TB to GbE insanely slow for time machine

Hello,

Noticed that when using my Thunderbolt > GbE adapter with my rMBP, time machine backups take forever and the data transfer rate is not going much above 1Mbps and frequently dropping to 0 for a few seconds at a time.

I've disabled my wifi to ensure it's not transferring on that interface, and also tried copying a large file between my rMBP and my iMAC which works as expected over the TB>GigE. For some reason though, time machine won't play nice at all.

I backup to a sparsebundle on an external drive connected to my iMac, and both the iMac and rMBP were connected to a Cisco 3550 switch on the GigE ports. I also tried a direct connection between the 2 computers with statically assigned IPs and found the same brutally slow time machine transfers, but normal file copies still go quick as expected. Never had this problem with my old 09 MBP using its integrated ethernet port.

Anyone else noticing this with the TB>GigE adapter or found a workaround? Looked for and found some other threads with similar issues using TB>GigE adapter:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4064294?start=0&tstart=0
http://communities.vmware.com/message/2078219

Thanks,
Matt

theSeb said:

I get around 95 MB/s copying files using the TB --> GbE adaptor to my Synology NAS, which is exactly what I would expect from gigabit Ethernet. The adaptor works perfectly

Time machine is the reason for the slow transfer. I've noticed that whether I backup via USB 2, USB 3 or even to my Pegasus R4 via Thunderbolt, it does not speed up Time Machine that much. It spends a lot of time thinking about what it should do, rather than transferring data, even if it's the initial backup. I can copy 4 GBs to my Pegasus in about 10 seconds, but to backup up 40 GBs using Time Machine to the Pegasus takes a lot longer than 100 seconds.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

Right now time machine backups are consistently transferring at 2MBps (16Mbps) over my 802.11g wireless, but over the TB>GbE I'm getting 1MBps (8Mbps) and it's not consistent. My old 09 MBP was able to get consistent 30MBps (240Mbps) backing up to the same drive on my GigE network.

The drive is a USB2 drive connected to the iMac so the most I'm going to get is about 30 MB/s, and I get that on a direct file transfer across the TB>GbE adapter - It's just time machine backups which are not transferring as they should over the TB>GbE (even though Time Machine is able to saturate my wireless connection without issue)

theSeb said:

Hmmm. That is odd. What are you using to monitor the transfer rates?

Click to expand...

Activity monitor is quick and dirty, however I can pull stats from the switch

This is trying to run a time machine backup with both devices on GigE links, extremely low rate of traffic:

3550_GRMU#show int g0/1 | i rate |Desc
Description: upst_office_IMAC
30 second input rate 135000 bits/sec, 98 packets/sec
30 second output rate 5278000 bits/sec, 452 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#show int g0/2 | i rate |Desc
Description: Temp_rMBP
30 second input rate 5290000 bits/sec, 460 packets/sec
30 second output rate 162000 bits/sec, 107 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#

This is running a time machine backup using 802.11g WiFi on the rMBP, note much more traffic than on the TB>GbE test above:

3550_GRMU#show int g0/1 | i rate |Desc
Description: upst_office_IMAC
30 second input rate 137000 bits/sec, 237 packets/sec
30 second output rate 16910000 bits/sec, 1401 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#
2801_GRMU#show int fa0/3/3 | i rate |Desc
Description: POE_TO_1131AG
30 second input rate 17010000 bits/sec, 1405 packets/sec
30 second output rate 149000 bits/sec, 240 packets/sec
2801_GRMU#


This is copying a large file from the iMac to the rMBP over TB>GbE via Finder, note the expected traffic:

3550_GRMU#show int g0/1 | i rate |Desc
Description: upst_office_IMAC
30 second input rate 254585000 bits/sec, 22789 packets/sec
30 second output rate 12135000 bits/sec, 5722 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#show int g0/2 | i rate |Desc
Description: Temp_rMBP
30 second input rate 12136000 bits/sec, 5727 packets/sec
30 second output rate 254595000 bits/sec, 22795 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#

This is copying a large file from the rMBP to the iMac over TB>GbE via finder, also seeing expected traffic:

3550_GRMU#show int g0/1 | i rate |Desc
Description: upst_office_IMAC
30 second input rate 1591000 bits/sec, 2307 packets/sec
30 second output rate 209031000 bits/sec, 17268 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#show int g0/2 | i rate |Desc
Description: Temp_rMBP
30 second input rate 213369000 bits/sec, 17628 packets/sec
30 second output rate 1571000 bits/sec, 2353 packets/sec
3550_GRMU#

theSeb said:

Hmmm, that looks like there is a bug here somewhere and everything points at Time Machine. There is no reason why you can copy at the normal speed, yet backups are THAT slow. You could double check everything by removing the TB adaptor in network settings and adding it again. Then in TM options set the disk to none and then choose your network location again.

If that fails, then I would submit a bug report to Apple via the feedback page.

I can try this with the NAS on Monday as well to see if I have the same issue.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a try and otherwise will report the bug (may be my first bug report to Apple!)

No such luck, I had tried choosing no drive in TM preferences and reselecting the disc as well as deleting the sparsebundle to prompt it to be recreated but that didn't help.
When I deleted the TB-Ethernet connector and reconnected OSX initially saw it as a Bluetooth PAN adapter (with ethernet settings showing up under advanced > hardware). Corrected that by trashing /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist and rebooting before reinserting TB>GbE, but it's still having the extremely slow performance when trying to TM backup over the TB>GbE adapter.

Guess it's time for a bug report,

Thanks
Matt

xcfmx said:

Are you sure the switchport isn't hardcoded to 10 or 100 Mbps? Could be a mismatch.

Click to expand...

Yup, if I made that mistake I'd be pretty embarrassed config below, remember I get full speed on non time machine transfers so it's not a mismatch or that would be equally affected. (Also these WS-G5483 gbics in the 3550 only do 1000 full)


3550_GRMU#show int g0/1
GigabitEthernet0/1 is up, line protocol is up (connected)
Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000b.469f.9f99 (bia 000b.469f.9f99)
Description: upst_office_IMAC
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 10 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
Keepalive not set
Full-duplex, 1000Mb/s, link type is auto, media type is 1000BaseTX
input flow-control is off, output flow-control is on
ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
1000BaseT module (WS-G5483) in GBIC slot.
Last input never, output 00:00:01, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
30 second input rate 17000 bits/sec, 11 packets/sec
30 second output rate 72000 bits/sec, 12 packets/sec
185750608 packets input, 1428485459 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 19749 broadcasts (0 multicasts)
0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
0 watchdog, 7718 multicast, 0 pause input
0 input packets with dribble condition detected
237520730 packets output, 2603026980 bytes, 0 underruns
0 output errors, 0 collisions, 1 interface resets
0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output
0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

3550_GRMU# show int g0/2
GigabitEthernet0/2 is down, line protocol is down (notconnect)
Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000b.469f.9f9a (bia 000b.469f.9f9a)
Description: Temp_rMBP
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 10 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
Keepalive not set
Auto-duplex, Auto-speed, link type is auto, media type is 1000BaseTX
input flow-control is off, output flow-control is off
ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
1000BaseT module (WS-G5483) in GBIC slot.
Last input never, output 1d05h, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
30 second input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
30 second output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
8813771 packets input, 1050149368 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 2832 broadcasts (0 multicasts)
0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
0 watchdog, 2028 multicast, 0 pause input
0 input packets with dribble condition detected
11186373 packets output, 1238784169 bytes, 0 underruns
0 output errors, 0 collisions, 1 interface resets
0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output
0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

3550_GRMU#show run int g0/1
Building configuration...

Current configuration : 159 bytes
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
description upst_office_IMAC
switchport access vlan 69
switchport mode access
load-interval 30
spanning-tree portfast
end


3550_GRMU#show run int g0/2
Building configuration...

Current configuration : 152 bytes
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
description Temp_rMBP
switchport access vlan 69
switchport mode access
load-interval 30
spanning-tree portfast
end


3550_GRMU#show int g0/1 cap
GigabitEthernet0/1
Model: WS-C3550-24
Type: 1000BaseTX
Speed: 1000
Duplex: full
Trunk encap. type: 802.1Q,ISL
Trunk mode: on,off,desirable,nonegotiate
Channel: yes
Broadcast suppression: percentage(0-100)
Flowcontrol: rx-(off,on,desired),tx-(off,on,desired)
Fast Start: yes
QOS scheduling: rx-(1q0t),tx-(4q2t),tx-(1p3q2t)
CoS rewrite: yes
ToS rewrite: yes
UDLD: yes
Inline power: no
SPAN: source/destination
PortSecure: yes
Dot1x: yes

3550_GRMU#show int g0/2 cap
GigabitEthernet0/2
Model: WS-C3550-24
Type: 1000BaseTX
Speed: 1000
Duplex: full
Trunk encap. type: 802.1Q,ISL
Trunk mode: on,off,desirable,nonegotiate
Channel: yes
Broadcast suppression: percentage(0-100)
Flowcontrol: rx-(off,on,desired),tx-(off,on,desired)
Fast Start: yes
QOS scheduling: rx-(1q0t),tx-(4q2t),tx-(1p3q2t)
CoS rewrite: yes
ToS rewrite: yes
UDLD: yes
Inline power: no
SPAN: source/destination
PortSecure: yes
Dot1x: yes
3550_GRMU#

theSeb said:

Hmmm, that looks like there is a bug here somewhere and everything points at Time Machine. There is no reason why you can copy at the normal speed, yet backups are THAT slow. You could double check everything by removing the TB adaptor in network settings and adding it again. Then in TM options set the disk to none and then choose your network location again.

If that fails, then I would submit a bug report to Apple via the feedback page.

I can try this with the NAS on Monday as well to see if I have the same issue.

Click to expand...

Curious if you had a chance to try this with the NAS? I got my CTO 16/2.6/512 rMBP yesterday and it's doing the same thing as the 8/2.6/215 machine when I try a time machine backup over the TB>GbE adapter.

Thanks
Matt

theSeb said:

I completely forgot about this. I shall definitely try it tonight. I am putting a remainder in.

Edit: It is now later tonight and I've tried it using my Synology DS1511+. I watching it now and I am peaking at around 80 MB/s, but I only took a screenshot when it was 56 MB/s.

Click to expand...

Thanks, good to know it's working with your NAS. I'll do some more tests with a direct file copy into a sparse bundle to see if I can recreate it without timemachine being involved... Regardless I guess it's time to submit that bug report (or buy a NAS)

Matt