MB/s to 1000MB/s, achieving optimal levels.
Conclusion:
If you experience low CIFS/SMB performance, especially in media editing environments, check whether "Allow only encrypted connections" is enabled in the CIFS settings. Disabling this option and allowing unencrypted connections can significantly improve performance, as demonstrated by the increase from 200MB/s to 1000MB/s in this case.