Slow Branch Cache P2P content transfer

Applies to

Branch Cache General

Symptoms

Content is successfully downloaded and cached on the local well connected subnet but the P2P transfer of content is very slow and appears to be more like WAN transfer speed.

Cause

BITS bandwidth settings are controlled through two GPOs, one that controls bandwidth limits during configured Work hours and the other during Maintenance schedule hours. Both are found under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> Background Intelligent Transfer Service.

There is a checkbox at the top left of the ’Options’ pane, entitled ’Ignore bandwidth limits if the source and destination are on the same subnet’. This box must be checked as it allows BranchCache-enabled BITS transfers between Peers on the same subnet to transfer at higher speed (up to 60Mb/s). If this is not checked, Peer-to-peer transfers will only happen at the current throttled speed.

Solution

Set a BITS policy that configures this setting to allow fast LAN transfer.