MacPro4,1 & MacPro5,1 networking speed seriously limited (Mavericks)

[mikeboss]

much to my surprise, I wasn't able to find anything about this on the net:

for me, outbound (from the Mac Pro's perspective) network throughput is seriously crippled under Mavericks. it's impossible to reach 10 MB/Sec whereas inbound it's no problem to get 90+ MB/Sec. turns out it's the "Intel82574L.kext" which seems to be broken. I replaced it with the kext from OS X 10.8.5 and voila: I can reach 90 MB/Sec in both directions again...

regards,
michael

 

[h9826790]

This is the speed test between my 4,1 (10.9.3 Build 13D61) and the Time Capsule (Last generation), even though the write speed it much less than the read speed, but it looks normal to me. May try to replaced the kext file an do another test later on.



Is this the same faulty kext version as yours?

 

[mikeboss]

yes, V 2.6.2 gives low network throughput. with V 2.3.0 (from Mountain Lion) all is good. I also run Windows 7 and Linux on the Mac Pro and the performance I'm seeing with these operating systems is perfectly okay.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks, will try to find the V2.3.0 to test it. I didn't keep the copy from ML, hopefully not very hard to get it via Internet.

 

[mikeboss]

here's a copy:

 

[h9826790]

Thank's! It save me lots of time. I am now going to work, and will test the result after back home.

 

[h9826790]

It has no effect on my machine.

 

[mikeboss]

okay, I tested this again. I did a fresh install (NOT upgrade) of Mavericks 10.9.3 and pulled a file from the Mac Pro. ethernet gigabit connection between the two Macs, NO network switch this time, just the cable between the two Macs. I tested with a MacPro5,1 and a second MacPro (4,1 flashed to 5,1). both show the exact same behavior, so it's not a faulty hardware. I also used two different machines to pull the file from the Mac Pro, same result.

here's the result with "Intel82574L.kext" V 2.6.2

afterwards I re-ran the test using the "Intel82574L.kext" V 2.3.0 from Mountain Lion

 

[h9826790]

May be because of my Time Capsule HDD limit the write speed. Therefore I can't see the difference.

 

[mikeboss]

It has no effect on my machine.

just to be sure: you did rebuild kext-cache after replacing the extension, right?

 

[h9826790]

just to be sure: you did rebuild kext-cache after replacing the extension, right?

It is required in Mavericks? I think Lion or above no need to do that anymore.

Anyway, I remove the kext-cache, reboot it, and test again. Still no change.

 

[bxs]

much to my surprise, I wasn't able to find anything about this on the net:

for me, outbound (from the Mac Pro's perspective) network throughput is seriously crippled under Mavericks. it's impossible to reach 10 MB/Sec whereas inbound it's no problem to get 90+ MB/Sec. turns out it's the "Intel82574L.kext" which seems to be broken. I replaced it with the kext from OS X 10.8.5 and voila: I can reach 90 MB/Sec in both directions again...

regards,
michael

Hmmmm, I'm seeing the exact opposite to what you've observed.

In my case I ran AJA from my MP6,1 running 10.9.3 to read/write to my MP5,1 running 10.9.3.

The two machines are connected via their bonded 2x ethernet ports through a Cisco 18-port managed switch.

I setup to run AJA so it wrote and read 1GB files on the MP5,1's OWC's PCIe 960GB SSD.

The write rate over the bonded ethernet was 100.5 MBytes/sec and the read rate was an abysmal 8.3 MBytes/sec.

Definitely something wrong here for sure.

Thanks for alerting us about this.

I'm contacting Apple Tech support about this issue and will post back later. This is a bummer and a bad issue if its indeed widespread.

 

[h9826790]

Hmmmm, I'm seeing the exact opposite to what you've observed.

I think you are actually in the same situation as mikeboss.

He ran the test on his 5,1 and 4,1.

Your download speed on the 6,1 is very slow means that the upload speed on your 5,1 is very slow. Same as he observation.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

I dont have this problem, but i have disabled the SMB function under Sharing. So the sharing runs only over the AFP protocol.

Mac Pro 5,1 to Mac Pro 3,1 over bonded 2x ethernet on both Macs. System is 10.9.3 and 10.9.2 on the "Server".

 

[bxs]

I dont have this problem, but i have disabled the SMB function under Sharing. so the sharing runs only over the AFP protocol.

Mac Pro 5,1 to Mac Pro 3,1 over bonded 2x ethernet on both Macs

Thanks.... for sharing that.

How did you disable the SMD function under Sharing... I assume this was done using the Sharing pref panel and selecting File Sharing and the Options... button, right ?

 

[TzunamiOSX]

Thanks.... for sharing that.

How did you disable the SMD function under Sharing... I assume this was done using the Sharing pref panel and selecting File Sharing and the Options... button, right ?

Right, then remove the checkmark for SMB

You must remove th checkmark on both Macs, i hope this will help to push the transferrate.

 

[mikeboss]

Right, then remove the checkmark for SMB

You must remove th checkmark on both Macs, i hope this will help to push the transferrate.

funny thing is: if I'm pulling a file using a windows 7 client the speed is almost 100MB/Sec. even if there's an untouched Mavericks 10.9.3 running on the Mac Pro "server".

I tried it with disabling SMB, but only on the "server". will re-run the test with SMB disabled on both server and client.

----------

It is required in Mavericks? I think Lion or above no need to do that anymore.

I'n not sure about this TBH. I editetd "IOAHCIBlockStorage" so TRIM will be enabled and then just rebooted. TRIM was still not active until I did rebuild kext-cache so I assumed it is still necessary...

 

[bxs]

Thanks.... for sharing that.

How did you disable the SMD function under Sharing... I assume this was done using the Sharing pref panel and selecting File Sharing and the Options... button, right ?

OK, just got off the telephone with Apple Tech about this issue. I allowed them to screen share my system and they obtained a screen recording while I ran the AJA test.

With SMB disabled on both MacPros the read rate went up to around 50 Mbytes/sec. So this is better than the 8.3 MBytes/sec with SMB enabled.

They (Apple) were happy to get the information and I passed along much of what is posted here by others as well.

My case # is 612544370. Apple will get back to me on or before next Tues at 11am.

[EDIT]
One thing I noted with SMB being disabled at both ends was that the read rate for about the first half of the AJA read test was around 102 Mbytes/sec, but as the second half of the read test proceeded the read rate fell off quickly and badly to around 40 to 50 MBytes/sec. It was if there was some kind of throttle to the reading activity.

 

[bxs]

I dont have this problem, but i have disabled the SMB function under Sharing. So the sharing runs only over the AFP protocol.

Mac Pro 5,1 to Mac Pro 3,1 over bonded 2x ethernet on both Macs. System is 10.9.3 and 10.9.2 on the "Server".

OK I performed same test using MP6,1 running 10.9.3 with SMB disabled and an 27" iMac running 10.9.2 with SMB disabled. The LAN was a bonded 2x ethernet between both Macs.

Read and write rates were as before when all Mac in office were running 10.9.2 with all having SMB enabled.

Using AJA the Read rate was 110.2 MBytes/sec and for Writes it was 93.2 MBytes/sec. I ran the test just once.

 

[bxs]

More testing done

I had three Macs connected via bond pairs of ethernet in my office

1) 27-inch iMac (3.4GHz, 20GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive)
2) MacPro6,1 (late 2013, 12core/1TB SSD/Dual D700s/64GB RAM)
3) MP5,1 (1TB SSD, 12cores at 2.93GHz, 64GB RAM)

The network tests were all performed on the MP6,1 running 10.9.3 using the AJA System Test (Version 6.0.1)

Prior to upgrading any of the Macs to 10.9.3 with all of these Macs running 10.9.2 Build 13C1021 the AJA read and write rates across the LAN between any two pairs of Macs was of the order of 110 MBytes/sec for both read and writes.

With the MP6,1 running 10.9.3 and the MP5,1 running 10.9.3 the AJA test results and with SMB enabled the write rate from MP6,1 to MP5,1 was around 105 MBytes/sec and the read rate from MP5,1 to MP6,1 was around 8.3 MBytes/sec. This read rate was unacceptable and so I investigated to understand why the read rate was more than 10x worse than under 10.9.2.

What I found was that if I disabled SMB on the MP5,1 running 10.9.3 the read rate using AJA on the MP6,1 would be improved to around 40 to 50 MBytes/sec.

Because of this network performance issue I did not update the 27-inch iMac from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3.

I now ran four (4) AJA tests on the MP6,1 running 10.9.3. The AJA test was configured to write to and read from the 27-inch iMac running 10.9.2. Each test was a different SMB configurations as shown below.

SMB Disabled on both the MP6,1 and iMac
Read: 110.6 MBytes/sec
Write: 95.2 MBytes/sec

SMB Enabled on the iMac and SMB Disabled on the MP6,1
Read: 110.6 MBytes/sec
Write: 103.5 MBytes/sec

SMB Enabled on both the iMac and MP6,1
Read: 110.6 MBytes/sec
Write: 95.3 MBytes/sec

SMB Enabled on MP6,1 and Disabled on the iMac
Read: 110.6 MBytes/sec
Write: 95.0 MBytes/sec

 

[TzunamiOSX]

Now i have tested with 1.9.3 on server and client, no differece (smb off).

Perhaps the switch have a problem. Test a direct connect between the two Macs.

My Switch is a TP-Link JetStream 16-Port-Gigabit-L2-Managed-Switch.

 

[bxs]

Now i have tested with 1.9.3 on server and client, no differece (smb off).

Perhaps the switch have a problem. Test a direct connect between the two Macs.

My Switch is a TP-Link JetStream 16-Port-Gigabit-L2-Managed-Switch.

I have three Macs connected via bond pairs of ethernet in my office

1) Name: Saturn: 27-inch iMac (3.4GHz, 20GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive)
2) Name: Titan: MacPro6,1 (late 2013, 12core/1TB SSD/Dual D700s/64GB RAM)
3) Name: Mercury: MP5,1 (1TB SSD, 12cores at 2.93GHz, 64GB RAM)

Regardless of any combination of SMB being Enabled or Disabled on any of my Macs it appears that only when Mercury is the Server the read rates can be as low as 8.3 MB/s with SMB Enabled and no higher than 50 MB/s when SMB Disabled.

So my issue at least, is ONLY when Mercury is the Server.

I will test later with Mercury as Server and Titan as Client with both being directly attached via ethernet to eliminate the Cisco managed 18-port switch.

 

[TzunamiOSX]

I have three Macs connected via bond pairs of ethernet in my office

1) Name: Saturn: 27-inch iMac (3.4GHz, 20GB RAM, 1TB Fusion drive)
2) Name: Titan: MacPro6,1 (late 2013, 12core/1TB SSD/Dual D700s/64GB RAM)
3) Name: Mercury: MP5,1 (1TB SSD, 12cores at 2.93GHz, 64GB RAM)

Regardless of any combination of SMB being Enabled or Disabled on any of my Macs it appears that only when Mercury is the Server the read rates can be as low as 8.3 MB/s with SMB Enabled and no higher than 50 MB/s when SMB Disabled.

So my issue at least, is ONLY when Mercury is the Server.

I will test later with Mercury as Server and Titan as Client with both being directly attached via ethernet to eliminate the Cisco managed 18-port switch.

And also Test 2 different pair of cables.

 

[bxs]

Will be having discussion with Apple Tech support today at 11am as they have feedback from Engineering about this issue. I will post back here what transpires.

 

[mikeboss]

very curious about what engineering has to say about this...