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Server 2016 NAS Performance Review
In October 2016, Microsoft released the Windows Server 2016 operating system. The new version of Windows Server includes a large number of new features and capabilities mainly intended to provide better support for virtualized computing environments. The purpose of this review is to compare the NAS performance of the newly released Server 2016 to other operating systems including Server 2012, Server 2008 and RedHat Enterprise Server. 
For this performance review we have performed a number of different file copy, file synchronization, directory scanning, file search, disk space analysis, file classification, duplicate files search and file delete performance tests using three different sets of files. All tests were performed on exactly the same hardware platform, in the same order using the same sets of files for each tested operating system. Tested Operating Systems:
All tests were performed using DiskBoss v7.3 (64-Bit version), which is capable of performing different types of disk space analysis, file copy, file synchronization, file search and file delete operations. For all tested operating systems, each test was performed 4 times using 1, 2, 3 and 4 parallel threads. File Copy Operations
When copying small files to/from a Server 2016 NAS device , the average file copy performance reaches 10.03 MB/sec for a single file copy thread and scales to 33.87 MB/sec for 4 parallel file copy threads. When copying medium-sized files, the file copy performance reaches 42.68 MB/sec for a single file copy thread and scales to 88.37 MB/sec for 4 parallel file copy threads. 
Finally, when copying large files to/from a Server 2016 NAS device, the average file copy performance reaches 48.75 MB/sec for a single file copy thread and scales to 97.09 MB/sec for 4 parallel file copy threads, which almost fully utilizes the maximum performance of the Gigabit Ethernet network used in this test. 
In order to compare the Server 2016 NAS file copy performance to other operating systems, we have averaged the performance results for all sets of files and calculated the performance improvement in percents for each tested operating system. According to the average file copy performance results, Server 2016 is 3.26 percent slower than Server 2012 R2, 2.94 percent faster than Server 2012, 6.5 percent faster than Server 2008 R2 and more than 7 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v6.2 and RedHat Enterprise Server v6.2. Directory Scanning and Disk Space Analysis Operations
When scanning and analyzing directories using a single processing thread, the performance of Server 2016 NAS reaches 4,241 Files/Sec and scales to 9,358 Files/Sec when scanning directories and analyzing files using 4 parallel processing threads. 
In order to compare the Server 2016 NAS disk space analysis and directory scanning performance to other operating systems, we have averaged the director scanning performance results for all tests and calculated the performance improvement in percents for each tested operating system. 
According to the average disk space analysis and directory scanning performance results, the performance of Server 2016 NAS is almost identical to Server 2012 R2, Server 2012 and Server 2008 R2. On the other hand, when scanning directories and analyzing disk space usage, a Server 2016 NAS device is 62 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v6.8 and 28 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v7.2. Duplicate Files Search Operations
When searching duplicate files using a single processing thread, the performance of Server 2016 NAS reaches 324 Files/Sec and scales to 1,036 Files/Sec when searching duplicate files using 4 parallel processing threads. 
In order to compare the Server 2016 NAS duplicate files search performance to other operating systems, we have averaged the duplicate files search performance results for all tests and calculated the performance improvement in percents for each tested operating system. 
According to the average duplicate files search performance results, Server 2016 is 4 percent slower than Server 2012 R2 and almost identical to Server 2012 and Server 2008 R2. On the other hand, when searching duplicate files, Server 2016 is 6 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v6.8 and 10 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v7.2. File Delete Operations
When deleting files from a Server 2016 NAS device using a single processing thread, the performance of file delete operations reaches 647 Files/Sec and scales to 2,560 Files/Sec when deleting files using 4 parallel processing threads. 
In order to compare the Server 2016 NAS file delete performance to other operating systems, we have averaged the file delete performance results for all tests and calculated the performance improvement in percents for each tested operating system. 
According to the average file delete performance results, Server 2016 is 6.8 percent slower than Server 2012 R2, almost identical to Server 2012 and 2.5 percent slower than Server 2008 R2. On the other hand, in this specific operation, Server 2016 is 36 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v6.8 and 32 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v7.2. Conclusion
Finally, in order to be able to see the big picture, we have averaged and normalized all performance results and calculated average Server 2016 NAS performance improvements relative to all tested operating systems.
According to the average performance results for all types of file management and analysis operations, Server 2016 NAS is 3 percent slower than Server 2012 R2, almost identical to Server 2012, 3 percent faster than Server 2008 R2, 21 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v6.8 and 15 percent faster than RedHat Enterprise Server v7.2. * This review was prepared for information purposes only and we strongly recommend to test the performance of DiskBoss file management operations on your specific hardware platform and with your specific data sets.
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