Where to configure it
Go to Configuration > System > Optimization > SMB.
SMB Acceleration is the file transfer specific component of the Exinda Application Acceleration Technology. To deal with inefficiencies in the SMB protocol, the Exinda appliance has several optimizations to improve the performance of applications using this protocol, including reading ahead of the data stream, writing behind the data stream, and caching meta data on files and folders.
SMB acceleration makes the following scenarios more efficient:
File Download (Read)
The SMB client is reading a file from an SMB server. The server-side Exinda proactively requests future read events and passes the read information to the client-side Exinda so that it is available locally and immediately to the SMB client.
File Upload (Write)
Similar to the read scenario, the Exinda appliance proactively transfers write data to the other Exinda. The client-side Exinda responds locally to write requests from the SMB client and passes the data to the server-side Exinda at WAN link speed to complete the write operation.
Remote Access of Microsoft Office Files
Microsoft office files (e.g. MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) which reside on a remote SMB server are often opened from a SMB client. The Exinda SMB Acceleration addresses slow downloads by pre-fetching the file data and populating it on the client side Exinda. Consequently, all SMB client requests for the file data are served from the client side Exinda at LAN speeds.
Directory Browsing
When browsing a remote file system using Windows Explorer, the SMB protocol transfers various bits of information about the files you are browsing. This metadata is transferred in special SMB instructions called transactions. The Exinda appliance also caches these transactions such that they can be served locally, from the client-side Exinda appliance. This significantly improves the performance of directory browsing using the SMB protocol.
To learn more, read How SMB/CIFS/File Transfer Acceleration Works.
You can view the current SMB configuration settings. See Acceleration Diagnostics.
Where to configure it
Go to Configuration > System > Optimization > SMB.
To configure file acceleration using SMB1
To reduce the severe effect high network latency has on the SMB protocol, configure the Exinda appliance to pre-fetch and caches data for SMB1 requests.
To prefetch data from the SMB server in anticipation of subsequent client requests, select Read Ahead.
To enable caching of SMB file attributes such as file access times and size, select Meta-Data Caching.
Specify the amount of SMB data to prefetch when performing read-ahead or write-behind in the Data to Prefetch field.
This value should only be increased if network latency is very large, for example latency is greater than 500 milliseconds. The default value is 1024 kb.
To change the amount of data pre-fetched from the SMB1 cache
If you are experiencing network latency with file transfers, for example latency is greater than 500 milliseconds, increase the amount of data being prefetched for the SMB1 cache.
Modify the amount of SMB data to prefetch when performing read-ahead or write-behind in the Data to Prefetch field.
To enable file acceleration with SMB2
To reduce the severe effect high network latency has on the SMB protocol, enable the Exinda appliance to cache data for SMB2 requests.
To accelerate digitally signed SMB connections
Ensure the security of SMB sessions by digitally signing SMB connections. With signing, the server can verify that each message was sent by the client that initially requested the connection, and the client can verify that the response it is receiving is from the server.
In the Domain area, type the NetBIOS name of a domain or computer where shared files are located. Click Add. Do not use the fully qualified domain name.
The domain is added to the SMB signing Credentials area.
In the SMB signing Credentials area, type the Username and Password to use when generating the signing key.
The account used for signing the key must be able to authenticate against the specified server, but should be a highly restricted account that does not have permissions to access the files being requested by the client computers, or administrator access to the domain.
Select whether the authentication credentials are enabled or disabled.
The Exinda appliance will use the recorded credentials for the requested domain. If it is unable to connect to that domain because of the server is unavailable or incorrect credentials, the status of the signed connection is reported as Bypassed or Unhandled. See .
If the request is for a domain that is not registered on the Exinda appliance, the credentials for the (default) domain are used. If the credentials are incorrect for the requested domain, the status of the signed connection is reported as Bypassed or Unhandled.
Allow file transfer acceleration with older versions of Exinda OS
If your network contains Exinda appliances running ExOS versions older than v6.3.0, for example 6.1, as well as appliances running ExOS version 6.3.0 or later, you must enable version compatibility to accelerate file transfer traffic successfully.
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