Improving NAS performance

[tekguru]

I'm looking to improve NAS performance and speed up the machine to get the best out of the resources. I own a DS918+ and the packages I've got installed are:

I'm considering:

• OAuth Service - Is this really needed and can it be safely removed?
• Log Center - For day to day operation can it be disabled, or is that not wise?
• Antivirus Essential - As you can see I've got this turned this off. I've full powerful AVs running on all client machines so I don't think it's needful.
• PHP 7.4 - Needed by Web Station, but I could upgrade to PHP 8.0, however this means both PHP systems would be running in parallel which I guess would take more resources?

I can't see anything else I can change to save resources? Any suggestions guys re the above or any settings changes?

 

[Rusty]

AV is one thing that I always found "wtf", but I'm a Mac user so AV is not something that I ever looked at as something mandatory. I don't have it on any of my boxes (ever).

Log Center will not "save" you in terms of resources as the default Log center will still run in the background and this "enhanced version" will just remove some added features.

Oauth I think is one of those "built-in" services that you will not be able to remove.

PHP x version (other than those that you have installed) can't be removed as the OS uses them under the hood (even outside WebStation being installed), just presented inside the Package Center (like File Station for example).

This is all part of the DSM separation of specific apps/modules in order to be able to patch and maintain them as separate entities.

From the list that you have written not sure that many will "help" you with your current situation. Better results will be with some other "heavy hitters" that are installed/running (or were running until the 16th).

 

[tekguru]

Yep that is what I thought may well be the situation. The only 'heavy hitters' I've not re-enabled are Docker and Homebridge which ran under docker.
I did look to try the Synology Homebridge Package again to see if it used less resource but alas it fails with the FFmpeg package not fully working with it.
It looks like I'll have to stay as I am for the moment....
Thanks for the input.

 

[tekguru]

Well after a lot of DDGo'ing (never ever Google LOL) I think I've found two possible solutions that seem to be making a heck of a difference:

1. Cloud Sync - evidently if left to be on automatic even with only a few files to sync it causes a lot of IOW issues. I've now scheduled that to run during the nighttime hours.
2. I came across this article, which was referenced on Reddit (link alas lost), and as well as helping disk access it also reportedly fixed IOW issues for the user concerned.

My settings were:

and I've now changed them to:

Are there any other changes I should make in here? Or should large MTU be turned back on and encryption mode left off?

And speeds when copying data of the NAS seem a lot faster, and IOW definitely has been improved:

 

[Rusty]

Are there any other changes I should make in here? Or should large MTU be turned back on and encryption mode left off?

Good find on the Sync front. Pets I have smb encryption also off if that helps

 

[Jan Janowski]

As a comparison Here: My 718+ Installed packages here, and with extra 4GB Ram CPU reports 4% and Ram 6% usage.
(This is with 13 cameras ftp'ing Pics to 718+, 3 Cams creating/storing 1080 Video via SS, and 4 shared folder sync's going on in background -1 out to 2 other NAS's, and 1 incoming from 2 different NAS's.. )

 

[tekguru]

Thanks guys, I'll leave the settings as they are now.

IOW now looking to vary between 4-13%, User / System load 0 /1 %

Very VERY pleased with myself! I can't believe the difference. You can see it clearly here:

 

[EAZ1964]

well done.
You can improve web server/php performance a lot when these are on a SSD volume. Mainly because PHP has so many small files and access time starts counting.

 

[tekguru]

Cheers
I wish I could afford to go SSD but alas it'll never happen

 

[tekguru]

Thinking on doing a bit more tidying up, as we've no windows devices in the household (we're all Mac, iPhone, etc) can these be turned off?

Is it worthwhile turning drive hibernation off? The drives are supposed to be enterprise drives, and I'm thinking hibernation is therefore not needed. It may help forum / PHP performance?

The NAS / Drives were advertised as:

• Synology DiskStation DS918+ installed with 4 x 3TB Seagate IronWolf Hard Drives
• The Power of Agility for Home, SOHO, and SMB NAS Enclosures
• IronWolf is designed for everything NAS. Get used to tough, ready, and scalable 24×7 performance that can handle multi-drive environments across a wide range of capacities.
• Optimised for NAS with AgileArray.
• Actively protect your NAS with IronWolf Health Management.
• High performance means no lag time or downtime for users during workload traffic for the NAS.
• Seagate Rescue Data Recovery.
• Rotational Vibration (RV) sensors.
• Do more in multi-user environments.
• Designed for always on, always accessible 24×7 performance.

NAS loads are now looking fantastic, and this is with Docker / Homebridge running too!

 

[Jan Janowski]

I turned my hibernation off, then forgot to check on it later (!!) to see if it improved anything. Seeing that I dropped the ball, if it is still fresh in your mind….. How’d it go?
Thanks!

In another direction: I now have a script file saved to remove hybrid share, when it pops up again.
And have active insight off, too. No cloud.
Other than those two, I haven’t done much other exams on what can be disabled.

 

[tekguru]

Okay I've just turned hibernation of now so we'll see how it goes. Any ideas on the Windows settings?

I'd be very interested in that script to remove hybrid share. Is it easy to use?

Active Insight I uninstalled.

 

[Jan Janowski]

I’m not home now, but will post it later tonight.
We have windows computers but iPhone’s.

 

[tekguru]

No rush

Ah ha so you'll have those options turned on then I guess.

 

[Jan Janowski]

List of what’s running is above

 

[Jan Janowski]

To remove hybrid share...
Task Scheduler... Create a timed script file that runs once, with Root permission...
Add this:

/usr/syno/bin/synopkg uninstall HybridShare

save and run it manually...
Then...
Remove the checkmark so it won't run ever again, but will remain and if Hybrid Share shows up again you have the script file saved for manual running use again!

BE CAREFUL CREATING SCRIPT FILES WITH ROOT PERMISSION!!!

 

[Gerard]

NAS loads are now looking fantastic, and this is with Docker / Homebridge running too!

View attachment 11137

What did you do or what was it to get it down to this level?

 

[Telos]

Any ideas on the Windows settings?

You can safely disable both of those.

 

[Jan Janowski]

Question for you. I create icons on Windows 7 & 10 computers that do login & password to NAS for file access & use Synology Assistant for login to NAS & Router systems. Therefore I don’t need any Windows settings either, right?

 

[tekguru]

To remove hybrid share...
Task Scheduler... Create a timed script file that runs once, with Root permission...
Add this:
/usr/syno/bin/synopkg uninstall HybridShare

Brilliant it worked perfectly, many thanks.

You can safely disable both of those.

I had thought so - I actually disabled them last night No ill effects....

Question for you. I create icons on Windows 7 & 10 computers that do login & password to NAS for file access & use Synology Assistant for login to NAS & Router systems. Therefore I don’t need any Windows settings either, right?

I'd think not, you can always try turning them off and turn them on again if you have any issues.

What did you do or what was it to get it down to this level?

The changes made were:

1. Cloud Sync - I only use it to back up 'critical' files to OneDrive and Dropbox so changed the scheduling so it only runs for an hour during the night. Even if it was set to only operate when files changed it sat there eating resources.
2. Re-planned when Hyper-Backup ran so it only ran overnight
3. Changed TimeMachine on the Mac so it only ran at times that didn't conflict with any other services.

The worst culprit was Cloud Sync that caused a massive increase in IOW when running.

Oh on the Hibernation I did turn that off last night and noticed immediately that accessing the forum is now immediate without any delay. Prior to changing that there was always a 3-4 second delay in loading the initial page which I'd put down to caching within phpBB, now I know it was the HD's.
I'm still a little concerned over turning it off affecting the longevity of the drives so I've set them to hibernate after 3 hours.