VPN Speed Issue.......

[netadmin06]

Hello IT Experts, I have a problem and I am not sure what's the best route to take on solving it...I have 2 offices (office 1 and office 2). Office 1 has a Windows 2003 Server and about 8 Windows XP PC's. The Server is attached to the Router (NetGear FVG318 ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Router) via Ethernet cable, all 8 PC's are attached to the network via wireless cards only. Office 2 is setup exacly the same but there is no server in office 2.

Both offices are attached via VPN through the VPN Routers. Pc's from office 1 can access server files fine. Office 2 can access server files from office 1 through the VPN connection between the routers, however, it is VERY VERY slow........my goal is to drastically improve access time/speed to the server from computers in office 2.

The ISP that we use on both office is a Cable Company ( optimum online )....according to their website I am getting 15MBPS.. (

http://www.optimum.com/online/speed.jsp)

but they do offer a BOOST option to increase to 30 MBPS, would getting the boost solve my problem??...or getting new Routers??...perhaps using ethernet cable on all pc's on office 2 to connect to the router instead of just using wireless cards??,,,(rather not do this ).....Any help will be greatly appreciated....oh!!...we will be adding a third office (office 3) in about 6 months.. pc's there will also need access to server files in office 1....any suggestions would be great, open to anything.

Thank You

 

[reynolwi]

to speed some things up you may want to put a server at office 2 and have it serve as the AD server for office 2. This will speed up logins.

Also it may be that your routers are capping the speed at which your VPN taffic moves at. You may want to look at changing those or seeing if there may be a setting to increase the speed.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS

http://www.rrwds.com

http://www.txpubsafety.com

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[dberg35]

Even though you are getting 15mb down what is your upload, that may be very slow. I use the same routers and do not have this issue. Also what is your wireless speed, this will slow things down at the pc level.

 

[netadmin06]

what do u mean "capping the speed at which your VPN taffic moves at.'??....what setting should i look for in the routers to make that change??....my network is not setup as domain..only as a workgroup,,,i do not know what the upload speed is...would it be faster to put a T-1 line between the 2 offices???..you mentioned that you have the same routers..is there a speed setting or anything like that??...wireless speed is 54 mbps with a good signal strength..

 

[VPNSteve]

You're going about this wrong. First you need to figure out where the slowdown is actually occurring. It seems that currently you don't know.

I would suggest the following:

1. FTP a fairly large file between the sites to measure the speed of the connection, both through the tunnel and outside the tunnel. Comparing these should give you a good idea of your encryption overhead (assuming that your isp is not throttling encrypted traffic, which is becoming more and more common) If your encrypted traffic is drastically slower than your unencrypted traffic, then I'd say there's a fair chance your isp is doing something. However, as mentioned above, you also need to check the settings on the routers to see if they are limiting the throughput themselves.

2. Should there be no major difference in the speed measurements above, I'd take a trace as your trying to access the files accross the tunnel and see what the traffic looks like.

Once you've narrowed down what is actually slowing you down you can figure out how to fix it. I would hold off on upgrading your connections until you verify they are the actual problem.

 

[netadmin06]

i jsut found the upload speed from my ISP..2 Mbit upload..is this good?

 

[reynolwi]

thats fairly decent... some VPN routers have the option to limit the amount of throughput to help save bandwidth. I dont remember what my routers call it, but it will have something to do with data limit or something like that.

My sites are connected with a hardware VPN. The main site is 9mb down / 1mb up, and the remote site is 4mb down / 768k up and it operates pretty good moving files.

Something is causing your slowdown. You need to test your tunnels somehow like what VPNSteve recommended to see where exactly the problem lies. It may be your ISP as a lot are throttling certain traffic through their network.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS

http://www.rrwds.com

http://www.txpubsafety.com

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