Delay in network availability... 1

[Terilyn]

Hello,

For the past week or so, I have been unable to logon to our NT server when I first try; after supplying my password I'm told there is no server available. After about five minutes, I can logout and then login again and connect to the server. This was originally just my computer, but now others are experiencing the same phenomenon.

Win NT Server 4.0;SP5
Exchange 5.5; SP3
Win98 workstations

Any ideas on why it's not available on first try?

TIA
Terilyn

 

[KeyTech]

have you checked that you have enough licences on NT???If you are short and that is the case it will wait till someone logs off before it will let you log on...

Jay~ ~KeyTech

 

[Terilyn]

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is not a licensing issue, as we have more than the actual number of users we have. Also, this occurs first thing in the morning, before many of the other users have even arrived and tried to logon. Any other ideas?

 

[Shimza]

I think the problem is related to the delay on LAN switch.
If you are using Cisco Switches, disabling Spanning tree
might help you.

 

[Zelandakh]

Are you using TCPIP? What about DHCP?

Would suggest NT SP6a, Exch SP4 too.

They won't cure your problem, but they are now stable updates...

 

[Terilyn]

Shimza:

You say: "I think the problem is related to the delay on LAN switch.
If you are using Cisco Switches, disabling Spanning tree
might help you."

I admit to being a newbie and learning as fast as I can, but will have to admit my ignorance here...I have no point of reference for what you are saying here, other than to be able to say I'm not using Cisco anything... Can you elaborate on this for me?

Zelandakh: Yes to TCPIP, No to DHCP. What would I look for in relation to TCPIP?

As I said, this has only started recently, but seems to be affecting more and more of us so I would really like to be able to track down the problem and solve it.

Thanks for your responses so far.

 

[kjonnnnn]

Curious Why No t DCHP (Terilyn). On a fair size network its necessary.

 

[Terilyn]

Why no DHCP? Dunno...just walked into this setup several months ago and have been administering it "as is". It's a small network; 25 users and all workstations have statically assigned IPs. Up until recently, everything has been running smoothly...

Any other ideas/things I should look at? TIA

 

[Shimza]

Terilyn:

There is a default delay of few seconds on Cisco Switches (Catalyst Series). This also
causes the delay in network availability. There is a feature of spanning tree on
Cisco switches. By disabling that, the delay time can be reduced.

I hope I am being able to describe my point of view.

Were you being able to login without any problems before ?

 

[Terilyn]

Shimza,

Thanks for explaining the delay w/switches, but I'm pretty sure that is not the problem. Yes, I was able to logon w/no delay previously. And, not everyone here experiences the delay...3 out of 25 users. We get a message that there was no domain server available to validate the password, can't connect network drives, etc. Five minutes later I can log out and log back in again with no problems. Nothing in Event Logs, etc. Still a mystery!

Thanks again.