asked on

What could cause a server to have slow response to network requests?

I have a windows 2003 server that has a dual network card setup. We only work with one card and disable the second card. Last Wednesday we started to see very slow interaction with the server when trying to talk with remotely (I.E. Active Directory manager, DNS listing, DHCP listings and so on). Over the weekend I worked on the server and found that working with the above mentioned items when directly on the server were fast.

To test some things, I switched to the second network card and disabled the first card. I found the same results and interaction was still slow when working remotely but fast when on the system. The system is running all the current patches, drives, and no other software has been installed before the problem started.

This is the AD Master server and has been running for 5+ years.

What could be causing this problem?

Govvy

Can you run NETDIAG and copy the output here?

Amirsys

ASKER

Computer Name: WALL-E
DNS Host Name: WALL-E.amirsys-int.com
System info : Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Build 3790)
Processor : x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2, GenuineIntel
List of installed hotfixes :
KB2079403
KB2115168
KB2121546
KB2124261
KB2141007
KB2158563
KB2160329
KB2183461-IE7
KB2207559
KB2229593
KB2259922
KB2279986
KB2286198
KB2296011
KB2296199
KB2345886
KB2347290
KB2360131-IE7
KB2360937
KB2378111
KB2387149
KB2388210
KB2393802
KB2412687
KB2416400-IE7
KB2416451
KB2419635
KB2423089
KB2436673
KB2440591
KB2443105
KB2443685
KB2467659
KB2476490
KB2476687
KB2478953
KB2478960
KB2478971
KB2479628
KB2482017-IE7
KB2483185
KB2485376
KB2485663
KB2497640-IE7
KB2503658
KB2503665
KB2506212
KB2506223
KB2507618
KB2507938
KB2508272
KB2508429
KB2509553
KB2510581
KB2511455
KB2518295
KB2524375
KB2524426
KB2530548-IE7
KB2535512
KB2536276
KB2536276-v2
KB2544521-IE7
KB2544893
KB2555917
KB2559049-IE7
KB2562485
KB2562937
KB2566454
KB2567680
KB2570222
KB2570791
KB2570947
KB2571621
KB2607712
KB2616676
KB921503
KB923561
KB924667-v2
KB925398_WMP64
KB925902
KB926122
KB927891
KB929123
KB930178
KB931784
KB932168
KB933729
KB933854
KB935839
KB935840
KB936021
KB936357
KB936782
KB938127-IE7
KB938464
KB941202
KB941568
KB941569
KB941644
KB941693
KB942615-IE7
KB942763
KB942830
KB942831
KB942840
KB943055
KB943460
KB943485
KB944653
KB945553
KB946026
KB948496
KB948590
KB948745
KB949014
KB950759-IE7
KB950760
KB950762
KB950974
KB951066
KB951072-v2
KB951698
KB951746
KB951748
KB952004
KB952069
KB952954
KB953298
KB953838-IE7
KB953839
KB954155
KB954211
KB954550-v5
KB954600
KB955069
KB955759
KB955839
KB956390-IE7
KB956391
KB956572
KB956802
KB956803
KB956841
KB956844
KB957095
KB957097
KB958215-IE7
KB958469
KB958644
KB958687
KB958690
KB958869
KB959426
KB960225
KB960714-IE7
KB960715
KB960803
KB960859
KB961063
KB961064
KB961118
KB961260-IE7
KB961371
KB961371-v2
KB961373
KB961501
KB963027-IE7
KB967715
KB967723
KB968389
KB968537
KB968816
KB969059
KB969805
KB969883
KB969897-IE7
KB969898
KB969947
KB970238
KB970430
KB970483
KB970653-v3
KB971029
KB971032
KB971468
KB971486
KB971513
KB971557
KB971633
KB971657
KB971737
KB971961
KB972260-IE7
KB972270
KB973037
KB973346
KB973354
KB973507
KB973525
KB973540
KB973687
KB973815
KB973825
KB973869
KB973904
KB973917
KB973917-v2
KB974112
KB974318
KB974392
KB974455-IE7
KB974571
KB975025
KB975467
KB975558_WM8
KB975560
KB975562
KB975713
KB976098-v2
KB976325-IE7
KB976749-IE7
KB977165
KB977290
KB977816
KB977914
KB978037
KB978207-IE7
KB978251
KB978262
KB978338
KB978542
KB978601
KB978695
KB978706
KB979306
KB979309
KB979482
KB979559
KB979683
KB979687
KB979907
KB980182-IE7
KB980195
KB980218
KB980232
KB980436
KB981322
KB981349
KB981550
KB981793
KB981957
KB982132
KB982214
KB982381-IE7
KB982666
KB982802
Q147222

Netcard queries test . . . . . . . : Passed

Per interface results:

Adapter : Local Area Connection

Netcard queries test . . . : Passed

Host Name. . . . . . . . . : WALL-E
IP Address . . . . . . . . : 172.16.1.151
Subnet Mask. . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway. . . . . . : 172.16.1.1
Primary WINS Server. . . . : 172.16.1.151
Secondary WINS Server. . . : 172.16.1.156
Dns Servers. . . . . . . . : 172.16.1.151

AutoConfiguration results. . . . . . : Passed

Default gateway test . . . : Passed

NetBT name test. . . . . . : Passed
[WARNING] At least one of the <00> 'WorkStation Service', <03> 'Messenger Service', <20> 'WINS' names is missing.

WINS service test. . . . . : Passed

Global results:

Domain membership test . . . . . . : Passed

NetBT transports test. . . . . . . : Passed
List of NetBt transports currently configured:
NetBT_Tcpip_{9A5E2632-29BB-45BC-8110-1806F4A92C79}
1 NetBt transport currently configured.

Autonet address test . . . . . . . : Passed

IP loopback ping test. . . . . . . : Passed

Default gateway test . . . . . . . : Passed

NetBT name test. . . . . . . . . . : Passed
[WARNING] You don't have a single interface with the <00> 'WorkStation Service', <03> 'Messenger Service', <20> 'WINS' names defined.

Winsock test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

DNS test . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
PASS - All the DNS entries for DC are registered on DNS server '172.16.1.151' and other DCs also have some of the names registered.

Redir and Browser test . . . . . . : Passed
List of NetBt transports currently bound to the Redir
NetBT_Tcpip_{9A5E2632-29BB-45BC-8110-1806F4A92C79}
The redir is bound to 1 NetBt transport.

List of NetBt transports currently bound to the browser
NetBT_Tcpip_{9A5E2632-29BB-45BC-8110-1806F4A92C79}
The browser is bound to 1 NetBt transport.

DC discovery test. . . . . . . . . : Passed

DC list test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

Trust relationship test. . . . . . : Skipped

Kerberos test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

LDAP test. . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

Bindings test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

WAN configuration test . . . . . . : Skipped
No active remote access connections.

Modem diagnostics test . . . . . . : Passed

IP Security test . . . . . . . . . : Skipped

Note: run "netsh ipsec dynamic show /?" for more detailed information

The command completed successfully

Govvy

Ok, no issues there. Install and run Server Performance Advisor from Microsoft to collect a dataset for a time period to be reviewed: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=15506

Amirsys

ASKER

what report from the Server would you like to see

Bill Bach

It might be worth adding Wireshark to the server and take a look to see what might be slow. At worst, it is one more data point to show you what is going on, and you may see some out bound queries (like DNS) that are slow.

pgm554

Try this and post results.

http://netspeed1.stanford.edu:7123/

BigSchmuh

The most common case I have seen of such a behavior are:

Auto-negotiation between the NIC and the switch failed to achieve the expected level ==> Set the expected link speed explicitly in the NIC setup

Network connexion\Menu "Advanced \ Advanced parameters" shows that the usable NICs are not ordered "first"

Cable problems ==> Easy to check if you can switch to another set of cables...and try to identify who did fool it without notifying you...

Windows tuning ==> Please review the Microsoft "Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008" and do the suggested actions

Davis McCarn

Are there any other performance issues? If the clients are not seeing this and/or other functions (RDP) are all working fine, we can dismiss most network hardware issues.
As I read it, it's only happening when he queries AD administrative functions.

Amirsys

ASKER

Pgm554: I have attached screen shots of the results from the Stanford link you sent me.

BigSchmuh: Set the NIC to expected speed and saw no change. Also set the NIC as first in the order list and saw no change. I tested a different cable and switch and saw no change.

DavisMcCarn: No other performance issues have shown up or can be found at this time. This is all interaction with the server from a remote device.

Image-1.bmp
Image-2.bmp

pgm554

All the hardware and infrastructure look good.

Run a dsdiag on the affected server and see if anything jumps out.

BigSchmuh

Did you check (Process Monitor can do that) for any background task issuing heavy io/cpu workload (I had once a screen saver burning alll my cpu...and everything was back to normal when I was locally on the server) ?

Appart from that, did you review your server using the Microsoft "Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008" ?

Davis McCarn

If you login to the server using RDP, do you see any performance degredation accessing any of your troublesome apps?
If not, how are you accessing the services?

Amirsys

ASKER

from what I can see its a netbios issue. any idea beyond wireshark on how to track this down?

BigSchmuh

Is the "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper" service (LmHosts) running or not ?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Amirsys

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Amirsys

ASKER

No solution has been found and we have a consultant working on it now.