Samba Share Throughput Calculator

Work out samba share throughput instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Samba Share Throughput Calculator

SMB 1 was chatty and synchronous, achieving under half of link rate; SMB 2 introduced compound requests and credit-based flow control; SMB 3 adds multichannel, which genuinely aggregates several network paths. Small files remain the killer regardless of version, because per-file open, query and close round trips dominate the transfer.

Formula

SMB throughput

throughput = link rate x usable channels x protocol efficiency x small-file penalty; multichannel applies only to SMB 3

Worked example

With the default values below, Samba Share Throughput Calculator returns Effective SMB throughput of 1,800.0. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Network bandwidthminimum 0.001 Mbps: 1,000 Mbps
SMB versionone of SMB 1 (deprecated), SMB 2, SMB 3 with multichannel: SMB 3 with multichannel
Network channels bondedaccepts 1–8: 2
Average file sizeminimum 0.001 MB: 8 MB

Results

Effective SMB throughput: 1,800.0 Mbps
Protocol efficiency: 90%
Channels actually used: 2
Throughput lost to small files: 0%

Step by step

1Values used
2SMB throughput
3Effective SMB throughput= 1,800.0 Mbps
4Protocol efficiency= 90
5Channels actually used= 2
6Throughput lost to small files= 0

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 1 decimal place, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is SMB 1 still enabled anywhere?

Legacy devices such as old scanners and embedded systems. It should be disabled everywhere possible, since it carries the WannaCry-class vulnerabilities and has no security features.

Does multichannel need special configuration?

It negotiates automatically when both ends support SMB 3 and multiple interfaces or RSS-capable NICs are present. Verify with Get-SmbMultichannelConnection on the client side.