Copying file from cifs/samba via ms Explorer much slower than commandline

[Thomas Greig]

Gents.
A silly question, most likely with a logical answer;

I'm working on tuning our hp-ux 11i-system with CIFS. One question I came over is the following:

When copying a file (500mb) within the same logical volume mounted from our hp-ux 11i-server to my win2k pc using CIFS in MS Explorer, it takes approx. 2-3 minutes, while doing it in the shell it takes 2-4 seconds.

I assume when doing it on my win2k-pc it caches locally/over the network?

Is there any settings I can change to make my win2k-pc copy it quicker?

I know I have not given you any info of what systems I use except OS'es.. basically I'm looking for a general answer..

[Geoff Wild]

No silly questions - just silly answers :)

Anyways, yes - it will be slower to copy a file through samba to your PC - mainly because of the network - but there is also overhead with smb.

IE - ftp that file to your PC will probably be faster.

Now, in a telnet session - copying the file will be fatsre - because you are not going over any network - and depending on when you do it - the file could be cached - which would make it faster.

IE - copy it once and timex it, then do it again - I bet the second time is shorter.

Rgds...Geoff

[Thomas Greig]

to clearify my question abit;

the testfile (500mb file) is on the unix lv_data which is exported with samba so I can browse it from Win2k.

If I copy the file from one location on the lv_data to another location on the lv_data using the IE on my Win2k-pc , it takes 2 minutes, while doing it in a telnet-session it takes 2-4 seconds.

I am not copying it from the lv_data to the win2k.. I'm just using the IE as a tool to do it within the lv_data.

[Thomas Greig]

I used 'IE' for internet explorer.. but ofcourse its Explorer / Filemanager I ment

[Darren Prior]

Hi Thomas,

I wuld imagine that when you copy the file within Explorer that it is being read across the network, buffered on your pc, then written back across the network to the CIFS share - all of which takes time. When you telnet directly to the HP-UX box and copy the file, it's handled within the filesystem and the volume manager.

regards,

Darren.

[Steve Lewis]

Thomas,

Darren is right. Thats the way windows works with Network mounted drives. You may not think it is using the network, but it is.
Windows doesn't care that the target is on the same system as the source. That layer of explorer isn't even aware of it. It is reading the data from the source to your PC, then re-directing it to wherever the target is, in your case, back on the same network drive.

To make it go at local speeds, you need to set-up a remote command on the hp-ux server that is executed without going though windows (or dos command prompts). If this is a regular event then I suggest you create a script for the purpose.

If you want faster CIFS, then you need a faster network - such as gigabit cards at both ends and everywhere inbetween.

Steve