Why are SMB connections so much slower than AFP on my Mac Servers?

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Level 1

27 points

Why are SMB connections so much slower than AFP on my Mac Servers?

I work in a school with a mix of Mac and PC clients and servers. My Mac servers all serve out file sharing to both AFP and SMB. When my Mac clients connect to the Mac servers via SMB, it takes several seconds, sometimes up to a minute before the login screen appears. When I connect via AFP, the login window appears instantaneously. I have also noticed that when the Macs connect to Windows servers, which are obviously SMB, the same long delay occurs. It's manageable, but because it's so quick with AFP, I wonder why the delay?

My biggest concern is that Yosemite connects via SMB by default. Right now everyone is running Mavericks, which will still assume you're asking it to connect via AFP when you don't specify the afp:// in the address. My Yosemite beta machine does the opposite, it assumes SMB when the address doesn't specify. When all my clients make the switch next year, I'm expecting much longer than usual connection times for my mac users who are not technically inclined and who are used to just typing a word or phrase in the "Connect to:" dialog box, rather than an actual address (such as afp://server, they would currently just type "server" and it fills in the rest for them).

Thanks for any help with this. I would love to find out how to speed up the SMB connections.

Mac mini, OS X Server, OS X 10.9.4 with Server 3.1.2 running on a Mac mini

Posted on Oct 13, 2014 9:26 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Oct 13, 2014 1:38 PM in response to atoss

Performance Tuning the Network Stack

SMB server browsing woefully slow

mac os x slow copy file from Samba Server

Fix slow network file transfers across Mac OSX Lion

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Answer 2

atoss Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 23, 2014 11:23 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you for the list of links. They were all very interesting, but I'm not sure they applied to my circumstances. For one, it's worth noting that my issue is not with browsing, copying, or otherwise using the SMB shares. Once connected, the SMB shares and AFP shares work exactly the same way and with the same speed. The issue is solely with connecting. When attempting to connect (command-k), AFP connections are a split-second away from the login screen, whereas the SMB connections can take about 30+ seconds to show me the login screen (and it may be getting worse). This issue is true for Macs connecting to Windows servers as well as Mac servers via SMB. However, Windows connecting to SMB shares join instantly. It's very perplexing.

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Answer 3

hp79

Level 1

10 points

Feb 13, 2015 11:03 AM in response to atoss

I have this exact same problem ever since I switched to OSX in late 2013, and when I search, everyone is answering how to fix a slow transfer speed. As OP asked, I also don't have any problems once connected. It's the connecting process at the very first time that is painfully slow. I'm going to ask again, are there any solutions to this where it stays on "Connecting..." menu for at least 10 seconds before I can access the folders and files?

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Answer 4

Dbassi

Level 1

0 points

Mar 24, 2015 11:49 AM in response to atoss

try http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/46446-slow-mac-connection-to-smb-shares-s low-browsing

worked incredibly well for me.

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2016 3:12 PM in response to Dbassi

Dead link.

Its March 2016 our Mac's are on El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65) and we still have glacial file listing of SMB shares...

iPhones & iPads of all vintages can connect/browse/transfer files on these SMB shares without problem.
Linux & BSD clients have no problem connecting & browsing the SMB shares on our server.
FTP file listings & transfers are lightning fast on the Macs so we know its not our server or our LAN infrastructure.
AFP client on MacOS seems to have been deliberately crippled by Apple as we cannot connect to AFP shares at all now. 'Deprecated' say's Apple.

The internet is littered with reports of this problem dating as far back as MacOS 10.7 ( year : 2011) onwards.

We have tried literally every vood-doo 'fix' which can be found via search engines.

None work now.

Five years is too long for us to put up with an OS level fundamental network connectivity problem.

Reluctantly we begin replacing our Mac's with Linux or BSD clients. Of course once the Macs are gone the allure of the iDevices starts to fade also and they will likely be replaced with other devices in time.

Is anyone at Apple listening?

Doubt it..

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Answer 6

atoss Author

Level 1

27 points

Mar 31, 2016 5:23 AM in response to Chris2kari

So, your problem is with AFP shares? This original post was about SMB shares. Incidentally, I think the issue I originally described in this post has, over time, resolved itself. All the Macs are on a mix of Yosemite and El Capitan now, many of them completely re-imaged, and our network admin has been 'tweaking' the network for while. I don't know what the magic juju was, but SMB is much more reasonable now. Still marginally slower than AFP, but negligible. However, that brings me to this point:

As you say, AFP is 'Depreciated,' since the release of Yosemite more or less finalized the shift of the default protocol to SMB3. However, for us, AFP is still the fastest and most reliable protocol to use for Macs on our network. What's better is that I have configured individual shares to be either accessible both or AFP only, which has allowed me to set certain limits on types of devices that can connect.

So, if you're having an issue with AFP, that may require it's own discussion thread. Though, it is difficult for me to see how it could be an issue with Mac OS X itself and seems far more likely to be related to something specific to your setup. But even if it is a fundamental issue with the OS, one that is just specifically pronounced in your environment, then you should start off a new topic on the matter. Also pursue http://www.apple.com/feedback or http://bugreport.apple.com.

I hope you get your issues resolved!

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