Speed Testing

[djoshi]

Hi,

I got an old PC, with a Gig Ethernet network card.

This week, I will be getting the PC ready in my office, but the final placement will be kept in the outer building. The connection to the outer building will be ethernet , but via a power, line using a power socket adaptor.

I would like to test the max speed that can be achieved from my office to the outer building.

Is there a tool in the TrueNas or is there a way to test the speed?

 

[jgreco]

So it's not via ethernet, but rather via power line modem. This won't be particularly fast or reliable, just so you know.

You can use the usual tools such as iperf3 to see how well the power line modem connection works.

Since you didn't say what the "Gig Ethernet network card" is, that may be an additional point of poor performance. Common PC ethernet cards include stuff like the Realteks, which are really crummy in many cases.

 

[djoshi]

This is what intend to use

Power Line Adaptor


I am using Gigbit TP-Link Network card

 

[djoshi]

Sorry its the 1gbit version not 600mbits

Power Line Adaptor

 

[sretalla]

You will rarely get the advertised speeds from those (unless the 2 plugs are in the same room). Expect half at maximum.

 

[Kailee71]

Also be aware that this is a shared medium technology. If this power line is going out of the building and in the next, the carrying medium might be accessible by others. It's not quite like putting your ethernet switch on your doorstep, but also not a million miles away from that. Just saying.

Wifi with two proper endpoints might be more reliable and secure.

 

[jgreco]

Aren't they supposed to be paired with encryption these days?

 

[Kailee71]

As always jgreco you're 100% correct, but I just wanted to point out that there is a potential security issue there, especially if using older hardware.

 

[djoshi]

Hi

Its a fairly new device.

In terms of security, the outer building power lines come out from my home,.

Does TrueNas offer a encryption options?

Would we need to install something on each PC?

 

[jgreco]

As always jgreco you're 100% correct, but I just wanted to point out that there is a potential security issue there, especially if using older hardware.

Fair enough. These devices seemed to gain encryption later than they probably should have, given that wifi had worked out a lot of details, and these are generally simpler devices. I've only done this a few times over the years, and I bet I have an unsafe pair of them in inventory somewhere...

Does TrueNas offer a encryption options?

Would we need to install something on each PC?

Well, the question of "Does TrueNAS offer an encryption option" is beside the point, since we're talking about general layer 2 security here.

Samba does have native support for SMB encryption if the client supports it. I've never looked at this in detail, and it is unclear to me what the status of this in TrueNAS is. Other protocols such as NFS are not encrypted. You can, however, run a VPN connection to guarantee encryption.

 

[djoshi]

I have managed to install and setup a TrueNAS on my old PC.

If the NAS is placed in my office and I was to preform a speed test using "Open Speed Test" Plugin.

I was able to achieve the following using my main PC:

844 Mbps Upload
976 Mbps download.

If the NAS is then placed in my outer building, the speeds drop to:

87 Mbps upload
74 Mbps download


This proves those power adaptors are not very reliable for speed. It seems that now I will keep the NAS in my office, with a office site backup to one of my cloud based storages.


When the NAS is placed in my office, other PCS which are also in my office that use a Gibit Ethernet, were also slow as it achieved an average of 400-600 Mbs . Can it be possible that i need to change a setting on those PC's?

Thanks

 

[jgreco]

It depends very much on many factors, including the kind of ethernet adapters you've got. Most PC's do not come with Intel ethernet chipsets, and have Realtek, Atheros, etc., which tend to suck. Just because your PC "supports gigabit" doesn't mean it can actually hit it.

 

[djoshi]

The PC where I am getting a good performance uses Realtek, is anything I can check on my other PCs settings etc?