Git on Windows fileshare is SLOOOW compared to GitHub

Question

We decided to host our shared Git repositories on an internal Windows Server share. All devs then access this share via VPN connection, to push / pull changes.

And it works fine.

But we got suspicious that it was slower than normal, ie. compared to GitHub - so we decided to do a little speed test, and setup the same project both on the local fileshare and Github.

And the result was scary : Fileshare Git repository was 5-7 times slower than using GitHub.

Can anyone give me any clues to who there is the HUGE difference in speed ?

The Windows fileshare is located on a fair Windows Server 2003, which basically only servers as a fileserver and the server is NOT busy or anything like that.

All devs access this share from Mac OSX.

Answer 1

If by "fileshare" you mean you are using the "local protocol" (i.e. the remote repository is in another directory on a -- here remote -- disk), then this is normal: a SSH or smart http-based solution would be quicker.

The Cons

[...] If you want to push from your laptop when you’re at home, you have to mount the remote disk, which can be difficult and slow compared to network-based access.

It’s also important to mention that this isn’t necessarily the fastest option if you’re using a shared mount of some kind.
A local repository is fast only if you have fast access to the data.
A repository on NFS is often slower than the repository over SSH on the same server, allowing Git to run off local disks on each system.

Since GitHub offers both access (SSH or smart HTTP), it will be quicker than a fileshare.

See 8 ways to share your Git repo for other ways to share your central repo.