Sun StorageTek[TM] 5000 Series NAS: Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Asset ID:	1-75-1011355.1
Update Date:	2017-08-17
Keywords:

Solution Type Troubleshooting Sure

Solution 1011355.1 : Sun StorageTek[TM] 5000 Series NAS: Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Applies to:

Sun Storage 5320 NAS Appliance - Version All Versions and later
Sun Storage 5210 NAS Appliance - Version All Versions and later
Sun Storage 5220 NAS Appliance - Version All Versions and later
Sun Storage 5310 NAS Appliance - Version All Versions and later
Sun Storage 5310 NAS Gateway System - Version All Versions and later
All Platforms

Purpose

Techniques to assist in troubleshooting performance issues.

Troubleshooting Steps

Symptoms:

NAS 5000 poor performance
file copy is slow
access is slow

Purpose/scope:

This document defines a step-by-step procedure for troubleshooting performance issues on the NAS. It is primarily focused on file copy performance to and from NFS and CIFS clients, though many of the recommendations will be useful for other issues.

The document links to several Technical Instructions with the individual procedures for each step.

This issue will normally be reported as "file copy is slow", "performance is poor" or "access is slow". In severe cases, it may also be reported that the system or data service has hung.

Steps to Follow
Please follow each troubleshooting step below. The steps will provide instructions or a link to a document to collect data, validate the data and take corrective action as necessary. The steps are ordered in the most appropriate sequence to isolate the issue and identify the proper resolution. Please do not skip a step.

Step 1 - Verify speed and duplex settings at both the NAS and the network switch. Also, note that network clients have the same requirements, and may also be the source of the problem. See Document 1011070.1

Step 2 - Verify network settings and check for network errors. Misconfiguration and network errors are a common cause of poor performance. See Document 1008489.1

Step 3 - Ensure Operating system and storage firmware are updated to current revisions. Please contact Sun Support Services if you cannot access any content returned by this search. There have been a number of performance-related enhancements as we develop new ways to improve the product. Both OS and backend firmware are included in the software update links. Follow the instructions and apply all updates.

Step 4 - Verify that volume and LUN layout is optimally configured. Well-planned initial configuration of LUNs and volumes can improve performance significantly. For NFS clients, verify read and write blocksize. We recommend setting NFS clients to use a 32K blocksize for both reads and writes. This is normally done by adding rsize=32768, wsize=32768 to the mount options

Step 5 - Verify that sufficient free space is available and check files per directory. Each volume must have some free space for file operations and internal databases. A very large number of files in a single shared directory can also negatively affect performance. See Document 1012873.1

Step 6 - Verify disk space used for Checkpoints. Checkpoints, if not properly managed can take a large amount of disk space and slow the entire system. See Document 1004363.1

Step 7 - Confirm that cache is enabled and LUN are optimal. A problem in either of these areas will cause extreme performance degradation until corrected. See Document 1011368.1

Step 8 - Check background processes and CPU utilization. Other system and user processes may be consuming CPU cycles and other system resources. Also, keep in mind that initializing new LUNs or performing other storage maintenance operations may have a negative effect on disk performance. See Document 1017984.1

Step 9 - Collect the NAS extractor, diagnostic and backend performance statistics to prepare for a support case or escalation. The diagnostic collection should be done while the performance problem is present

Step 10 - Collect support data from the storage. If the issue is storage-based, this will help the Engineer to resolve the issue. Note that this procedure will not work for Gateway configurations. In this case, collect the data directly from the backend storage using the provided management tools. See Document 1002481.1

Step 11 - Collect a network trace. Follow the instructions to set up a trace, set the filter to capture only traffic between the NAS and the workstation performing the file copy or other problematic operation. Start the trace, create the problem, then stop the trace. See Document 1004130.1

Step 12 - At this point, if you not been able to resolve the issue with the troubleshooting steps above, further troubleshooting is required. Contact Sun Support and be prepared to provide the data collected in the above steps.

Product
Sun StorageTek 5320 NAS Gateway/Cluster System
Sun StorageTek 5320 NAS Appliance
Sun StorageTek 5320
Sun StorageTek 5310 NAS Gateway/Cluster System
Sun StorageTek 5310 NAS Gateway System
Sun StorageTek 5310 NAS Appliance
Sun StorageTek 5220 NAS Appliance
Sun StorageTek 5210 NAS Appliance

Internal Comments
This document contains normalized content and is managed by the the Domain Lead(s) of the respective domains. To notify content owners of a knowledge gap contained in this document, and/or prior to updating this document, please contact the domain engineers that are managing this document via the Document Feedback alias(es) listed below:

NAS, normalized, CIFS, NFS, performance, slow, file copy, access
Previously Published As
90529

Change History
Date: 2010-01-13
User Name: Will Harper
Action: Currency check
Comment: Checked all links, all current

*** Reviewed for currency on 21-Aug-2014 ***

*** Reviewed for currency on 01-Mar-2016 ***

*** Reviewed for currency on 17-AUG-2017***

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