ok guys, so heres the deal..
One of my lawyers/friends asked me to diagnose his problems.

Problem: Everytime one of the people at his office try to access a file from his server using word,excel etc. the program freezes while trying to open the file....
im talking White screen, not responding, fuck you freezes.
Finally (1 minutes later) it opens up and you see the text on screen, but you cant actually edit the file until 40-50 seconds later....

and when you are searching through the files and folders on the server from one of the office computers, it takes a minute for the files to be accessible (SP?)

I did notice that the computers he has int he office are running old versions of office (2000-2002) and this could be the problem. i also noticed that his server has a p4 with 6 hard drives and only 1 gig of ram.

will upgrading the ram to 2-3GB help with this lag?
is it a network issue?
the office computers are fast when they open files saved to them so it is definitely the server.
could it be the old versions of office are clashing with the networking properties of windows server R2?

i need some answers!

any and all help is appreciated.


oh yea, whiskers, mizouse, bacon, cheese and congrats moog

 

Sounds like a network issue.


That or the guy's network card, connection (cable) is flakey...

 

Whiskers
Mizouse :prettygirlthread:
Bacon
Cheese
Moog 3000 posts!!!


Running the same type of MSsuite would help because it'll lag because it goes through those checks to convert the file to the new version... also vice-versa, it'll lag because the newer version might have some things the older version doesn't and takes some time to convert the file...

check if the file is "Shared"

Don't think different OS really matters, but wouldn't hurt to update them all to the most current version the network is on...

What type of network topology are you using???

 

Try isolate out the client PC's. Can anyone access files off this server in a sufficiently speedy manner? You could try bypassing the wall wiring and data closet equipment. Is there any way to connect a client machine to the same switch the server is plugged into?

Additional items for consideration: how many clients are accessing files on the server? What is the free disk space on the server (both OS & data volumes)?

 

Check the network adapter's setting (full duplex, 10/100, etc)...Make sure they are all the same on the PC / Switches / Servers

 

Lots of potential bottlenecks.

Take your machine with a gig nic and plug directly into the switch. If it is still slow, then the problem is either the switch or the server.

Can you swap out the switch or add a better one for testing?

Do they have a different server you can copy a few files to and try to open from that server? Might rule in/out the individual, outdated server (unless the other one is as old...)?

 

i vote for speed mismatch, or running half duplex 10 mb..i'd change out the switches to 10/100 and hard set the machines to run full 100..

i think that'd fix the problem for the most part..

what happens if you try to do file transfers from the network to the machine..or back across the network? is it slow there too? how fast are the drives in the server? are they SCSI? 10k? 15k? what raid level is the server running?

 

First step in troubleshooting: isolate.

From experience, I'm sure it's network related. The elements are: server, NIC (network card), cable, switch.

Rule out the server since no one else has the problem.

Try plugging the workstation into a different network port. If fixed, focus on switch.

Try swapping the network cable. If fixed, well, it's fixed.

Try swapping out the NIC. That's where my best guess is.

You can also work your way up the OSI model. You do know the OSI layers, right?

Physical: cabling
Network: switch
Transport: NIC, TCP/IP drivers in Windows (maybe)
Session: file-sharing services (Windows Update patches needed?)

edit: damn I type slowly. Everyone said it all already.

 

blame the network, that's what everyone does...my vote is for Microsoft is at fault

 

I vote switch. (or at least the port)

 

I vote setting the network on fire.

 

bbzzzttt!! WRONG! The switch is Layer 2 of the OSI Model (Data Link Layer) not layer 3 the network layer routers are on the network layer!

I'm studying for my Network+ and I've been reading my book alot lately!

 

If this option is chosen, please take a video and post here for amusement.

 

Guilty as charged.

I knew I was taking a chance when I typed that. I haven't practiced low-level networking since NT 4.0. I was thinking a hub would be 2 and switches would be 3 since they do a bit of MAC routing, but I wasn't certain.

 

man! you guys are good. im gunna try all this out next time i pass by. the issue isnt just on my friends computer, its his and all his associates that have slow response times. it very well could be the switch, ill make sure its all running at full duplex. i already updated every single computer and made sure all the files were "shared"

 

Blame Canada.

 

Another vote for duplex/speed mismatch

 

Sounds like it's a switch or server NIC issue. If the server seems to respond fine when loging onto it locally, then the server should be okay. The server is plenty powerful for basic filesharing. Does the server have any other roles? How many clients are on the network?

Yet another vote for duplex/speed mismatch.

 

can you open them quickly directly on the server? maybe the drives are failing

 

the files open quickly locally. the only thing the server does is run the backup software.

 

another vote for fire