SmallNetBuilder

Performance

Since we received one of the first NSS4000's available for review, Linksys had to scramble a bit to provide it with four drives for our testing. Figure 6 shows the mix of drives provided. We used our standard procedure and ran tests in JBOD and RAID 5 modes with 100, 1000 Mbps and 1000 Mbps with 4k jumbo frames LAN connections.

Figure 6: Drive configuration for performance test

Figure 7 shows the RAID 5 Write results for the NSS compared with the Thecus 1U4500 and Infrant 1100 rackmount NASes, with a gigabit 4k jumbo frame LAN connection. A line for maximum 100 Mbps Ethernet throughput is included for reference. The NSS has the lowest write performance for all file sizes except 32 MB.

Figure 7: 1000 Mbps 4k Jumbo RAID 5 Write performance comparison

Read results are a bit better, with the NSS holding its own with the Thecus for both 32 and 64 MB file sizes. But for 128 MB and larger files, it again drops to last place.

Figure 8: 1000Mbps 4k Jumbo RAID 5 Read performance comparison

Some readers have expressed interest in NAS performance using smaller file sizes than the 32 MB to 1 GB that we have used to date. So, even though small file size performance is more of a reflection of OS and NAS cache performance, we recently added a new mode to the NAS Performance Charts. This "Small File size" mode shows data using file sizes from 64 KB to 16 MB, which is reflected in Figures 9 and 10.

Figure 9: 1000Mbps 4k Jumbo RAID 5 Write performance comparison - small file sizes

Using the smaller file sizes produces dramatically different results, with the NSS taking a large write performance lead over the Thecus 1U4500. The Thecus takes the lead when reading, however, with the NSS in close pursuit.

Figure 10: 1000Mbps 4k Jumbo RAID 5 Read performance comparison - small file sizes

You can use explore how the NSS stacks up against other NASes or just explore other modes and LAN speeds by creating your own comparative charts using the NAS Performance Charts.