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Fraser Morrison | 1 Jul 2006 02:44
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Network Slowdown Project

Good Day,

I have been tasked with determining why our server seems to be acting so
slow. The specs of the server are as follows:

Dell PowerEdge 2400
Dual PIII 733 CPU's
1.5 Gig of Ram
6 73Gig Hard drives in a Raid 5 configuration
Intel Pro 100MB Network Card
Netware 6.5 Service Pack 5
Groupwise 6.5 Service Pack 5
120 Network Users

I have never taken on this type of project so I would like to get some
input of how everyone would approach this type of task. I realize that I
need to make sure that all of the installed software is up to date and
so on. I have two Intel 510T switches that make up the backbone of the
network. I am interested in any good websites to review, procedures to
use, or even where to start. All input is welcome and appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Fraser

Fraser Morrison
LAN Administrator/Adaptive Specialist
Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority
5940 South Street
Halifax  Nova Scotia
Canada
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Dave Moon | 1 Jul 2006 06:28
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

Replace the 510's.  I just replaced all of my intel switches as we were having the same issues.  The backplane
speeds are too slow in my opinion.  That is an old switch that was not made well.  Ours would not run correctly
if you locked up the speed to full 100 on all ports and when you left them auto they would only run at 10 meg a lot
of the time.  Fought them for several years and even managed to get most warranty replaced at one point and
the replacements did the same thing.  

new hp switches will are replacing all 550/510/512/535/530 switches we have.  I will be all HP by the time
school starts in Aug.

Dave

Dave Moon A+
Peru Community Schools
401 N. Broadway
Peru, IN 46970
765-473-3081
fax 765-472-5129

>>> morrisonf <at> apsea.ca 6/30/2006 8:44:26 pm >>>
Good Day,

I have been tasked with determining why our server seems to be acting so
slow. The specs of the server are as follows:

Dell PowerEdge 2400
Dual PIII 733 CPU's
1.5 Gig of Ram
6 73Gig Hard drives in a Raid 5 configuration
Intel Pro 100MB Network Card
Netware 6.5 Service Pack 5
(Continue reading)

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Randy Grein | 1 Jul 2006 08:03
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

Dave has a good point re: Intel 510 switches; IIRC they top out at  
400 Mbits/s on the backbone. While we're on the subject of switches  
consider topology - 1 server, 2 backbone 10/100 switches. 120 users  
sharing at best a 100 mbit connection isn't enough anymore. This may  
be an immediate cause of poor performance or a secondary issue that  
will cause problems shortly.

In any case searching for performance bottlenecks is a lot of fun -  
you, the investigator get to apply your understanding of systems, and  
this system to track down what is dragging performance down.  
Understand this - you are conducting research; approach it in the  
same way any scientist approaches a question. First thing is to frame  
the question. What is meant by 'slow'? Translate this vague user  
complaint into something you can measure - maybe opening windows  
takes forever, or a key file-based database takes minutes to move  
from screen to screen. (I have a case like this now!) Next, find out  
what impacts this key task has - reading large directories,  
manipulating databases or something as simple as login. They all use  
different parts of the system although there are some commonalities.  
Now determine what the current load is - this can be difficult as  
there are different functions that make up overall 'load'.  
Determining this can be difficult if instrumentation is lacking -  
become familiar with NORM and a protocol analyzer; download and play  
with Ethereal. If you're not sure of what you find there are  
resources who can help - for example, I have helped a number of  
organizations by analyzing traces taken by onsite personnel. So far  
I've been lucky and have always been successful in determining the  
problem remotely, but at the least it's possible to rule out  
possibilities and suggest  new areas to research.
(Continue reading)

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Dave Moon | 1 Jul 2006 16:35
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

Randy,  That is the best description I have ever seen for finding a problem.  Wish I had I written.  Definitely
will use it in the future while training other people.

Dave

Dave Moon A+
Peru Community Schools
401 N. Broadway
Peru, IN 46970
765-473-3081
fax 765-472-5129

>>> randygrein <at> comcast.net 7/1/2006 2:03:29 am >>>
Dave has a good point re: Intel 510 switches; IIRC they top out at  
400 Mbits/s on the backbone. While we're on the subject of switches  
consider topology - 1 server, 2 backbone 10/100 switches. 120 users  
sharing at best a 100 mbit connection isn't enough anymore. This may  
be an immediate cause of poor performance or a secondary issue that  
will cause problems shortly.

In any case searching for performance bottlenecks is a lot of fun -  
you, the investigator get to apply your understanding of systems, and  
this system to track down what is dragging performance down.  
Understand this - you are conducting research; approach it in the  
same way any scientist approaches a question. First thing is to frame  
the question. What is meant by 'slow'? Translate this vague user  
complaint into something you can measure - maybe opening windows  
takes forever, or a key file-based database takes minutes to move  
from screen to screen. (I have a case like this now!) Next, find out  
what impacts this key task has - reading large directories,
(Continue reading)

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Douglas Becker | 1 Jul 2006 16:54
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SP5 HELP!!!

Has anyone installed SP5 yet?  If so, how do you fix the problem of there not being a server.exe file in the
startup directory when you explode the service pack?

Do I have to install a lower SP first or what.  I have downloaded and exploded this SP 5 times and it will not
install becasue there is not server.exe where the SP it saying it should be.

HELP!!!!

--
Douglas Becker
douglasbecker <at> cox.net
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Tim Heywood | 1 Jul 2006 17:28
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Re: SP5 HELP!!!

Easy, do not have your AV running on your machine before you expand the file...

T
-- 

-----------------------------
Tim Heywood
Novell Support Forum SysOp

NDS8
Novell Platinum Solution Provider

Office: +44 (0) 131 538 8202
Fax:     +44 (0) 131 453 6522
Mobile: +44 (0) 7974 134264

www.nds8.co.uk ( http://www.nds8.co.uk/ )

>>> On 01 July 2006 at 15:54, Douglas Becker <douglasbecker <at> cox.net> wrote:
> Has anyone installed SP5 yet?  If so, how do you fix the problem of there not 
> being a server.exe file in the startup directory when you explode the service 
> pack?
> 
> Do I have to install a lower SP first or what.  I have downloaded and 
> exploded this SP 5 times and it will not install becasue there is not 
> server.exe where the SP it saying it should be.
> 
> HELP!!!!
> 
> --
(Continue reading)

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Chad Leeper | 1 Jul 2006 17:30
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Re: SP5 HELP!!!

If you are running Mcafee disable it before exploding the spack.
-- 

Thanks,

Chad Leeper
Network Administrator
Capital City Fruit
515.981.2120

>>> On 7/1/06 at 9:54 AM, in message
<8848585.1151765680634.JavaMail.root <at> eastrmwml05.mgt.cox.net>, Douglas Becker
<douglasbecker <at> cox.net> wrote:
> Has anyone installed SP5 yet?  If so, how do you fix the problem of there not 
> being a server.exe file in the startup directory when you explode the service 
> pack?
> 
> Do I have to install a lower SP first or what.  I have downloaded and 
> exploded this SP 5 times and it will not install becasue there is not 
> server.exe where the SP it saying it should be.
> 
> HELP!!!!
> 
> --
> Douglas Becker
> douglasbecker <at> cox.net 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Novell mailing list
> Novell <at> netlab1.usu.edu
(Continue reading)

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Randy Grein | 1 Jul 2006 18:24
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

Gee, thanks! High praise in this crowd.
Think there's an article in it? Been a while since I published  
anything. I did something like this about 10 years ago for Network  
VAR magazine, it was a lot of fun writing back then.
Randy Grein, Master CNE, CCNA

On Jul 1, 2006, at 7:35 AM, Dave Moon wrote:

> Randy,  That is the best description I have ever seen for finding a  
> problem.  Wish I had I written.  Definitely will use it in the  
> future while training other people.
>
> Dave
>
> Dave Moon A+
> Peru Community Schools
> 401 N. Broadway
> Peru, IN 46970
> 765-473-3081
> fax 765-472-5129
>
>
>>>> randygrein <at> comcast.net 7/1/2006 2:03:29 am >>>
> Dave has a good point re: Intel 510 switches; IIRC they top out at
> 400 Mbits/s on the backbone. While we're on the subject of switches
> consider topology - 1 server, 2 backbone 10/100 switches. 120 users
> sharing at best a 100 mbit connection isn't enough anymore. This may
> be an immediate cause of poor performance or a secondary issue that
> will cause problems shortly.
>
(Continue reading)

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Chad Leeper | 1 Jul 2006 18:33
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

Randy,

An article outlining things to look for in Norm would be useful.  Norm provides a lot of info however it does
not do you any good if you
don't know what you are seeing is good or bad. Gone are the days when you could look at a NetWare servers LRU
sitting time and cache buffers
to get a good idea on how well it was performing.
-- 

Thanks,

Chad Leeper
Network Administrator
Capital City Fruit
515.981.2120

>>> On 7/1/06 at 11:24 AM, in message
<AF9E3BAF-4581-4E43-BB23-17639CCC442F <at> comcast.net>, Randy Grein
<randygrein <at> comcast.net> wrote:
> Gee, thanks! High praise in this crowd.
> Think there's an article in it? Been a while since I published  
> anything. I did something like this about 10 years ago for Network  
> VAR magazine, it was a lot of fun writing back then.
> Randy Grein, Master CNE, CCNA
> 
> On Jul 1, 2006, at 7:35 AM, Dave Moon wrote:
> 
>> Randy,  That is the best description I have ever seen for finding a  
>> problem.  Wish I had I written.  Definitely will use it in the  
>> future while training other people.
(Continue reading)

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Randy Grein | 1 Jul 2006 18:48
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Re: Network Slowdown Project

I'll consider that although it would be incomplete - NORM has enough  
good stuff to write a book about, and more than I've ever used or  
could speak of authoritatively. But maybe...

Randy Grein, Master CNE, CCNA

On Jul 1, 2006, at 9:33 AM, Chad Leeper wrote:

> Randy,
>
> An article outlining things to look for in Norm would be useful.   
> Norm provides a lot of info however it does not do you any good if you
> don't know what you are seeing is good or bad. Gone are the days  
> when you could look at a NetWare servers LRU sitting time and cache  
> buffers
> to get a good idea on how well it was performing.
> -- 
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chad Leeper
> Network Administrator
> Capital City Fruit
> 515.981.2120
>
>
>
>
>
>>>> On 7/1/06 at 11:24 AM, in message
(Continue reading)

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