We have had to move a Windows File server off a SAN to a NAS to increase storage and both read and write performance has dropped dramatically and impacting users. I am looking for suggestions on how to increase performance. Even just navigating through the folders in Windows explorer can beOriginally the VM with 5TB storage was on a Fibre Attached SAN to VMWare hosts. I have moved the whole VM to a Qnap TS-1273U-RP with a 10Gbe iSCSI connection to the Vm Host. The TS-1273U-RP as 8 x 10gb Disks in a Raid 6 with 1 x 250gb M.2 SSD cache.Trying to look at all the options of how we can boost performance.1) We have 4 free bays - Adding SSD Drives and using Qtier?2) Adding 4 x large capacity SSD drives and using as primary storage?
Any other suggestions to get the best out of this NAS?
Second question, does the location of the OS make a difference on performance. Eg Store with the File Disk on the NAS or store separately on the SAN.
Doublecheck latest drivers for your network card, also keep an eye on the firmware. Try to find a best practice guide for your storage system, perhaps https://www.netapp.com/media/10720-tr-4067.pdf can help to find some advices
Also have a look on the advanced parameter for tuning in Esxi: https://library.netapp.com/ecmdocs/ECMLP2843689/html/GUID-346ACB95-6AD4-4DEA-8901-C9697AC3530F.html
NFS settings
Net.TcpipHeapSize = 32
Net.TcpipHeapMax = 1536
NFS.MaxVolumes = 256
NFS.MaxQueueDepth = 128
NFS.HeartbeatMaxFailures = 10
NFS.HeartbeatFrequency = 12
NFS.HeartbeatTimeout = 5
These are for NFS, perhaps try that also.
Your VM should have different vmparavirtual Scsi - Adapter for each virtual disk to parallel the IOPS whithin the maschine. Also fragmentation of the disk is an issue, keep your disks defragmented.