SMB Specifics
Server Message Block (SMB) Constant Protocol Workload
SMB Options
SMB supports CIFS/SMB 1.0, SMB 2 (2.0.2 and 2.1), and SMB 3.0.
Access Pattern
Depending on the SMB version selected, some options may vary. However, the general concept is the same.
The following example displays the default values for SMB2.
Reset all the sliders to zero or reduce the command percentage by dragging the sliders to the left, to receive the unused percentage. Next, if you drag the sliders to the right, the percentage of that particular command increases.
The donut chart displays the overall data (read/write) versus the metadata ratio.
The Asynchronous I/Os parameter allows you to specify up to how many “chunks” of a R/W request can be concurrently outstanding “on the wire” (per worker).
Let’s say you have a 10KB file you need to read, and the read block size is 1KB, then for each concurrent worker:
If Asynchronous I/Os = 1: At any given time, there is one 1KB read request on the wire, and the next 1KB read request will not be sent until the currently open 1KB read request has been responded to. So to complete the 10KB file read, there will be ten sequences of one read request – one read response exchanges.
If Asynchronous I/Os = 8: The SMB client will send out up to eight 1KB read requests even if zero responses have been received. However, it will not send the ninth 1KB read request until at least one read request has been responded to. So there is not a guaranteed sequence of one read request – one read response exchanges, but by the time the 10KB file read completes, there will still be a total of ten read requests and ten read responses.
If Asynchronous I/Os = 16: The SMB client will send out up to sixteen 1KB read requests at the same time. Some parts of a file may be read simultaneously or multiple times.
More information
For information on designs and behaviors of the SMB constant workload that are not exclusively specific to the SMB protocol, see the Creating a New Workload Test section as it relates to Constant Protocol Workloads, and the File Protocol Workloads Details section.
SMB2 Temporal Protocol Workload
The SMB2 temporal workload enables the workload to change access patterns, block sizes, and load to match the workload acquired using the Workload Data Importer. This enables a unique level of realism over other forms of testing and stimulates many aspects of different array architectures that are designed to handle burst and changes in workload behavior.
The workload does not appear in the default library because it can only be created using the Workload Data Importer. You must use the Workload Date Importer to create temporal workloads.
More information
For information on designs and behaviors of the SMB2 temporal workload that are not exclusively specific to SMB2 temporal workload, see Creating a New Workload Test section as it relates to Temporal Protocol Workloads, the File Protocol Workloads Details section, and the SMB Specifics section.