SMB v2.0 in Action

So how fast is SMB v2.0? Some claim it's up to 40 times faster than SMB v1, others state it's actually slower or takes various registry tweaks to even come close to SMB v1 performance, like with most absolutistic statements, all of them are correct - under specific circumstances, that is! Let's have a look at what the new SMB protocol actually does, how it's performance is influenced by the new TCP/IP stack and how other network parameters (e.g. Jumbo Frames) contribute to the overall network performance. Using a network emulation tool, we will undertake some experiments and explore the behavior of Vista, XP, WS03 and WS08 when confronted with changing network conditions. And we'll end up accepting the fundamental wisdom of "Never trust any statistic you didn't fake yourself"!