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grjitdept

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Intermittent problems with Microsoft Shares and connectivity to File Server

Hello,

For the last few months, we have been  experience problems with our Microsoft File Server.  At random times, the shares on the server, and in fact the entire server itself, suddenly become unavailable to certain PCs. (The server cannot even ping the PCs and the PCs cannot ping the server).  There is no pattern to when it will happen or what PCs will be effected.  Sometimes a PCs will not be able to connect one moment but then suddenly will work fine a few minutes later, only to fail again a few minutes after that.  When it happen,  a reboot of the server always fixes it until it happens again.  Sometimes it will be weeks between incidents, sometimes it will only be a few days.

Here are the specifics of the server and PCs:
-      A single 2008 R2 Domain running in 2000 compatibility mode
-      All Pcs are Dell running either XP or Windows 7 (both of which experience the issue)
-      The file server is a Dell PowerEdge R710 running Windows Server Standard 2008 R2 SP1
-      The file server is also one of our Domain Controllers, one of our DNS servers and one of our DHCP servers (We have two DHCP servers that issue IP addresses over a two non-overlapping scopes.)
-      The File server is also our Backup Server (We use Symantec Backup Exec 2010 and backups are made to a connected Dell PowerVault 114X tape drive)
-      Our Anti-Virus software is Kaspersky Enterprise Space (we changed to Kaspersky a few months ago from Trend Micro. The file share connectivity issue was also happening when we were still on Trend)
-      File server has two Broadcom NetXtrene II GigE network adaptors that have been configured into one virtual adaptor using the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite
-      Networks switches are Netgear Prosafe GS748TPS ,  Netgear FS726T and LinkSys SRW2024.
-      It is a flat network without any VLANs
-      We have a few shares on other servers (they are all 2003 servers not 2008 R2) and they never have this issue.
-      I do not see anything in the event logs of either the server or the effected PCs
-      I have checked the network adaptors and everything seems OK
-      I have checked the ARP tables of the switches and they all seem right
-      I have read articles stating the Symantec Endpoint Security has been known to cause similar issues but we do not use Symantec for our AV solution and I cannot find any similar articles relating to Backup Exec.

Any Help that anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.
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peter197911
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grjitdept

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Thanks for the suggestions. I will removed the Virtual Teaming after hours tonight and try using only one of the adapters. I will let you know if that works or not, unfortunately I will not know for certain for at least a week since the incidents happen so randomly.
Hi Peter,
I just wanted to let you know the so far, since I have made the changes you suggested, we have not had any issues. If everything still is OK by next monday (Nov. 7th) I will consider the issue solved and give youu the points.
Thanks
Since I have reconfigured the network connections as you suggested there has been no issues. Thanks!
Hello Grjitdept,
Ofcourse this is not a real solution but a workaround for the original problem (i guess there was a reason that you teamed up the nics).
If you want to team the nics again, look up for newest drivers and possible known problems for the teaming up.

If you dont need the teaming, then ......
Good luck