|
USENIX Windows NT Workshop, 1997
Adding Response Time Measurement of CIFS File Server Performance to NetBench
Karl L. Swartz
Network Appliance
Abstract
The standard benchmark for NFS file server performance, SPEC SFS (also known
as LADDIS), measures performance in terms of both throughput -- the aggregate
amount of data a file server can move across the network per unit of time -- and
response time -- the time required to service an individual client request. NetBench,
the most commonly used file server benchmark for the CIFS (or SMB) protocol
measures only throughput. Network Appliance believes response time is as
important a performance metric as throughput, especially in the highly interactive
environment typical of CIFS networks, since throughput offers little solace to a user
waiting to access a file.
This paper documents the methodology and tools developed to measure response
time during a NetBench run. While cumbersome and primitive, useful data has been
produced, demonstrating that the fundamental idea is sound. SPEC SFS has had a
noticeable effect on vendors of NFS file servers, motivating them to improve
response time from an average of 50ms in 1993 to less than 10ms in 1997. Given
the ability to measure response time in the CIFS environment, hopefully a similar
improvement can be encouraged in CIFS file servers.
- View the full text of this paper in
HTML form and
PDF form.
- If you need the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it from Adobe's site.
- To become a USENIX Member, please see our Membership Information.
|
Need help? Use our Contacts page.
Technical Program