Slow Transfer rates of around 8-15MB/s when using LoadMaster between Isilon with ECS Storage Appliances.

In a specific set up when using the Isilon for file transfers with an LoadMaster and ECS storage appliances slow transfer speeds of around 8-15MB/s can be observed.

This article explains the root cause of the slow transfer rate of the files when using this particular type of set up.

Product: LoadMaster

Version: Any

Platform: Any

Application: Isilon

Why are there slow data transfer rates between the primary Isilon storage system and the Dell ECS storage appliances which are using Kemp Loadmasters for distributing connection.

The transfer speed are between 8-15MB/s.

This issue is caused by a limitation in the architecture of the Isilon store system.

The issue is with the Isilon "Inline Recall" function.

If a windows client pulls back a folder that resides on the ECS it runs as an “inline recall” and is only a single threaded operation.
Unfortunately the inline recall thread is limited to 8-15MB/s and EMC have advised there’s no way to improve this at the time that this article was published.