Very slow response when drive is mapped to a Windows 2000 server

[novellmel]

We've recently purchased a NAS running on a new Windows2000 Server. We started moving and mapping a few users' home directories from our Novell NetWare 5.0 (service pack 6.0a) server to the NAS on the Windows2000 server. Almost immediately, those few users started complaining that their computers were running very slowly when they tried opening things like Word documents. Moving their home directories back to the NetWare server cleared the problem up immediately. We use Word (and Excel) for Office 2000. From everything we have read, the applications don't care where the drive letter is mapped to.

The Windows 2000 Server is emulating a Novell NetWare 3.2 server.

My coworker and I have searched the Novell and Microsoft knowledgebases thoroughly, but we have not found anything that has helped us. Any suggestions or ideas would be very welcome! Obviously, something's wrong with the way that the Novell Server is mixing with the Windows server!

 

[DrGreen26]

T hats your first mistake. A Novell 3.2 server is a bindery based server and not nds, it also is not a good practice to let MS act like a novell box. I hate to point this out, but in all my years of supporting mixed networks, this has not been a feature of MS I was impressed with. So now I ask, why would you want to use a MS server to act as a novell server?

I have worked in environments with 6000 users, using a mix of everything from Netware to SUN Solaris to NT 3.5 and Server 2000, and I would never, never use a MS server to emulate as a Novell server (IT WILL NOT PLAY WELL).

So what I recommend doing is this, either keep the novell box for this and several other file services, or map an NT drive from the Novell login script or the WINNT login script. (which will work, but may be painful).

Do not use the MS server for something it was not designed for. If you wanted a NAS device, you should of bought the one from Novell. It comes in a UNIX platform and can be setup for any type of File system, Microsoft, Novell, Linux, Unix, Solaris etc..

HTH

And we thought integration meant one platform, one solution. Boy were we wrong!!!



Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com

CNE 4.11 and CNE 5 certified. BS Degree in MIS. Working in the industry for 8 years.

I work with NT servers, NDS for NT as well.

 

[novellmel]

DrMarkGreen: Thank you for responding to my problem.

What I said in the initial commentary was not quite right. We hadn't really setup a MS server to emulate a NW 3.12 server, we were using Microsoft's FPNW (File and Print Services for NetWare).

Microsoft does have a fix for the problem that we were having. It solved our problem, but the fix is unusual.

The title of the MS knowledgebase article that describes the fix is "Poor Performance with File and Print Services for NetWare".

Their resolution was to call MS's Product Support Services to get the fix. They gave my co-worker the instructions on how to download the fix and install it on the Windows2000 Server, which he did. They also said that they didn't want anyone to apply the fix unless they are "severely affected by this problem". They prefer that we wait until the next Windows2000 Service Pack, which, apparently, will contain this fix.

 

[DrGreen26]

Ahh, good ole Microsoft, always fixing a known bug or problem. At least now you know. Hopefully you will be able to move forward with the NT server integration. Of course one thing you might consider is using NDS for NT and that will install the MS client and allow you to access the NT server as a Novell object in the tree.

Good luck!!

Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com

CNE 4.11 and CNE 5 certified. BS Degree in MIS. Working in the industry for 8 years.

I work with NT servers, NDS for NT as well.

 

[novellmel]

You're right about Microsoft. I'm afraid this is merely the first of what will be many bug fixes.

At least we're moving forward now.

Novell's been a good friend for many years now. I hate to leave a network operating system that's been great the whole time, but we are moving to Microsoft Windows 2000.

You have a good point about NDS for NT. I'm going to look into that.