Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

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AurelM
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Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#1 Post by AurelM » 2022-01-15 14:09

Hi,

I've just made an account using a temporary email address since my regular addresses hosted by gmail and yahoo are disallowed here.

Before this, I've searched the forum and the internet in general, but could not find a definitive answer on what is going on or a potential fix. So I have a filezilla server running on my desktop which I use rarely; I keep it stopped, but when I need to transfer large files, I connect to the machine by vpn and vnc when i'm away to start it, then transfer the files and then stop it again. I've had it for many years, it was at version 0.9.50, so over 6 years old when I tried to use it again.
I've installed filezilla client on a laptop at a remote location, it was the latest one 3.57.0, and I also saw there was a new filezilla server and decided to update the server on my machine, again the latest one 1.2.0. After doing so, I've started downloading some files, but I was getting slow speeds of ~5 MiB/s per file, while I was expecting 30+ MiB/s. I'm saying slow since this speed I'm able to get using a site-to-site openvpn connection that is configured on the two routers at my place and this remote one and using smb (CIFS), which is limited by the routers hardware.

After some quick look at the filezilla client settings, filezilla server settings and search on the internet, I couldn't find anything wrong or a fix. The next day I had time to search a bit more and do some tests. Still could not find the cause, but I tried the old 0.9.50 server and the speeds were as I expected them. I've since installed 0.9.60.2, which is the latest 0.9.x version and I'll keep using this until I can make the new version perform close to this one.

I should mention that the update from 0.9.50 to 1.2.0 was done with keeping/converting the settings and thought this had something to do with it, but after uninstalling, cleaning the folders, reinstalling and reconfiguring the 1.2.0 server, the speeds were still low.

Strangely enough, while the single file download speeds are low on 1.2.0 compared with 0.9.60.2, the single file upload speeds are a bit higher. I've attached two images of the filezilla client, one for each filezilla server, 0.9.60.2 and 1.2.0, doing two single file downloads and then two single file uploads. Here is the summary:
  • Filezilla server version 0.9.60.2
    • Download
      • File1- 2.1 GiB in 45 s or ~48 MiB/s
      • File2- 3.0 GiB in 66 s or ~46 MiB/s
    • Upload
      • File1- 2.1 GiB in 46 s or ~46 MiB/s
      • File2- 3.0 GiB in 78 s or ~39 MiB/s
  • Filezilla server version 1.2.0
    • Download
      • File1- 2.1 GiB in 408 s or ~5 MiB/s
      • File2- 3.0 GiB in 588 s or ~5 MiB/s
    • Upload
      • File1- 2.1 GiB in 36 s or ~59 MiB/s
      • File2- 3.0 GiB in 52 s or ~59 MiB/s
Is there anything I can do to get the full speed while downloading single files using the new filezilla server?

I won't be able to test for a while, but I will when I get the chance. Thank you.
Attachments
FZ-server-1.2.0.png
FZ-server-1.2.0.png (17.74 KiB) Viewed 9800 times
FZ-server-0.9.60.png
FZ-server-0.9.60.png (24.67 KiB) Viewed 9800 times

maru
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#2 Post by maru » 2022-01-21 07:28

Hello.

I don't know if it's helpful (though not in a VPN environment), but I checked the upload and download speeds of the two versions of FileZilla Server on my local network using a video file of about 200MB.
The result is below.

FileZilla Server (Ver1.2.0)
Upload approx. 15MB/s
Download approx. 13MB/s

FileZilla Server (0.9.60 beta)
Upload approx.15MB/s
Download approx. 12MB/s

The speed was almost the same in both versions.
Is your environment's VPN or security software or firewall or internet service provider limiting the speed?
Is the result the same even if I temporarily disable the security software or firewall and test it?

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oibaf
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#3 Post by oibaf » 2022-01-21 08:24

You said you've cleared up the configuration before reinstalling, so this might not be it, but would you double check if any speed limits are active for your user/group?

AurelM
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#4 Post by AurelM » 2022-01-21 11:45

maru wrote:
2022-01-21 07:28
Hello.

I don't know if it's helpful (though not in a VPN environment),
[...]
Thank you for your response.
The mentioning of the vpn was only to put a context of the ~5 MiB/s speed being slow, both tests were done using the public IPv4 of the router at the server location, typed ftpes://x.x.x.x in the Host field for Quickconnect in filezilla client.
maru wrote:
2022-01-21 07:28
[...] but I checked the upload and download speeds of the two versions of FileZilla Server on my local network using a video file of about 200MB.
The result is below.

FileZilla Server (Ver1.2.0)
Upload approx. 15MB/s
Download approx. 13MB/s

FileZilla Server (0.9.60 beta)
Upload approx.15MB/s
Download approx. 12MB/s

The speed was almost the same in both versions.
[...]
I don't have another machine at this location which I can use, but testing the 1.2.0 server on the same machine (using different files every time so it wouldn't be cached in ram) resulted in good speeds also.
maru wrote:
2022-01-21 07:28
[...]Is your environment's VPN or security software or firewall or internet service provider limiting the speed?
Is the result the same even if I temporarily disable the security software or firewall and test it?
If this was the case, I think it should limit both servers, but I didn't test and can't right now.
Anyhow, vpn shoudn't play a role here, as it wasn't used, windows's firewall shouldn't matter as long as it's setup to allow access for the processes, ISP shouldn't be able to discern traffic coming from one server and not the other, besides, it was a problem only downloading from the server and not uploading.
And this only leaves the security software which might play a role. I'll try with it disabled, and if obtaining the same result, with it uninstalled, once I get the chance, in a few weeks or even months, don't know for sure. I'll try disabling/uninstalling the sercurity software both on the server and on the client, one at a time.
oibaf wrote:
2022-01-21 08:24
You said you've cleared up the configuration before reinstalling, so this might not be it, but would you double check if any speed limits are active for your user/group?
Thank you for your response.
After uninstalling with deleting the configuration and reinstalling filezilla server 1.2.0, I only set it up for testing, so a test user with password, two folders, one read-only, one read-write, the ports and that's about it, so minimal configuration. And yes, I double checked there was no speed limit set for the user. If I would download multiple files at once, the total speed would increase, but each file would still be downloaded at ~ 5MiB/s.

In fact, the filezilla client used the same configuration for connecting to both server versions, Explicit FTP over TLS (by typing ftpes://x.x.x.x in the Host field for Quickconnect) and was not closed between tests, only disconnected while I uninstalled one server and installed and configured the other. Both the listening port, 55555, and passive port range, 55500-55550, are forwarded on the router to the static dhcp lease IP of the filezilla server.
The tests were done one after the other, and based on the timestamp of the images I posted in the first post are within one hour.

missizay
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#5 Post by missizay » 2022-01-21 12:59

hello

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boco
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#6 Post by boco » 2022-01-24 14:24

What is the CPU load during transfers? Does the CPU have support for cipher calculation in hardware? The new server supports high-grade ciphers, which, while being much more secure, can make older CPUs struggle if the ciphers need to be calculated in software.

I'd also check the router or any firewalls in the way. As only downloads seem to be affected, it could hint to network equipment (or drivers) not able to handle the incoming load. That, or a flaky incoming connection exceeding TTL values periodically which causes packet drop and requires the server to resend them.
### BEGIN SIGNATURE BLOCK ###
No support requests per PM! You will NOT get any reply!!!
FTP connection problems? Please do yourself a favor and read Network Configuration.
FileZilla connection test: https://filezilla-project.org/conntest.php
### END SIGNATURE BLOCK ###

maru
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#7 Post by maru » 2022-01-25 13:07

Thank you for your valuable information, Mr.boco.
I'm sorry for basic question for my lack of study (I'm sorry, I’m off the topic.)
Which is the encryption calculation done by FileZilla Server or an by FTP client?
What kind of CPU can perform encryption calculation in hardware ?
For example, intel core i7 ? or ryzen ?
I want to know the CPU model name that can do encryption in hardware on this occasion if Mr.boco know.

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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#8 Post by boco » 2022-01-25 18:46

CPU_AES_AVX.jpg
CPU_AES_AVX.jpg (51.31 KiB) Viewed 9556 times
Coincidentally ( :) ), FileZilla Client will display CPU features in the About dialog. If you see anything like AES or AES-NI listed (please ignore the AVX highlighted by accident), the CPU has hardware encryption support. The example image is taken from my AMD FX-8370, which is not exactly a fresh product. :)

Modern ciphers use AES and are greatly accelerated through the CPU hardware support. Using other ciphers or a CPU without hardware encryption (at least several years old or very cheap) can slow down operations, as the ciphers have to be processed entirely in software.


@botg @oibaf: Shouldn't the Server display the CPU feats on the About window, too? It's affected as much as the Client by ancient CPUs, is it?
### BEGIN SIGNATURE BLOCK ###
No support requests per PM! You will NOT get any reply!!!
FTP connection problems? Please do yourself a favor and read Network Configuration.
FileZilla connection test: https://filezilla-project.org/conntest.php
### END SIGNATURE BLOCK ###

maru
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#9 Post by maru » 2022-01-26 09:35

Thank you for reply.
Thank you , Mr.boco.
I understand very well.

AurelM
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#10 Post by AurelM » 2022-01-26 20:19

boco wrote:
2022-01-24 14:24
What is the CPU load during transfers? Does the CPU have support for cipher calculation in hardware? The new server supports high-grade ciphers, which, while being much more secure, can make older CPUs struggle if the ciphers need to be calculated in software.
[...]
boco wrote:
2022-01-25 18:46
CPU_AES_AVX.jpg
Coincidentally ( :) ), FileZilla Client will display CPU features in the About dialog. If you see anything like AES or AES-NI listed (please ignore the AVX highlighted by accident), the CPU has hardware encryption support. The example image is taken from my AMD FX-8370, which is not exactly a fresh product. :)

Modern ciphers use AES and are greatly accelerated through the CPU hardware support. Using other ciphers or a CPU without hardware encryption (at least several years old or very cheap) can slow down operations, as the ciphers have to be processed entirely in software.
[...]
Thank you for your response.
The server is on a pc with an Intel Core i5-3570 cpu and the client is on a pc with a Intel Core i7-4510U cpu, which, according to Intel ARK, both have AES-NI support.
I've tested again by using teamviewer on the remote pc and the server cpu is around 10-15% for the filezilla-server.exe process when the speed is around 5 MiB, while the whole cpu is under 50% load and neither core is at 100%. Main culprit for the high cpu usage is a VMWare Player virtual machine from which I use teamviewer. All these with lots of other programs opened on the server. I turned the logging level to Debug on the server and the cipher is used is AES-256-GCM, but besides this I can't see anything unusual; when the transfer is underway, all new entries are Type "Trace" and Message "tls_layer_impl::on_send()", many hundreds each second, I've counted 275 for one full second.
boco wrote:
2022-01-24 14:24
[...]
I'd also check the router or any firewalls in the way. As only downloads seem to be affected, it could hint to network equipment (or drivers) not able to handle the incoming load. That, or a flaky incoming connection exceeding TTL values periodically which causes packet drop and requires the server to resend them.
There are only consumer routers at each end, Asus RT-AC68U at one end and Asus RT-N18U at the other. While the server is directly connected to the router, the client is connected through a unmanaged 16-port Gigabit switch; but I've tried with it connected directly to the router and it's the same result. I've rechecked the forward rules on the router at the server's location and all is good.
Both NICs are integrated into the motherboard, Realtek 8168 based, drivers were not that old, but I've installed the latest ones without change to the speed.

I've tried with the security software and firewalls disabled on both pcs, still the same speed. I've yet to test with the security software uninstalled.

I recently saw that only 64-bit Windows 8.1 and 10 (presumably 11 also) are supported and I'm still running Windows 7 64-bit on the server, I should have mentioned this in the first post. I tried to run a windows 8.1 installation from a usb drive for testing purposes, but failed. I would have posted yesterday, but I thought I could test first.

maru
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#11 Post by maru » 2022-01-27 06:27

I don't know if it's helpful for you, but the following is my experience at the company I used to work for.
Originally, the company's network was a 100base-tx hub environment.
One day, we replaced all the hubs with 1000base-t hubs to improve speed.
The company had PCs with a Realtek NIC and PCs with an Intel NIC, but strangely , only the PC with a Realtek NIC was extremely slower than before after changing hub.
As a test, when I sent a ping command from a PC to a PC with a Realtek NIC, the reply was very slow or timed out.
Also, when I sent a ping command from a PC to a PC equipped with an Intel NIC, there was a fast response of a few millisecond, and there was no problem.

PC manufacturers may not be aware of NIC issues, so I emailed Realtek Company directly to explain the symptoms and Realtek Company introduced me a NIC driver individually to solve the problem .

Finally, I downloaded the driver from the NIC driver download site that Realtek Company told me, and I installed this driver and was able to solve the problem.
(Perhaps ,it seems that there was a bug in the driver of Realtek's NIC. )

How about trying sending ping command FileZilla Server PC and FTP Client PC from another PC once?
How fast is the reply from each PC (?? ms).

Also, can you install Intel NICs on FileZilla server PCs and FTP client PCs to test if they improve speed?
Is it difficult because it costs money?
It's also a good idea to explain the symptoms to Realtek Company and see if you can get a NIC driver individually.

Also, are there old cables such as Cat5 on your network? If the LAN cable type that you use now is not Cat5e or higher , the speed will not be high even in an environment of 1000Base-t, so please check the type of cable as well.

In another case , we excluded the FileZilla Server home directory from virus checking by security software (though this software is not Norton), and then the speed improved extremely. However , I think if you make this setting, you may need to check your home directory for viruses separately on a regular basis .
I like Norton 360 as a security software. This is because the speed is stable even if I do not set security exclusion settings like the above. Therefore, I currently use Norton as my security software.

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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#12 Post by Mauro64 » 2022-02-03 17:00

Hi Guys,
I have the same problem.
The "strange" thing is this:
My Client has a throughput of 60Mbps.in download.
My server is in my company with more of 1Gbps of bandwidth and it's a FileZilla server 1.2.0

I start the first download, the speed is about 20Mbps
At the same time I start the second download, the speed in about 20Mbps
At the same time I start the third download, the speed is about 20Mbps once again.
20+20+20 = 60Mpbs Ok I reach my full bandwidth, but the question is WHY if I have a single file to download I'm not able to download at 60Mbps ??

I tried with others accounts, if the bandwidth of the client is for example 30Mps, the speed for each single session does not exceed the 10Mbps.

Seems that there is something that test the bandwidth and divides it by 3.
Is there a parameter to set it ?
Thank you a lot in advance for you answer.

maru
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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#13 Post by maru » 2022-02-06 05:15

Hello, Mr.MALAGOLI

I am also worried about the phenomenon on this topic.
Which ftp client do you use? (FileZilla Client?)
Is the result the same with FileZilla Server Ver0.9.60 beta or Ver 1.3.0-rc1 ?
Is it difficult to test with another version?

As I don't know the cause of this topic's trouble at this point in time, I think I also need to do various test by myself .

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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#14 Post by botg » 2022-02-07 09:51

In a future version of FileZilla Server socket buffer sizes will become configurable, this should address the performance issues.

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Re: Slow single file download speed using filezilla server version 1.2.0 compared to 0.9.x

#15 Post by Mauro64 » 2022-02-07 15:40

Yes I use a FileZilla client (the last version), but I saw the same problem with a CyberDuck client too.
Yes I have an old version of Filezilla server on another virtual machine, I'll do some test and I'll let you know.

If you want I created an account that you can use to do some test on my server.
Where can I share this test user and password with you ?
(I would like to avoid sharing with everyone user and password)

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