Why is Samba so slow?

Question

I have just built a server for my new flat and one of its primary functions is to serve files. Although NFS is fast, it seems much too much trouble to get working with iptables. I love sshfs but that's slow and a cpu hog. Finally I've set up samba, but I'm only getting 2MB/s on a gigabit network. It's not the CPU limiting it and it's definitely not the network, any ideas?
Alternative protocols are also welcome but my flat mate has a windows xp box so samba performance must be increased.
Thanks in advance
edit: Here is my (mostly default) smb.conf
# This is the main Samba configuration file. You should read the
# smb.conf(5) manual page in order to understand the options listed
# here. Samba has a huge number of configurable options (perhaps too
# many!) most of which are not shown in this example
# For a step to step guide on installing, configuring and using samba,
# read the Samba-HOWTO-Collection. This may be obtained from:
# http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf
# Many working examples of smb.conf files can be found in the
# Samba-Guide which is generated daily and can be downloaded from:
# http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba-Guide.pdf
# Any line which starts with a ; (semi-colon) or a # (hash)
# is a comment and is ignored. In this example we will use a #
# for commentry and a ; for parts of the config file that you
# may wish to enable
# NOTE: Whenever you modify this file you should run the command "testparm"
# to check that you have not made any basic syntactic errors.
#======================= Global Settings =====================================
[global]
# workgroup = NT-Domain-Name or Workgroup-Name, eg: MIDEARTH
workgroup = WORKGROUP
# server string is the equivalent of the NT Description field
server string = Server
# Security mode. Defines in which mode Samba will operate. Possible
# values are share, user, server, domain and ads. Most people will want
# user level security. See the Samba-HOWTO-Collection for details.
security = user
# This option is important for security. It allows you to restrict
# connections to machines which are on your local network. The
# following example restricts access to two C class networks and
# the "loopback" interface. For more examples of the syntax see
# the smb.conf man page
hosts allow = 192.168.2. 127.
# If you want to automatically load your printer list rather
# than setting them up individually then you'll need this
load printers = no
# you may wish to override the location of the printcap file
; printcap name = /etc/printcap
# on SystemV system setting printcap name to lpstat should allow
# you to automatically obtain a printer list from the SystemV spool
# system
; printcap name = lpstat
# It should not be necessary to specify the print system type unless
# it is non-standard. Currently supported print systems include:
# bsd, cups, sysv, plp, lprng, aix, hpux, qnx
; printing = cups
# Uncomment this if you want a guest account, you must add this to /etc/passwd
# otherwise the user "nobody" is used
; guest account = pcguest
# this tells Samba to use a separate log file for each machine
# that connects
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
# Put a capping on the size of the log files (in Kb).
max log size = 50
# Use password server option only with security = server
# The argument list may include:
# password server = My_PDC_Name [My_BDC_Name] [My_Next_BDC_Name]
# or to auto-locate the domain controller/s
# password server = *
; password server = <NT-Server-Name>
# Use the realm option only with security = ads
# Specifies the Active Directory realm the host is part of
; realm = MY_REALM
# Backend to store user information in. New installations should
# use either tdbsam or ldapsam. smbpasswd is available for backwards
# compatibility. tdbsam requires no further configuration.
; passdb backend = tdbsam
# Using the following line enables you to customise your configuration
# on a per machine basis. The %m gets replaced with the netbios name
# of the machine that is connecting.
# Note: Consider carefully the location in the configuration file of
# this line. The included file is read at that point.
; include = /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf.%m
# Configure Samba to use multiple interfaces
# If you have multiple network interfaces then you must list them
# here. See the man page for details.
; interfaces = 192.168.12.2/24 192.168.13.2/24
# Browser Control Options:
# set local master to no if you don't want Samba to become a master
# browser on your network. Otherwise the normal election rules apply
; local master = no
# OS Level determines the precedence of this server in master browser
# elections. The default value should be reasonable
; os level = 33
# Domain Master specifies Samba to be the Domain Master Browser. This
# allows Samba to collate browse lists between subnets. Don't use this
# if you already have a Windows NT domain controller doing this job
; domain master = yes
# Preferred Master causes Samba to force a local browser election on startup
# and gives it a slightly higher chance of winning the election
; preferred master = yes
# Enable this if you want Samba to be a domain logon server for
# Windows95 workstations.
; domain logons = yes
# if you enable domain logons then you may want a per-machine or
# per user logon script
# run a specific logon batch file per workstation (machine)
; logon script = %m.bat
# run a specific logon batch file per username
; logon script = %U.bat
# Where to store roving profiles (only for Win95 and WinNT)
# %L substitutes for this servers netbios name, %U is username
# You must uncomment the [Profiles] share below
; logon path = \\%L\Profiles\%U
# Windows Internet Name Serving Support Section:
# WINS Support - Tells the NMBD component of Samba to enable it's WINS Server
; wins support = yes
# WINS Server - Tells the NMBD components of Samba to be a WINS Client
# Note: Samba can be either a WINS Server, or a WINS Client, but NOT both
; wins server = w.x.y.z
# WINS Proxy - Tells Samba to answer name resolution queries on
# behalf of a non WINS capable client, for this to work there must be
# at least one WINS Server on the network. The default is NO.
; wins proxy = yes
# DNS Proxy - tells Samba whether or not to try to resolve NetBIOS names
# via DNS nslookups. The default is NO.
dns proxy = no
# These scripts are used on a domain controller or stand-alone
# machine to add or delete corresponding unix accounts
; add user script = /usr/sbin/useradd %u
; add group script = /usr/sbin/groupadd %g
; add machine script = /usr/sbin/adduser -n -g machines -c Machine -d /dev/null -s /bin/false %u
; delete user script = /usr/sbin/userdel %u
; delete user from group script = /usr/sbin/deluser %u %g
; delete group script = /usr/sbin/groupdel %g
#============================ Share Definitions ==============================
[homes]
comment = Home Directories
browseable = no
writable = yes
# Un-comment the following and create the netlogon directory for Domain Logons
; [netlogon]
; comment = Network Logon Service
; path = /usr/local/samba/lib/netlogon
; guest ok = yes
; writable = no
; share modes = no
# Un-comment the following to provide a specific roving profile share
# the default is to use the user's home directory
;[Profiles]
; path = /usr/local/samba/profiles
; browseable = no
; guest ok = yes
# NOTE: If you have a BSD-style print system there is no need to
# specifically define each individual printer
;[printers]
; comment = All Printers
; path = /var/spool/samba
; browseable = no
# Set public = yes to allow user 'guest account' to print
; guest ok = no
; writable = no
; printable = yes
# This one is useful for people to share files
;[tmp]
; comment = Temporary file space
; path = /tmp
; read only = no
; public = yes
# A publicly accessible directory, but read only, except for people in
# the "staff" group
;[public]
; comment = Public Stuff
; path = /home/samba
; public = yes
; writable = no
; printable = no
; write list = @staff
# Other examples.
# A private printer, usable only by fred. Spool data will be placed in fred's
# home directory. Note that fred must have write access to the spool directory,
# wherever it is.
;[fredsprn]
; comment = Fred's Printer
; valid users = fred
; path = /homes/fred
; printer = freds_printer
; public = no
; writable = no
; printable = yes
# A private directory, usable only by fred. Note that fred requires write
# access to the directory.
;[fredsdir]
; comment = Fred's Service
; path = /usr/somewhere/private
; valid users = fred
; public = no
; writable = yes
; printable = no
# a service which has a different directory for each machine that connects
# this allows you to tailor configurations to incoming machines. You could
# also use the %U option to tailor it by user name.
# The %m gets replaced with the machine name that is connecting.
;[pchome]
; comment = PC Directories
; path = /usr/pc/%m
; public = no
; writable = yes
# A publicly accessible directory, read/write to all users. Note that all files
# created in the directory by users will be owned by the default user, so
# any user with access can delete any other user's files. Obviously this
# directory must be writable by the default user. Another user could of course
# be specified, in which case all files would be owned by that user instead.
;[public]
; path = /usr/somewhere/else/public
; public = yes
; only guest = yes
; writable = yes
; printable = no
# The following two entries demonstrate how to share a directory so that two
# users can place files there that will be owned by the specific users. In this
# setup, the directory should be writable by both users and should have the
# sticky bit set on it to prevent abuse. Obviously this could be extended to
# as many users as required.
;[myshare]
; comment = Mary's and Fred's stuff
; path = /usr/somewhere/shared
; valid users = mary fred
; public = no
; writable = yes
; printable = no
; create mask = 0765
Last edited by rocktorrentz (2009-07-06 11:13:14)

Answer 1

see http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=9107 to use a different cipher and improve speed. might help.
btw are you sure the stuttering is due to pure CPU and not (disk) IO, or a combination of both? look at wait times in top. maybe tweaking your schedulers might help.
also you can take a look at AFP (netatalk package) as an alternative. who knows, might help you.
by the way, did you try webdav?