Intranet file links slow response.

[johnodq]

Hi I posted the following in another forum but having worked on the problem a bit I think that this might be more appropriate.


I have setup a server running Server2003 to act as a web server for the local intranet, all the web pages seem to load fast enough, but on a couple of the pages I have links to files stored on a fileserver, I have placed the links so that they point to that server correctly ie:

\\fileserver\techfiles\doc\2003\xpinstall.doc

The problem is that after clicking a link it takes nearly a minute for the save/open dialog box to open up, which considering that these machines are located right next to each other and share the same switch is very strange.

I'm not sure if this is a browser of network problem and any help would be gratefully received.
=====================================================
I think I've worked out what's happening.

When the user clicks on the link the file is transferred to the local cache, it then brings up the open/save dialog box and when the user chooses either it moves it from the local cache to the save destination or it opens it from the cache.

This is no problem with small files, but with some media files ie: avi it gives the impression that the link hasn't worked.

I need to work out how to stop it pre-loading the file before it brings up the dialog box.
======================================================


Any help regarding this would be gratefully received.

John

 

[johnodq]

As I've had no replies, I assume that either no one reads this forum or no one has any idea what I am trying to achieve.

The server contains training videos, these can be very large if I have a link to the file in the webpage such as :-

<a href="file://server/Training/avi/howto%20install.avi">
How To Install</a></p>

The link works but it seems to wait around a minute (the bigger the file the longer it takes) while it transfers the bulk of it to the machine that the link was clicked on before opening the open/save dialog box.

If however I copy the link and paste it straight into the url address of the browser it almost instantly loads the default player and begins playing the file. This is what I am trying to achieve.

Once again ANY help would be gratefully received.

 

[deecee]

this question might be better served in one of the server forums here. This forum is for web site design questions, so this surly sounds like a server admin issue.

zzzzzz

 

[johnodq]

Thanks for your comment but this is an INTRANET site for a small business that uses training videos, it doesn't seem to matter if the videos are on the server or any machine on the network.

Why the links work so fast when pasted straight into the url against when they are chosen via links is surely more to do with websites and the way they work than servers?

 

[deecee]

i dont think so -- ive never encountered this before --

the only explanation i can have is every now and then a network will have so many ppl using it (usually a very brief instance) that if you click on a link it will move slow but if you hit the like about a second after you hit it the first time it will go to the page right away. This could be a network load issue but the only way the links speed were being effected by the page itself was is there was a script on the page doing so.

zzzzzz

 

[johnodq]

I tried making a web page that linked to a local file, I get exactly the same thing, if I watch the task manager it shows that the system is under between 30-50% load.

It seems to be copying the requested file to a cache, these files are 500Mb and bigger so you really notice the delay.

If I paste the link as it's written within the htlm it works immediatly but goes straight into the default player, via the link it opens the open/save dialog box after the 1 minute delay.

If this was a busy website I might expect network delays, but this is just 2 machines networked together purely for the sake of building and testing the site that I am creating.

And the problem with the same delay to local files rules out network load.

Very strange I know, but surely someone else must have encountered this problem before.

 

[ChrisHunt]

A couple of unrelated lines of enquiry...

1) What is the wording of the <a href= tag? What exact URL are you asking for? Which protocol are you using?

2) Do you know what MIME types the server is sending for these files? Maybe it's sending "text/html" by default, and the browser downloads the whole thing before realising it doesn't know how to display it.

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[johnodq]

Hi ChrisHunt

The Server is Windows 2003 running IIS and I checked all the MIME types (which seems to cover everything under the sun) and .avi .mpg .mpeg are all included.

I am learning Dreamweaver at the moment but using Frontpage to design the current site, so I am creating the links with Frontpage, the link below is an example of one of them.

ie: <a href="file://server/Training/avi/howto%20install.avi">
How To Install</a></p>


where /server/ is the server name and /training/avi/ are the directories to point to and "howto install.avi" is the file.

Thanks

John

 

[johnodq]

HI again

I was thinking, might I need to put something like this in the page header?

HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html

As I am fairly new to webdesign I am on a very steep learning curve.

Thanks

John