tcp/ip tuning for better NAS performance
How do I tune the network parameters to get better transfer rates to and from an ethernet connected NAS?
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Question marked as
Ensure your NAS software is current.
First step is to check if the management software on the NAS is using SMB3 protocol. MacOS will autosense SMB1/2/3. I have a Synology DiskStation here that at one time, had to run with SMB1 for local Windows XP clients and Macs. Forgot that this was set when all the XP clients were upgraded, and eventually changed this to SMB3 with improvements in performance.
MacOS also inspects each SMB packet with packet signing on SMB2 and SMB3 connections. If this is a home network that you consider secure, then here is Apple's article: Turn off packet signing for SMB 2 and SMB 3 connections.
You may be able to performance tune your Ethernet Hardware MTU. I used How to determine the proper MTU size with ICMP pings. This is in the Network Preferences : Advanced : Hardware tab. This may or may not improve SMB n, and any AppleShare/tcp-ip connections that you have with the opensource AppleShare on that NAS.
In the Terminal, there is a man page for nsmb.conf (5), and there is enough information in that to determine whether you sink or swim with the settings applied. This /etc/nsmb.conf does not exist until you create it.