# File sharing protocol efficiency?  SMB/WebDAV etc...

## msalerno

I recently purchased an appletv generation 2 and put xbmc on it.  It's connected via wifi and downstairs from the wifi router.  The question I have is which protocol is best for accessing my media on my Gentoo NAS?  No NFS!  it's not available on the appletv.  My options are FTP, Samba, WebDAV, UPnP and XBMS.  It's not as easy as just timing a file copy since some of the protocols in the list don't work as a file sharing protocol.  I've been looking for some good comparisons but I haven't found anything useful.  I realize that bandwidth is going to be static, so I guess it comes down to protocol overhead.

Does anyone have any good resources on protocol comparisons?

Thanks

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## gerdesj

Have you tried any tests?

Anyway, ftp and cifs (Samba) should be about the same.  WebDav: don't know but I suspect probably similar to ftp/cifs. 

UPnP is not a data transfer protocol, its for network management.

Don't know what XBMS is but I presume it involves an XBox.

If you can't be arsed to do some investigation of your own then I suggest you use cifs.

Cheers

Jon

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## msalerno

I was asking for additional resources, not opinions.  It happens to be quite a lot of tests when you break it down, and I'm sure I'm not the first to ask the question or ask for additional comparisons.  I'm still not sure why you felt the need to reply.

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