Question

Need advise on DSL/Router/Terminal server configuration

Asked by: jamie177

We have a satellite office that has 4 people working there. The setup is as folows:

Users are connected to a switch that goes to a router that connects to a DSL modem. (3-6Mb/s up and 768k down)
The users are on thin clients and they connect to our main office's terminal server via the router's VPN connection.

The users have been complaining about the server being slow. They use applications such as Great Plains and other apps that they do queries to our SQL server. They also surf the internet while on the Terminal server. They use roaming profiles. The terminal server is a virtual machine on an ESX (VMware) box. We have 2 ESX boxes, they share the load between about 6 servers. Utilization on the ESX boxes do not seem to be high or not normal.
When I RDP to the Terminal server from inside the network it seems to be fine.
The biggest complaint is that the internet is very slow.

My question is what can I do to fix this? I was thinking about getting another dsl line and another router so I can have 2 people dedicated to each. My boss asked about putting another network card in the router so we can use 2 dsl connections. Is this possible since we use vpn to do everything?




 

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Asked On
2009-06-10 at 09:05:42ID24479896
Tags

DSL

,

router

,

Terminal server

,

Load balancing

,

VPN

,

esx

,

vmvare

Topics

DSL Lines / Cable Internet

,

Virtual Private Networking (VPN)

,

Network Routers

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
15

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Answers

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-10 at 09:09:14ID: 24593245

Update - I just did a speed test from our terminal server. (I rdp'd to it from inside the network..)
The servers are connected via switch (cisco 3560) to a cisco router breaking up a T1)

  • 1.JPG
    • 165 KB

    sucky connection

    sucky connection
 

by: jmarti80Posted on 2009-06-10 at 09:27:41ID: 24593455

The screen shot above tells you all you need to know.  It looks like it's a simple bandwidth issue.  VPN alone takes up extra bandwidth because it is encrypting everything that passes through the network, coupled with the use of terminal services, I don't think your DSL line can handle it.  Your statement that everything from the inside seems to work fine further supports this.

I would verify this by connecting directly to the Modem (configure your laptop with the static IP's and GW provided to you by the ISP) and then running the same speed test.  This will tell you the true bandwidth that your ISP provides, if it is significantly higher, then that basically suggests that your users are using the bandwidth and you definetly need to increase it.  If it is the same as the screen shot above, then the problem is on the ISP side for sure.

My suggestion would be to simply increase the Bandwidth provided to you by your ISP (provided that the above is done).  I wouldn't add anymore lines, I would just contact your ISP and see if they can increase your bandwidth on that line.  If not, then you may have to go with a T1 or higher with increase pipes.

Good luck.

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-10 at 12:43:21ID: 24595472

I talked to AT&T earlier. They said we have the fastest DSL they offer.


T-1 is pretty much out of the question.

 

by: emilgasPosted on 2009-06-10 at 13:07:22ID: 24595756

First of all what kind of a router do you use at your satellite office?
What type of VPN hardware do you use at the corporate? VPN concentrators etc...

If you do not have invested in expensive equipment at the satellite office then you should consider a router with two WAN ports which will allow you to add another internet connection, either DSL or Cable. This way you don't have to go with T1. It would be way cheaper to and another ISP. I would recommend Cable so you don't have to get another phone line into the office.

Check it out; something like this will do it:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/linksys-rv082-10-rv082,review-257.html
It is a Linksys product but will work with you existing Cisco network without any problems.

One more thing... That Speed test that you did was it done from the satellite office or from the corporate office. I know you did it from Terminal Services, but where did you do it from?

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-10 at 13:21:01ID: 24595927

cisco 2620xm is the router that we have at the satellite office I believe.
VPN is from the router or our PIX515e. I can't remember at the moment.


The speed test was from me rdp'd to the terminal server from my computer inside the corporate office. It was on the Terminal server's browser. I did one from my computer and got a similar speed.

 

by: emilgasPosted on 2009-06-10 at 13:53:37ID: 24596330


Wow, in that case the internet at your corporate office is pretty slow too. What kind of internet connection do you have?

Can you do the speed test from your Satellite Office but not using the RDP? Just opening the browser and doing it. This way you are not going through your VPN (that's if the router is doing Split Tunneling) meaning that anything that is not going to Corp it doesn't transfer through the VPN just uses the "plain" internet connection. I would be surprised if the internet speed would sill be slow.

At this moment I don't think your Satellite office internet connection is that slow. It is your Corp Internet.
Internet.

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-10 at 14:02:45ID: 24596441

T1 at corp
At the satellite office they are using thin clients so I can't do a speed test without logging on to the network.

I think it may be on this side also. I'm going to try to log in tonight and see if the terminal server is slow on the internet for me. If it is then I know it a corporate problem.

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-11 at 07:09:23ID: 24602484

I logged in from home via vpn and tried it out. I'm almost certain that it is the vpn connection.
If I enable split tunneling would it slow down the traffic that tunnels to corporate?

 

by: emilgasPosted on 2009-06-11 at 08:29:26ID: 24603502

In your particular case it would not make a difference since all of your traffic needs to go through VPN. Am I right? Your thin clients cannot do anything without the RDP to terminal server. Your Thin Clients cannot even get on the internet on their own. Split tunneling is only if you want to split your traffic into two categories: Things going to Corp (VPN) and things that are not going to Corp (Internet). If that was the case then you would have seen some improvement on your VPN connection because not everybody is utilizing the VPN connection at a given point in time.

But in your case thin clients are designed to do everything over the VPM. Therefore, split tunneling wouldn't do anything because there is not traffic to split everything is going through the VPN

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-11 at 09:15:06ID: 24604035

emilgas-

yes and no.

We have 3 people that use thin clients and 1 who uses his laptop. I need to figure out how to make everyone win. (the guy with the laptop is the CEO) :)


 

by: emilgasPosted on 2009-06-11 at 11:41:25ID: 24605404

Do you know how to check to see if the split tunneling is present?

Check your public IP address on the internet (www.whatismyip.com). Go to the website both from a PC from the headquarter office, and from that CEO's laptop. If the IP addresses are the same then there is no split tunneling. But if Ip is different then there is.

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-11 at 12:52:33ID: 24606133

He is in Texas, I'm in Chicago..

It's not enabled. I use Cisco ASDM to control my firewall and vpn settings. It's not enabled in the PIX. Also, I can tell it's not enabled because while connected, his internet explorer won't work.

I was thinking that maybe setting the MTU would help. They are using DSL and I read about problems with the default being 1500 on DSL. I am going to set it down to 1272 tonight. I would do it now but I am scared it will interrupt their work.

Other than that I don't know..
I don't think the problem is the terminal server because it is fine if I RDP from internal. I doubt it is the DSL line because I get the same problem when I remote from home.
I do think it is the VPN, but I'm not sure why or how to fix it. I'm really hoping that the MTU settings will help.


 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-12 at 06:05:26ID: 24611756

Does anyone know what I can do for the thin client users? I need to speed up their connection.

 

by: emilgasPosted on 2009-06-12 at 09:32:12ID: 24613837

I wouldn't mess with the MTU unless you are 100% sure. Secondly, who told you to change it to 1272. I always thought it was 1492, but I don't have that much background.

Again, this is an area that I don't have much expertese. Read the following article

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5793

 

by: jamie177Posted on 2009-06-23 at 07:51:10ID: 31590950

Came to conclusion that it was a bandwidth issue.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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