Server 2008 vs. Server 2012 vs. CentOS NAS Performance

All modern operating systems provide built-in network-attached storage (NAS) capabilities allowing one to share files between users and different devices, backup data and stream rich media content. Different operating systems provide different NAS capabilities, use different file systems and therefore the performance of a NAS device greatly depends on the used operating system. The purpose of this review is to compare the performance of NAS capabilities in the following operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2008 (64-Bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-Bit)
  • Windows Server 2012 (64-Bit)
  • CentOS Linux v6.5 (64-Bit)

In order to test the performance of NAS capabilities in mentioned operating systems, we have used 4 identical virtual machines with each one configured to use 4 CPU cores, 4 GB of system memory and installed on the same 8-core physical server with 32 GB of system memory running the Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-Bit) host operating system.

Host Server Configuration:
  • Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2 8-core CPU
  • 32 GB of System Memory
  • Gigabit Ethernet Network
  • Crucial M550 256 GB System Disk
  • Crucial M550 512 GB Data Disk For Virtual Machines
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-Bit) Host Operating System
  • VirtualBox v4.2.24 (64-Bit) Virtualization Solution
Guest Virtual Machines Configuration:
  • 4 CPU Cores
  • 4 GB of System Memory
  • Gigabit Ethernet Network
  • 20 GB System Disk Located on Crucial M550 256 GB SSD
  • 256 GB Data Disk Located on Crucial M550 512 GB SSD

An identical set of tests with an identical set of files has been performed on each operating system and before each test the virtual machine has been restarted. All tests were performed using DiskBoss v4.7.28, which is capable of analyzing disk space usage, classifying files, searching duplicate files, synchronizing files, copying files and deleting files using a number of parallel threads. Each operating system has been tested using an identical set of benchmarks including:

  • Test 1 - Small Files Write To NAS Test (20,000 Files, 1 GB of Data)
  • Test 2 - Small Files Read From NAS Test (20,000 Files, 1 GB of Data)
  • Test 3 - Medium Files Write To NAS Test (200 Files, 2 GB of Data)
  • Test 4 - Medium Files Read From NAS Test (200 Files, 2 GB of Data)
  • Test 5 - Large Files Write To NAS Test (20 Files, 2 GB of Data)
  • Test 6 - Large Files Read From NAS Test (20 Files, 2 GB of Data)
  • Test 7 - Disk Space Analysis Test (1,000,000 Files, 100 GB of Data)
  • Test 8 - Duplicate Files Search Test (1,000,000 Files, 100 GB of Data)
  • Test 9 - File Delete Operations Test (1,000,000 Files, 100 GB of Data)
NAS Performance Comparison Normalized Average Results For All Tests

Average NAS performance results from all tested operating systems were normalized and compared relative to the maximum performance for each specific test.

NAS Performance Comparison Normalized Average Results

According to the normalized NAS performance results, which show a normalized average NAS performance for all types of benchmarks for each operating system, the Windows Server 2012 delivers a slim 1% performance improvement over the CentOS Linux v6.5 and a 3% improvement over the Windows Server 2008 R2 while the Windows Server 2008 delivers approximately 20% slower NAS performance results compared to other operating system.

NAS Performance Comparison Write Small Files

For users required to write a large number of small files to a NAS storage device, the CentOS Linux v6.5 is a clear winner with up to 30% improvements over the Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 while the Windows Server 2008 delivers significantly slower results.

NAS Performance Comparison Read Small Files

For users required to read a large number of small files from a NAS storage device, the Windows Server 2012 delivers the best results with the Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Serer 2008 and CentOS Linux v6.5 following with a minor performance degradation.

NAS Performance Comparison Write Medium Files

For users required to write medium-sized files to a NAS storage device, the CentOS Linux v6.5 delivers the best results followed by the Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with an approximate 10% performance degradation while the Windows Server 2008 delivers significantly slower performance results.

NAS Performance Comparison Read Medium Files

When reading medium-sized files from a NAS storage device, the CentOS Linux v6.5 delivers the best results followed by the Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 with a slim performance degradation while the Windows Server 2008 delivers significantly slower performance results.

NAS Performance Comparison Write Large Files

When writing a small number of large files to a NAS storage device, the situation changes and the Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 deliver the best results followed by the CentOS Linux v6.5 with an approximate 6% performance degradation while the Windows Server 2008 delivers significantly slower performance results.

NAS Performance Comparison Read Large Files

When reading a small number of large files from a NAS storage device, the CentOS Linux v6.5 delivers more than 20% of performance improvements compared to other operating systems making it a clear winner for these specific operations.

NAS Performance Comparison Disk Space Analysis

For disk space analysis and file classification operations, which mostly require to read directory structures from a NAS storage device, the Windows Server 2012 delivers significantly higher performance results with up to 8,000 files/sec of disk space analysis speed followed by the Windows Server 2008 R2 with up to 7,000 files/sec of disk space analysis speed. The CentOS Linux v6.5 and the Windows Server 2008 deliver significantly slower results with up to 6,000 files/sec and 5,300 files/sec of disk space analysis speed respectively.

NAS Performance Comparison Duplicate Files Search

For duplicate files search operations, which require a large number of random read operations, the Windows Server 2012 delivers the best NAS performance results closely followed by the CentOS Linux v6.5 and Windows Server 2008 R2 while the Windows Server 2008 delivers significantly slower performance results.

NAS Performance Comparison File Delete Operations

For file delete operations, the Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 deliver the best results followed by the Windows Server 2008 with a 20% performance degradation while the CentOS Linux v6.5 delivers significantly slower performance results.

Conclusions:
  • Windows Server 2012 and Server 2008 R2 - both of these operating systems deliver balanced results for all types of NAS performance tests and are highly recommended for a wide range of general usage scenarios.
  • CentOS Linux v6.5 - this operating system provides a clear advantage when writing large numbers of small and medium-sized files to a NAS storage device. On the other hand, this operating system suffers from a significant performance degradation when analyzing directories and performing file delete operations making it slightly less attractive.
  • Windows Server 2008 - this operating system delivers significantly slower NAS performance results for almost all types of benchmarks and it is highly recommended to upgrade to the Windows Server 2012 or Server 2008 R2.

* This performance review has been prepared for information purposes only and we strongly advise you to make your own performance evaluations using your specific hardware components and datasets.