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marek1712Flag for Poland

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W2008R2 - slow opening of the network shares

Dear Friends at EE, I need your help.

I have some issues with the following configuration:
- there is a new Primergy RX300 S6 server with WIN2008 Server R2. I've enabled static aggregation (this issue was present even before). There are 4 SAS disks configured as RAID6
- there are ~20 workstations in the network - mixed Win2000/XP/7
- almost every computer is connected to the D-Link DGS-1248T switch (this particular issue was also present on the old 3Com switch). I've enable STP just to be sure there won't be any cycle (there are smaller unmanaged switches around the network).
- I have disabled anonymous access to the system (no change with Guest access enabled) for the sake of security.

The server has Oracle 11g database installed and as of now - nobody's using it (there's no data yet).
There are also domain services (with integrated DNS server) and remote desktop services installed. I've created account for all the users but these are currently disabled.
This particular server is the only one in the forest with functionality level of the Windows 2008 R2.
AD and DNS roles don't show any problems in the Event Viewer; same goes with DCDIAG - no Connectivity errors.
I've configured reverse lookup zones in our DNS (the server is configured to use only one IPv4 address). As of now, there's also dynamically assigned IPv6 address. If there's gonna be such need - I'll disable it through registry tweak.
All the hardware sits in one building.

I've read that SMB2 (in case of Win2008R2 and Win7 even SMB2.1) can cause long delays in older systems, caused by protocol version negotiation.
Unfortunately, I had to wait ~1.5 minute even under Windows 7 (doesn't matter if I joined the domain or not). I've turned off SMB2 on the server (again via registry tweak) but the issue is still present.
In addition - after waiting, every next access to the server is instant (that is until next restart). Even after that - when I go to the first level of the shared folder - explorer stops responding and I have to wait ~20sec. Following subfolders don't make any problems, just the highest level ones.

I've attached printout from the Wireshark (I had to cut out name of the server). .0.2 is a server, .0.105 is a client.

Any suggestions?

 capture.xls
Avatar of rcombis
rcombis

A quick question:  When you connect the Windows 7 machine to your "new" server, are you using the new server's DNS?

It seems like you are pretty technical, so don't want to offend you, but this seems like a DNS issue to me.

Make sure the client computer is using the DNS provided by the new server or using a DNS server that knows about the new server.

So maybe statically set your client's DNS server to the new server and see if that helps.
Avatar of marek1712

ASKER

Thanks for the response.
Our Linksys router's DHCP server doesn't let us to assing DNS server so I had to assign it manually on every machine (without it I couldn't join the domain - Windows displayed a message that it cannot find the DC).
With the primary DNS set to the server's one, nslookup works fine BTW. Pings are ~1ms.
Also, your clue made me remember something: it doesn't matter if I try to access the server via \\IP_ADDRESS or \\NETWORK_NAME. It takes the same amount of time to open a network share.

Can you do an ipconfig /all on a client having the issue and the server in question and post? -Thx
OK, done translating (show be more or less accurate).
Before you ask - this particular workstation had to have its' NIC replaced as previous one suddenly died. It's not the reason for poor performance though as other workstations with integrated network adapters behave the same way.
ipconfig-server.txt
ipconfig-client.txt
A couple of things to try:

Remove 194.204.159.1 out of client computers DNS and try.  (I think you can add the servers twice if it complains)

Try the reverse.  Put a share on the workstation and try to map to it from the server.

Do you have another workstation that you can try as well?

Let me know.
Dozens of them ;)
To tell you the truth - I didn't try sharing something from the workstation and mapping it to the server. I'll try that first.
As for that additional DNS (Polish Telecom/s one) - I can remove the reference but doubt it'll change anything.
Try removing that additional DNS entry, just for kicks....

Windows AD Security and Such makes many DNS lookups....and they are used in round robin format....  So it may be sending some DNS lookups to the external DNS and then timing out.  Should be a quick test, just so we can rule that out.
I'll be doing those check in a few hours. BTW - do you need RSoP.msc output from workstations and server?
After DNS change - nothing's changed.
I've set up network share on one of the workstation - I could access it from the server in less than a second...
What kind of anti-virus do you have on that server?

http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/configuration/troubleshooting-a-slow-running-windows-server-2008.aspx

This article says that you should test uninstalling your AV package all together and then testing.  Just disabling it is not enough.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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rcombis

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ad1. As of konw AV is disabled and still no joy.
ad2. Yes, I have hardened the security by digitally signing the communication (Network Access, Communication, etc) in the GPO. I've disabled it, used gpupdate /force and it may be slightly faster but not fast enough.
As it's almost 11pm here, I'll give it a go tomorrow.
I'll compare RSoP of my virtual machine (which doesn't have any issues) with comapny's server and post any findings.
Hello again.
It seems you've pointed out the issue: digital signatures of the communication. I've disabled majority of the settings and I see some improvements on random machines (opening time down from ~minute to 15s). I'll experiment even further.
Need to verrify some things, but it has improved opening times on some machines.
@rcombis - I'll try some more things in order to improve loading times. After the tip you've pointed out some machines open network shares in an instant, some are slower (but still faster than at the beginning). I'll post every finding here if I discover anything interesting.
!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT  !!!!!!!!!!!!!  SOLUTION  !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've found the solution with the help of the guys from ERP company visiting the one I had trouble in.
The problem was Novell Netware (5 in this case)! Don't know why exactly - maybe because machine has to authenticate itself against two different servers (Netware and Windows one)? Anyway - after removing Novell Client network shares open in an instant! :)
Now to migrate Netware file server onto Windows 2008...
Can I add, I was experiencing the same issue. We migrated from netware 6.5 to server 2008r2. Most clients were windows XP. The shares would mount but when the user opened the share either directly in explorer or from save with in word for example the file system would hang for 30-45 seconds.

Removing all netware components sorted this issue.

Thanks for the pointer
Peter