2003 Small Business Server file transfers/writes are very slow

[Bret Jones_2]

Have two identical ML370 G3's. NC77XX on-board Gigabit NICS and 621 RAID controllers running RAID5. One is using 2003 SMall Business Server, the second is set-up as a second domain controller using Windows 2003 Standard.

Having issues with extremely slow file transfers and problem seems to be mainly with writes when a workstation attempts the file transfers, no problem when done from the server consoles.

CUrrently talking with MS support, they found that workstations are sending up to three ACK packets which do not reach the server.

In troubleshooting the error, we have swap the hard drives between the servers and connected the server directly to the workstation. In my mind this pretty much eliminates bad hardware. What it doesn't eliminate is a problem with something in either the hardware HP is using in these servers or problems with HP software.
Also, we have changed NIC drivers without changing the problem.

Any thoughts or leads from the HP end would be very appreciated

Thank You
Bret Jones

[Roger Faucher · Accepted solution]

Bret:

There are known problems with SBS2003 networking. Here are some pertinent links (in no particular order):

http://www.sbs2000.info/sbs2003/slow_file_copy_to_the_server.aspx

Sorry, I can't complete this now. Let me know if you need more.

Roger

[Bret Jones_2]

Thank you for your reply.

In my troubleshooting I did find the link you provided and attempted it with no luck. Microsoft also sent us a hotfix that addresses the same issue. No luck. ALthough the problems look much the same, all workstations are experiencing the problem, not just XP, everything from 98, nt, 2k, and xp.

I'm mostly hoping to hear if you guys have ever seen any problems with Proliant systems that would cause syumptoms like these. I'm hoping to either eliminate hardware issues all together or find something that could clue me in.

[Roger Faucher]

Bret:

I assume you've already eliminated all networking protocols save TCP/IP and you're using a WINS server and have implemented a 'hosts' file on each WS.

There are some freeware network monitors available on the internet (Ron Kinner knows a good one, maybe he'll see this and post it).

Tell us more about your infrastructure: subnets, masks, routers, etc.

If your network is not used for production at any time, develop a known-failure testing mechanism, shut everything down except the SBS and one XP(SP1) WS and run the test. If that works, add things in until you duplicate the failure. I sense from your initial message that you've attempted something like this, however, the result wasn't clear to me.

Roger

[Bret Jones_2]

Thanks for your reply. We have done pretty much everything you mentioned. Since we have two identical Proliant ML370 G3 servers, we actually swapped the drives from one server to the other and still had the slowness issue, even when only connected to a single workstation.

Basically, we had server, known good cable, known good small hub, known good cable, workstation. (We didn't have a crossover available). Problem still occurred.

I'm pretty positive that the problem isn't with the hardware, but thought I would perform some due diligence, contact HP and post here, just to make sure.

Also, I posted incorrectly, the RAID controller is a 642, RAID 5-three 72.8GB hot swap drives, Accelerator on 100% Read. (can I change this setting?)

BIOS/firmware updated to latest.

[Roger Faucher]

Bret:

This should NOT be your problem (fixed in WIN2K SP4) but I couldn't help but notice the similarity to your symptoms so I thought you'd like to read it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;321098

Roger

[Roger Faucher]

Still MORE interesting:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=328890

Roger

[Bret Jones_2]

I hate to keep shooting you guys down. . .

I did find those articles and implemented the one for 2003. No love.

I do appreciate the responses, they are at least giving me different approaches to take, which, after three days, is very welcome.

Heck, we've stumped Microsoft for two of those days. . .

[Roger Faucher]

Bret:

It sounds like there must be something wrong in the TCP/IP protocol stack in the SBS2003 server. According to that last article, you should never have a situation where even two successive packets do not trigger an ACK.???

How many NICs are in the SBS?

Roger

[Bret Jones_2]

single NIC, I haven't done a rebuild of the TCP/IP stack yet, I know that there is more too it with a 2003 server than just delete/reinstall.

Just heard something interesting from one of my workstation users, so we are going to try the SMB group policy thing again.

Wish me luck

[Bret Jones_2]

disabling SMB via Group Policy didn't work either. At this point I'm thinking that if we change the paint on the walls from light blue to something more exciting maybe the server will liven up. . .:)

So, if there are any more ideas. . .one additional strange thing, if we unattach a workstation from the domain, reboot, reattach to domain. . .we get Access Denied. If we reboot twice in between, all is happy.

Anyway, thanks for your responses and I thought I would give you another chuckle. . .part of Microsoft's troubleshooting had us disabling all Anti-virus including our Exchange anti-virus. If you can guess what happened, I'll give you a Bagle. . .

[Jon Finley]

Are you using WINS for name resolution?

What services are running on the second DC (looking for duplicates or "badly" configured) WINS, DNS, etc.

Are the IP addresses, subnet masks and all other IP entries correct, and match your subnetting scheme?

Have you implimented AD? Did you raise the functional forest level?

And last.... no.. I REALLY don't want a bagel I've had enough of them here.. :-(

Jon

Jon

[Bret Jones_2]

Thanks for all of your help. We have resolved the issue. Ended up being a combination of OS and a switch hardware problem.

We resolved the OS problem by changing SMB communication to non-secure via Group Policy.

The hardware issue was a bad port on a switch.

Thanks again for your responses, points will be forthcoming.

Are you guys sure you don't want any bagles. . . :)

[Ryan Steger]

Bret,

Can you specify exactly what you did to fix the problem?

You said:
"We resolved the OS problem by changing SMB communication to non-secure via Group Policy."

What steps did you take? I am in the same situation as you but I know my hardware is ok.

[Ryan Steger]

Bret,

Can you specify exactly what you did to fix the problem?

you said:
"We resolved the OS problem by changing SMB communication to non-secure via Group Policy."

[Bret Jones_2]

Roger's provided this link above,

http://www.sbs2000.info/sbs2003/slow_file_copy_to_the_server.aspx

Do not neglect the multiple reboots on servers or workstations as they are required.

I can't find a link quickly, but another thing that may help is modifying the registry to change the delay between ACK packets. A Google of SMB slow 2003 should tell you which regkey to modify.

The SMB thing is not Microsoft supported yet, so use at your own risk.