Slow connection on local network SMB-Share

[Nordlicht-13]

Describe the problem

I have a slowdown on the local network, when the netbird client is connected on my Windows PC.
The Windows PCs connecting to a ubuntu server with smb-shares on it.
Sometimes it takes a while (some seconds) to change between folders in a explorer.
And moving E-Mails on Windows E-Mail-Client from one IMAP-folder to another on the linux server
sometimes takes also a while or it's not responding any more.
Tailscale has no problem like this on the same PC.
On a different Windows PC that is connected to a TueNAS with SMB-Shares it's not that slow, but noteble.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Start and connect Netbird-Client on a Windows PC
2. Work on that PC, change folder, open Pdf-file or large images (working feels tough)
3. Disconnect from the netbird-net (working feels fluid again)

Expected behavior

Have the same working speed on the local network like without connected to the netbird-net like under tailscale.

Are you using NetBird Cloud?

I use the NetBird Cloud.

NetBird version

netbird 0.43.2

Is any other VPN software installed?

tailscale is installed, but disconnected.

Have you tried these troubleshooting steps?

• Checked for newer NetBird versions
• Searched for similar issues on GitHub (including closed ones)
• Restarted the NetBird client
• Disabled other VPN software
• Checked firewall settings

[nazarewk]

1. Is the SMB connection routed through NetBird?
2. Is the NetBird connection established as P2P or Relayed? You can check with netbird status -d on either side.

[Nordlicht-13]

1. Is the SMB connection routed through NetBird?

Not that I know, it's a normal SMB-share and the netbird-client is on the PC running.
Isn't there on the local network no need to route it through NetBird?

3. Is the NetBird connection established as P2P or Relayed? You can check with netbird status -d on either side.

...
Connection type: P2P
...
Relay server address: rels://streamline-de-fra1-1.relay.netbird.io:443
...

[nazarewk]

Isn't there on the local network no need to route it through NetBird?

NetBird doesn't really distinguish where the resource is located, it will route whatever you tell it to through the management (Dashboard), because this might be what some users prefer. So if you have the SMB server routed through NetBird anywhere, you might also be capturing the traffic inside the NetBird network and routing it, even if it's available directly on your LAN.

You can verify it with netbird networks ls.

[Nordlicht-13]

You can verify it with netbird networks ls.

Okay, now at home I get

Available Networks:

  - ID: office
    Network: 192.168.1.0/24
    Status: Selected

  - ID: truenas-home
    Network: 192.168.2.0/24
    Status: Selected

  - ID: UCM6302
    Network: 192.168.1.75/32
    Status: Selected

  - ID: truenas
    Network: 192.168.2.65/32
    Status: Selected

So I guess it's routed through NetBird, without the routing I probably can't conneced to the smb-share from my laptop, when I'm somewhere else, right.
But then NetBird should not slow down the network that much.

[nazarewk]

It might be blackholing the LAN traffic, disrupting local communication in the process. It would probably help if you made sure the routes are not distributed to the devices on the network or worst case being deselected for initial debugging purposes.

Could you send me the keys for netbird debug bundle -S --upload-bundle from both the server and the client, indicating which is which?
PS: This is a new 0.43.1+ feature for securely sending debug bundles directly to our servers. The keys are non-sensitive: pretty much filenames in our internal storage system.

[Nordlicht-13]

When think about it now...
On the ubuntu server at the office is no NetBird installed, on the Office-PC is a NetBird-Client installed.
On the TrueNAS at home I have NetBird running as an app (and a Icus LX-Container as a test).
Office and Home are connected via wireguard in the router
The question is now, is all traffic from the Office-PC to the ubuntu-server at the office runs through the wireguard connection of the routers, because the TrueNAS has the Networkroute?

2 Network Routes
truenas-home - 192.168.2.0/24
TrueNAS - 9999 - Active

office - 192.168.1.0/24
TrueNAS - 9999 - Active

Guess that's the problem.

[1nerdyguy]

I had literally a similiar 'foot gun' problem on this recently.

Basically, I came to two options:

1. Don't allow connections to netbird when the originating device is on the same lan. This way, the client is forced to go through the LAN to connect to the server when on site, as you have a rule saying "do not accept connections when onsite". This only works if your Servers and clients are seperated into different IP spaces or something else you can filter off with rule.

2. Install the netbird client on everything, and don't use network routes. Then, the only path is through netbird or lan. I found when I have a network route AND the client on a machine in that same route, the negotiation would not look at the p2p and relay instead based on the fact hte route existed.