System is very slow

[SRaji]

We have NT Server, SP6 and with 70 Windows 98 clients. The server has two partitions C: (3GB) and D: (5GB). NT is installed in C:. Both the partitions uses NTFS. The drive D: is compressed. The system is very slow now and it takes much time for each process. Is there any way to increase the processing speed?.<br><br>Thanks in advance.<br><br>Rajalakshmi<br><A HREF="mailto:dassraji@hotmail.com">dassraji@hotmail.com</A><br><br><br>

 

[theripper]

Are you finding it slow at certain times (early am when all your users are logging into the system)?&nbsp;&nbsp;You may want to watch performance monitor to see if there is anything obvious that may indicate where your bottle neck is originating.<br><br>How much RAM do you have on the server?&nbsp;&nbsp;What speed processor?&nbsp;&nbsp;Are you running SQL, Oracle or another type of Database Software that eats up resources?<br><br>

 

[paulovey]

From my expirence SP6 is not very good may be an idea to go to SP6a or even back to SP5.<br><br>I may be wrong here, but have not seen a NT box with a C: partition of more than&nbsp;&nbsp;1 Gb before, I was under the impression that over 1 Gb on the boot partation was not a good idea..!!!&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>Are you running any Virus software on it ie sophos??<br><br>Silly question what processor / memory are you running.<br><br>When you say it takes a long time for each process, do you mean it takes a long to service network requests, or takes a long time to load desktop apps <br><br>Ie go in to control panel, load performance monitor?????<br><br> <p>Paul Ovey<br><a href=mailtoaul.ovey@avenue-legal.co.uk>paul.ovey@avenue-legal.co.uk</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[MasterRacker]

SP6 is evil.&nbsp;&nbsp;You definitely want SP6a.<br><br>Paul - we build all machines with 7.9GB NTFS system partitions (that's the max.).&nbsp;&nbsp;Works fine.<br><br>SRaji - Follow up on the questions.&nbsp;&nbsp;The problem could be the server, workstations or network.&nbsp;&nbsp;Much more detail is needed.<br> <p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most ...

 

[SRaji]

First, my thanks to everyone. The system is constantly slow. I think i need to go back to SP5, we have 128 MB RAM and it is a PIII machine. Only NT Server and few applications are installed in this system. We are not running SQL, Exchange, IIS.... in this system. <br><br>Thanks in advance.<br>Rajalakshmi.

 

[theripper]

Here are some of the items that may help us better help you.&nbsp;&nbsp;Many times ruling out what is not the problem can point to what is the problem.&nbsp;&nbsp;Since your system always appears slow, lets start knocking out some variables:<br><br>Is your server's NIC 10/100?<br><br>Are you running a hub or a switch in your network?<br><br>True CAT V?<br><br>Any protocols running you do not use? (NWLINK)<br><br>Does the EventViewer show anything out of the ordinary?<br><br>When was the last time your network was fast?<br><br>What has changed since (new software/hardware etc. . . )?<br><br>Does the server seem slow to you (working on it) or users accessing it?<br><br>If it appears slow to users, what type of TSRs/network programs do they have running?&nbsp;&nbsp;Has anything changed for your users recently?&nbsp;&nbsp;(Anti-virus, messageX, ICQ, etc...)<br><br>How is your server service set up? (Balance, Max-FileSharing, Max-NetworkApps, or MinMem)

 

[ATCal]

This sounds like a dumb question but you'd be surprised at how many times it has solved the problem- Are you running a screensaver on the server? <p>Al<br><a href=mailto: atc-computing@home.com> atc-computing@home.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[comtutor]

Why not look at the task manager and see what apps are sucking the CPU time?

 

[Zelandakh]

As a rule of thumb:

NT Server = 64MB minimum. Preferably 128MB. Then allow at least 1MB per user connecting. So in your instance, you should be running 256MB as a realistic minimum. If it is a PDC you get hit harder.

Once you start getting into WINS, DHCP, DNS, back office etc you really need to think about getting more servers. I notice you have no resilience. Think about mirroring the drives or even better, go to hardware RAID.

It costs more money, but justify all of this with the &quot;if the server goes tits up, can we afford the downtime?&quot;.

Performance Monitor. Add Memory, Pages/sec. If it is over 5 then you def need more RAM. Preferably should be running around 2.

Ensure that your NIC is running at full speed as some auto sensing ones run at 10Mb/s on a 100Mb network.

Check event log for errors that may indicate problems.

 

[samm]

Um...just thought I'd put my two cents in...Please oh please check your network hardware - NIC's Hubs etc. I had a file server which was perfectly visible to the network and which saw the rest of the network but any type of file copying resulted in a hung PC. I changed te NIC and it works fine. NIC's get damaged very easily through power spikes and suchlike.

 

[Steve Bowman]

The drive D: is compressed if most of the user data is on D: I would look at the overhead using Disk Compression it is a hog.

 

[SRaji]

In the compressed Drive D:, we have only the backup of the files, which we used it rarely. We used to use this drive very rarely only.

Thanks,
S.Rajalakshmi