Tough Task - Speeding up applications over a WAN ...

[KenIT]

This is a question for the "WAN enthusiasts". We have a Dual 1GHz PIII NT 4 Server with a gig of memory (PDC). On the other end of our WAN we have a BDC PIII 1Ghz with 512mb of mem. I have come into this organization not too long ago and have done a migration from Netware 4 to NT 4 (had to go NT 4 because of some dos apps still used in organization ... the powers that be are reluctant to change.) My problem is that the facility on the other end of our WAN (consisting of about 8 users who will need to use the apps ... one dos and one Windows app) is suffering from a delay in processing due to the microwave connection over the wan. I have the BDC authenticating logons but I do not have the directories about 3.5 gig worth of data synchronizing due to the fact that I was told I should expect problems attempting to sync directories ... no need to go further with that one. To top it off data contained in the Win app is constantly changed on the BDC's side of the WAN so for our accounting dept. (PDC side of WAN)to work properly those changes made need to constantly be accessible. When I first came into the organization I suggested a dedicated T1 for the WAN conection but it has not been something in their longterm budget. I am now looking at intalling a Citrix Terminal Server with those apps on it having the clients connect to those apps through a Citrix client installation. Trying to keep this short guys so any other thoughts from the great tek realm would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance ...
Ken Tucker

 

[ShackDaddy]

You wouldn't even need to go fully Citrix if you wanted to cut costs. You could just use Windows NT Terminal Server edition. I've deployed a lot of apps for remote use on NT/2K terminal services with great results.

Have you been able to figure out exactly what sort of bandwidth you can expect over your microwave connection?

ShackDaddy

 

[KenIT]

ShackDaddy,
That may be something I might try ... TServer minus the Citrix ... and see what response I get from the apps. From what I have gatheredf from the internet the bandwidth I am getting is either 860 Kb/s or 2 Mb/s. The docs left for me were slim to none. Any more thoughts or ideas would be appreciated and thanks guys for sharing your knowledge.

Ken

 

[ShackDaddy]

We've have pretty good results with multiple RDP (thinclient protocol) sessions over even 128k lines. Sounds like it shouldn't be a problem. Some sort of thin client is definitely the way to go.

 

[KenIT]

Thanks for the thoughts ShackDaddy. I am in the process of a Terminal Server install as we speak. I appreciate your time and hopefully we will have the good results that you did. Thanks again. Ken