Network lags, urgent fix required

I can understand the backup problem, but yuo need to see whether this is a cause or not. When i run a backup during the day the server goes real slow and transfer rates can drop to 20mb/sec. In an evening they are around 100mb/sec.

If your running it during the day while the server is under load then the transfer rates will drop quite substansially.
 
Any company running that type of equipment is going to have to budget for professional help.

I'm sure you are doing your best, but if your current main back-up is taking several days to run during the working week then the incremental daily back-ups are not exactly a lot of use for the first couple of days and what do you do if you need to do a restore on Tuesday for something that was changed on a Monday while the main back-up is still running?

One thing you might consider is creating a network purely for the back-ups using either an existing or a new second LAN port in each server and a dedicated switch.

That way you'll keep the back-up traffic off the main LAN everyone else is trying to use which may help a bit.
 
Teal said:
Any company running that type of equipment is going to have to budget for professional help.

I'm sure you are doing your best, but if your current main back-up is taking several days to run during the working week then the incremental daily back-ups are not exactly a lot of use for the first couple of days and what do you do if you need to do a restore on Tuesday for something that was changed on a Monday while the main back-up is still running?

One thing you might consider is creating a network purely for the back-ups using either an existing or a new second LAN port in each server and a dedicated switch.

That way you'll keep the back-up traffic off the main LAN everyone else is trying to use which may help a bit.
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Hmmm......interesting! Can you supply an example of how this would/could be done please?
 
This is the point where you need to get the professional help.

I mean no disrespect, but you need proper help to get this set up correctly and I don't think this forum is a good place to give remote instructions on setting up this kind of thing as mistakes will result in all sorts of problems.

If you talk to the Tech people that you have access to and tell them it has been suggested that you might consider a dedicated network just for the back-up traffic they should be able to take it from there and advise you of the costs/viability of that approach with the hardware you already have in place.
 
Teal said:
This is the point where you need to get the professional help.

I mean no disrespect, but you need proper help to get this set up correctly and I don't think this forum is a good place to give remote instructions on setting up this kind of thing as mistakes will result in all sorts of problems.

If you talk to the Tech people that you have access to and tell them it has been suggested that you might consider a dedicated network just for the back-up traffic they should be able to take it from there and advise you of the costs/viability of that approach with the hardware you already have in place.
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Thats perfectly fair enough mate, thanks.
There's no way i'd try it myself, but i wanted to understand better how it could work so the tech guys i speak to don't speak too far above my head.

Cheers :)
 
can't you get a tape loader? We use an 8 slot one which allows us to run weekly and monthly jobs at the weekend
 
Zap said:
can't you get a tape loader? We use an 8 slot one which allows us to run weekly and monthly jobs at the weekend
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I wish :rolleyes: , as is usual with I.T. depts, budget constraints come into play.
I've been asked to prepare a kind of budget statement to determine what budget i will get over the next year, as i've never had one before, its always been "boss can i buy this please?" type of ad-hoc system.

Main problem is our company has grown hugely in the past 2 years, so we're moving into new territory all the time.
 
Usual reply would be collisions/broadcasts or loops.

First can be discounted as it's switched (are you using full duplex? double check)

Second you'll need to use Wireshark.

Third... would need to see a network diagram/understand your kit as it seems like home use stuff more than office stuff.
 
k.Jacko said:
lol, cheeky begger i ran out of steam after my epic 1st post.

Yeah, sorry.... its a DC environment running windows server 2003 on all servers.
All pc's connect via terminal services, so in effect they are thin clients.
In the instance of Sage, our account girls were doing a data backup, but it got corrupted with unfixable errors. Sage said this was due to an interrupted network connection whilst trying to save data. I know we're having some network issues so i can't really poo poo their reasoning.
What users often complain of is the big red cross over a monitor icon in the corner of the screen. Now because its terminal services they just get 'disconnected' from the server not 'logged off', so when their connection resumes their on screen work is still intact and they haven't lost anything.

Working with sage is particularly annoying. Its not so much disconnecting, as more network lag where tasks take ages to perform. I suspect the lousy v2007, but at the back of my mind i know something is not right with the network and its performance.
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k.Jacko said:
All pc's connect via terminal services, so in effect they are thin clients.
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If this is how 40+ workstations are connecting I am not supprised your experiencing heavy traffic /disconnections.

In reality you need a lot more servers than 1 to use 40+ workstations as thin clients.

I suggest you try going down the operating system route/domain environment/login scripts/login names e.t.c to solve this.

The workstations are putting a lot of stress on the server if you really are using 40+ workstations using TS.

Maybe you could draw us a diagram of your exact network scheme. Then maybe you might get more help from the users.
 
To be fair it depends on what the clients are up to. I have a Citrix farm which will accomodate 45 users per server without breaking in to a sweat. For general office work a low Xeon/4gig mem/decent io should handle around that.

Unless there is something critically wrong with the server/access link to the server, clients shouldn't be getting disconnected without the box moaning first.

With regards to the backup, are you backing up locally or via the network? And how is the tape drive attached?

Quite a few possibilities with this one, the setup isn't the most rugged really.

Run wireshark first, see if there's mentalist traffic flooding the network, if not, look in to it further.
 
andrewbell1984 said:
If this is how 40+ workstations are connecting I am not supprised your experiencing heavy traffic /disconnections.

In reality you need a lot more servers than 1 to use 40+ workstations as thin clients.

I suggest you try going down the operating system route/domain environment/login scripts/login names e.t.c to solve this.

The workstations are putting a lot of stress on the server if you really are using 40+ workstations using TS.

Maybe you could draw us a diagram of your exact network scheme. Then maybe you might get more help from the users.
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Lol, dude i can't even draw the curtains never mind a diagram.
I will try though, if it will help you to help me. :)
I think the max amount of TS clients we have at one time is about 20-25. I would have thought a dedicated terminal server could handle that. Our IT team didn't think it a problem. Although they did put laod balancing ts's in, but certain programs wouldn't work well on them so we took it back to one.

The main issue with running apps from the pc's is that a lot would need upgrading and then there is the software *cough* licencing issue.
 
licencing?

just becasue they're thin clients using a central server for apps, doesn't get you arround licencing I'm affraid :(
 
ruffneck said:
licencing?

just becasue they're thin clients using a central server for apps, doesn't get you arround licencing I'm affraid :(
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Very common mistake to make as well unfortunately.

I really hope this isn't a case where someone has thought that one server install = one licence needed. That could prove an expensive problem to fix :)
 
Teal said:
Very common mistake to make as well unfortunately.

I really hope this isn't a case where someone has thought that one server install = one licence needed. That could prove an expensive problem to fix :)
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Nope its just that you can 'fool' the server into thinking it has enough cals for the clients connecting to it.

Don't get me wrong, i've battled with the powers that be many a time about getting up-to-date with licensing, but it falls on deaf ears.

Anyways, Wireshark, i have no idea what to do with that. It seems like i have to downloads loads of stuff and 'build' it. So i'm :confused: and :confused: :confused:
 
Teal said:
Very common mistake to make as well unfortunately.

I really hope this isn't a case where someone has thought that one server install = one licence needed. That could prove an expensive problem to fix :)
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I agree with you. This problem that your having really could be an expensive problem. If you have external consultants then I suggest you tell them this.

"Give me a quote on how much it will cost to fix this disconection problem"

If they can't find the problem then what they doing in consulting in the first place?....

I just say good luck to you. Any more information you can provide will be a help to the people on the forum.
 
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