I am running Firmware 1.1.1 and 1.8.3 Dashboard on both my systems
I have a D-Link GamerLounge Wireless-N Gigabit router
When I plugged the drobo into my Mac directly, files copied at normal speeds. I have not noticed any performance problems with my router with any other device wired or wireless.
Other problems I am having:
DNLA via fuppes is not working correctly… I have ~3400 avi files
Connections to the DroboApps share are refused with a “Resource is in use” error message on the Win7 computer but no the mac
Questions:
Is anyone else experiencing problems like this with D-Link routers
Do people have success with linksys gigabit routers?
Will anyone at drobo actually fix this?
Has anyone else had these resource in use errors?
Does anyone have suggestions for reliable DNLA (As this is the main function I intend to use the drobo for)
First, I am not using jumbo frames, I left this in the default configuration which is I believe MTU 1500.
The Drobo FS only has a gigabit ethernet port which was connected to my D-Link Gigabit router when the slow speeds occured. When assigning a static IP and directly connecting it to the Mac, the problem goes away. So fine… compatibility issue… however my Router works with at least 10 other devices both wired and wireless and has never exhibited a problem, so I assume the problem lies with the drobo. Are they going to fix it? I am going to do a last ditch effort and get a Cisco Linksys E4200 today. At least that way I can use its DNLA if I have to return the Drobo.
As for fuppes, it was configured correctly. At one point it saw one of my shares. I have a Movies directory with ~600 divx avi files and a TV directory with about ~2800 avi files. I let the drobo build the database overnight before checking to see if it worked. In the status of the fuppes config page it showed 2506 avi files, so I am relatively certain I specified the correct directories.
If your router has options for QoS, Priority tagging, VLAN, or STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) it may be worth trying to toggle them on/off (one by one).
Who’s to blame and who should fix depends on what the exact problem is. If it’s something Drobo’s doing that’s supposed to be standard but isn’t commonly used, then technically it’s the router’s fault, but should still be avoided for general practical compatibility.
A good example of this is PCM uncompressed audio on DVDs. It is part of the NTSC DVD spec, but because the spec requirement is PCM or AC3 audio, almost all mass-produced titles use AC3, so DVD player manufacturers don’t do extensive testing with it, and you get incompatibilities where there shouldn’t be.
I replaced my router with the new Cisco E4200 … this seemed to fix the slow file copies. However I don’t consider this a fix because my router works fine for everything except Drobo… including the Seagate freeagent Go NAS I repaced with drobo (because the HD was clicking).
Disclaimer: I have neither a DroboFS nor those DLink or Cisco routers.
In my time as a network admin, I’ve seen similarly odd “incompatible” seeming behavior on LANs. One can dig deeply and sometimes fiddle settings like VLAN tagging or QoS or STP or broadcast forwarding. Sometimes two devices cannot autonegotiate link settings like duplex. Sometimes you’ll find a dirty conductor on a network cable, or a dodgy port.
Too often it seems the solution is what you did, though: find a combination that works, ands stick with it. Although it’s frustrating to have to buy your way out of a problem, I’m glad you were able to fix it. Thanks for posting your experiences.
But it is quite peculiar that we see so many stories like this from the DroboFS in particular. I wonder if there are different “batches” of FS, with different network chips or something like that.
I wonder how we could make it easy for people to enumerate the hardware specs of their drobos so we could compare.
I know this thread is a couple months old but I am going to chime in anyway.
I use the D-Link DGL-4500 Gamerlounge router and while I have problems it is not the router.
I have a DroboPro FS btw.
If I reset the Drobo to factory default settings and delete the volume (basically start fresh) I get good speeds, 32-33 MB/s write and 57-58 MB/s on the read, this is while attached to the router.
My problems occur as I start putting files on the drobo, after about 10-12 GBs of data is placed on the drobo my read and write speeds rapidly start decreasing.
When my drives reach about half full my read and write speeds have dropped to about 4MB/s.
Same slows speeds when directly attached to a computer.
I am just guessing but there was probably a setting on your router that was not agreeing with your Drobo as mine worked fine when the Drobo was in a good working state.
I also have WD Green Drives, 4 3TB drives, been trying to determine if these drives have been the root of my problems.
[quote=“davesbrain, post:1, topic:2287”]
I just purchased my drobo FS and file copies are the following speeds:
Am having the same problem with a D-Link DIR-655. If I connect Drobo direct to my Mac I get 25GB in a matter of minutes. When connected to the router and downloading the same 25GB to another wired computer, it takes a few more minutes but at least it’s still minutes.
Wirelessly, the same 25GB of data takes up to 14 hours.
Figures are in the same order of magnitude whether or not QoS/WISH are enabled and with a normal MTU of 1500.
Have submitted a question through Drobo support, but from what I read here it’s doubtful that there’ll be much useful coming from them.
This has nothing to do with the FS. Wireless networks are notoriously bad for bulk transfer of data. A gigabit wired network is (on average) orders of magnitude faster than a wireless network.
Basically, I am having the slow copies issue, plus a slow Time Machine backups issue. DroboFS is connected thru gigiabit switch to server – all wired.
Even a wired copy (unix cp from server to Drobo) takes forever as compared with other network file servers we own (the only thing comparable in slowness is an old Intel/LaCie box).
Interestingly when ssh’ed into the DroboFS, the uptime shows a fairly high load (2-3) even when there are very few NAS tasks (copies, backups) running. No Drobo apps installed other than the sshd.
Bad board? Bad Drobo NIC? Bad ethernet cable? Bad Drobo? Can anyone else confirm similar or different experience (actual miles, not hypothetical – sorry ;).
[quote=“bensonmcmoran, post:9, topic:2287”]
I know this thread is a couple months old but I am going to chime in anyway.
I use the D-Link DGL-4500 Gamerlounge router and while I have problems it is not the router.
I have a DroboPro FS btw.
If I reset the Drobo to factory default settings and delete the volume (basically start fresh) I get good speeds, 32-33 MB/s write and 57-58 MB/s on the read, this is while attached to the router.
My problems occur as I start putting files on the drobo, after about 10-12 GBs of data is placed on the drobo my read and write speeds rapidly start decreasing.
When my drives reach about half full my read and write speeds have dropped to about 4MB/s.
Same slows speeds when directly attached to a computer.
I am just guessing but there was probably a setting on your router that was not agreeing with your Drobo as mine worked fine when the Drobo was in a good working state.
I also have WD Green Drives, 4 3TB drives, been trying to determine if these drives have been the root of my problems.
I can tell you for a fact it is the router. I have both gaming routers from d-link here, and they BOTH cause strange/odd/slow/dropped connections with the drobo. The only way I was able to work around it is either getting rid of the router, or plugging a switch into it and having both the drobo and computer on the switch.
