Network speed in a gigabit LAN

[bobcov]

Hi, Tim
I know you're the expert and that you're busy so i will try hard to be brief.
1. Is it valid to use the time it takes to copy a set number of files as a rough estimate of network speed? Or is that totally bogus?
2. Based on the above, is 27 MB per second low for a gigabit network? I think it is. It took 2 minutes and 8 seconds to copy 3.4 gigabytes from the laptop to a qnap 639. I think that's fast, but I want to go faster.
I have a Broadcom Netxtreme built in to a Dell M6400 which has no option for jumbo frames, so I bought a pcexpress Marvell Yukon card from Addonics and enabled jumbo to speak to a QNAP 639 PRO. But the QNAP keeps returning fragmented frames on the ping test with the Yukon, so I can't get that to work. Have you heard of problems with QNAP and Yukon on Jumbo? The QNAP rep is asking the factory about it and I gave them a Yukon card to test with.
Meantime, I'm focusing again on the Broadcom. Just out of the box, shouldn't I get more than 26 MB/sec? I'd be very happy if I could get 60.
I've gone direct from the laptop to the QNAP, cutting out the Dell 5324. I can't figure out why it is not faster. If you have any guides here for this, I'd appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Also, have you ever heard of a driver for Broadcom Netxtreme 57xx which enables jumbo?

-Bob

 

[thiggins]

Copying a large folder of files is as good a way as any to measure network performance. But since your selection of files will be different from someone elses, it's good only as a relative measure. Use a folder of multiple GB size, so that you get a decent average. Also check read and write speed.

27 MB/s is 216 Mbps, which isn't much of a boost. But the drive in your laptop could be the limiting factor. OS also is a big factor. My file copy test uses Vista SP1 and a 4 GB folder of files (a ripped DVD, so there are a few 1 GB VOB files).

Jumbo frames don't always provide much of a speed boost. I don't see mujch of a difference in my testing. So I wouldn't get too hung up on getting jumbo frames to work.

What do you get doing a file copy from the laptop to a desktop machine?