Windows Server 2003 File Server - Very Slow Performance

[markdavies1978]

Hi All,

I have had this problem for a few weeks now & it isn't going away.

I have come across many many threads on the this subject but not been able to find a solution.

I have a Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition Service Pack 2 File Server which performs so slow it is ridiculous.

All my hardware is bang up to date as I have raised the issue with HP, this includes latest network drivers, raid (we are using RAID5) updates etc.

My symptoms are quite simply that when users are browsing any files on the server windows explorer will simply lock up & if they are in a word doc for example they will lose the cursor & cannot type.

When no one is on the server or only a few users it is fine.

Network activity is fine as we have a 4 port GB card connected to 1 of our 3Com GB Switches.

When looking at task manger etc the CPU spikes at regular intervals at around 80%.

Network utilization is well under 10%

Please help!

 

[DTracy]

Are the unused ports on the NIC disabled?

David.

 

[itsp1965]

A couple of things to check;

- When the users are browsing for files, is the directory tree they are accessing very deep (ie the total path > 255 chars). This could cause file/folder enumeration issues.

- Is the speed of the NIC negotiated correctly with that of the switch port? auto-negotiating link speeds can cause slow network access also

 

[markdavies1978]

Hi Guys,

The standard network card is disabled.

The 4 port GB card has all ports enabled & are all connected to a GB switch.

The network I have inherited has everything set to "auto" from the client, server & switch ports.

With regards the directory tree do you mean folder name char length or how deep the directory is e.g. 20 folders deep?

Char length is normal, i.e. nothing overly long, there are obviously some directories which are very deep.

Any other pointers?

 

[itsp1965]

Your statement;

The network I have inherited has everything set to "auto" from the client, server & switch ports

Auto-Auto is not foolproof. There could still be speed negotiation issues. I would try hard coding the ports to 100MB/1GB full duplex on both the switch and the NIC side.

 

[markdavies1978]

itsp1965 - When you say "hard code" do you mean from the network properties of the NIC card in the server & the port settings on the switch?

 

[Roadki11]

yes thats what itsp1965 means topgunner. also i would check/change any patch cables and try a different wall jacks as ive seen cables that were not installed/punched down correctly that can experience attenuation, especially at 1gb speeds. It may work fine at 100mb but at 1gb it wont.



RoadKi11

"This apparent fear reaction is typical, rather than try to solve technical problems technically, policy solutions are often chosen." - Fred Cohen

 

[markdavies1978]

Checked cables same issue.

 

[Helenp1983]

Hi,

I had browsing problems when my anti virus updated itself.
I had to change on- access scanning, it was only a problem with network drives.

I'd check the anti virus on the server and the PC's.

Also when browsing files through an application like word, if you have dead links in My Network Places it can slow it down alot.

I have been told (not sure how true it is) that when word's default file location is set to a location with unc e.g \\myserver\users\homedrive instead of H:\ (which is mapped to \\myserver\users\homedrive) it can cuased problems.
I changed this in my group policy.

 

[technome]

Checked cable..
Is that with a cable tester capable of certifying or just a cheap continuity tester? Any tester under a few hundred dollars is TOTALLY useless.

On the switches, check the number of errors on each port, more than a few over 24 hours denotes poor cable, poor termination, NIC related issues. If any port has unusual utilization, with no errors, suspect malware or errant program

Spanning tree settings correct on the switches?

Remove any NIC management software from server, reinstall with the base driver only.

If you have any Win 2000 machines/servers on Net, disable SMB signing.

Does anyone bring in there laptops from home ? Software such as AOL crapware, incorrectly setup can bring a network to a crawl.

Check server event logs. If this is an AD network run DcDiag and NetDiag in verbose mode.

Is the master browser service disabled on all machines but the server?

"When looking at task manger etc the CPU spikes at regular intervals at around 80%.
This could be the result of 50 different things.

Extremely unlikely it has anything to do with the disk system.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[JoeMc5]

Yo man all these guys seem way off base to me. Use Performance monitor. Check your "Average disk que length" Its part of the Physical Disk. any chance you are running McAfee or EPO? I will bet you you average disk que is spiked and the processor is fine right? I also bet that the Network utilization is down to nothing.

 

[JoeMc5]

ALSO.... How it the performance when you are logged in locally? is it the same as when you are using the network shares? If so that rules out a hardware NIC problem.

 

[markdavies1978]

Technome - Thanks for your commments I will look at what you have suggested.

JoeMc5 - I have been watching perfmon for sometime esp "Average Disk Queue Length", "Disk Time".

Disk queue leghth is pretty much at 100 with the odd drop.

Processor spikes to around 65-70.

NIC is fine.

Yes we have McAfee installed, It has also been unistalled as a test & disabled.

 

[JoeMc5]

Shut down the McAfee service and the problem goes away.

Check to see if you have a user that is running an Outlook Archive off your server. Anything over a 4 gig archive will totaly hose out a fileserver. Ill bet my first born that is your problem.

 

[JoeMc5]

What is happening is Mcafee is scanning the pst file when the user opens Outlook on their end. See if you can put the archive on the users local machine. Either that or split the archive into multiple smaller ones. Another thing is if the user is not accessing the old archive data you can setup Outlook to not look for the archive when the users first opens Outlook.

IIm willing to bet that it is a specific user that has the complaints but everyone is noticing the slow down. Move the file and bounce the server....Then Mcafee should be good.

 

[markdavies1978]

Thanks will give it a go.

 

[JoeMc5]

Let me know. I have a thing about being right. : )

 

[cajuntank]

You might also want to take a look at disabling TOE (TCP/IP Offload Engine)... there are a lot of threads on the internet about performance taking a whack when going to SP2 (which introduced TOE) from SP1. The command to disable
TOE is: netsh int ip set chimney disable
Easy enough to turn off and on if it doesn't do anything for you.

Hope I could help.

 

[markdavies1978]

Still no joy, moved half my shares to another server, which has helped a little but not a lot.

 

[Lemon13]

what hw is the server, esp. cpu and ram?
the cpu utilization at 70-80% is way to high, how many users are connected?