Using thousands of shares on server - I am concerned it will cause slow operation of network and server dealing with the shares - Is there a better solution.
This question is based around some previous question in regards of the following:
We have over 3,500 Cds we manage from the server and deliver the images to workstations where they are loaded as virtual drives and the contents is used.
Because the contents can be - application (where program may need to be installed on local workstation) and data available on the CD, web pages on CD etc
Currently using MS Access to manage selections made by user on workstations and tracking use via shared names for each CD on server so as not to exceed licencing requirements (couldn't think of any other way at the time) - this is required because we don't know when a user on workstation is actually finished with a CD until the share is released.
This appears to be working well - except there may be evidence that due to the number of shares on server this might be slowing down the network at various times depending on number of workstations in use at the same time.
Can anyone suggest another way of detecting when a CD has been finished with so as to take the workload dealing with shares off the server. I thought of just recording the info in the database but couldn't see how to ensure database was updated when CD was finished with due to the nature in the way many of them work.
On a good day the share info on server takes 2 minutes to update and I suspect at busy times it is a lot longer and may have caused some network issues at extremely busy times.
I have researched and found some CD management Apps but unfortunately you don't seem to have the flexibility we need in the types of data to be recorded for our searches etc.
Thanks
We have over 3,500 Cds we manage from the server and deliver the images to workstations where they are loaded as virtual drives and the contents is used.
Because the contents can be - application (where program may need to be installed on local workstation) and data available on the CD, web pages on CD etc
Currently using MS Access to manage selections made by user on workstations and tracking use via shared names for each CD on server so as not to exceed licencing requirements (couldn't think of any other way at the time) - this is required because we don't know when a user on workstation is actually finished with a CD until the share is released.
This appears to be working well - except there may be evidence that due to the number of shares on server this might be slowing down the network at various times depending on number of workstations in use at the same time.
Can anyone suggest another way of detecting when a CD has been finished with so as to take the workload dealing with shares off the server. I thought of just recording the info in the database but couldn't see how to ensure database was updated when CD was finished with due to the nature in the way many of them work.
On a good day the share info on server takes 2 minutes to update and I suspect at busy times it is a lot longer and may have caused some network issues at extremely busy times.
I have researched and found some CD management Apps but unfortunately you don't seem to have the flexibility we need in the types of data to be recorded for our searches etc.
Thanks
ASKER
Currently each CD (iso image) is in a shared folder on the server - has own share name.
Users select a particular CD from MS Access menu - CD iso is then loaded by the workstation in to virtual CD Drive.
Using the share (Simultaneous Users) to set how many can access a share at same time - when a CD is selected from workstation it checks against simultaneous users - if within limit it loads CD otherwise a message is displayed. I have found the server can take a couple of minutes at time to update simultaneous users.
All ISO images are stored on our one and only server.
All ISOs on server are labelled according to the id number provided in the ACCESS menu and they sit in a folder of the same name (shared folder).
Only evidence is some user complaining of general network slowness, unable to pinpoint exact times this happens as information from users is not specific enough. can't see any info in event logs that suggest anything.
Users select a particular CD from MS Access menu - CD iso is then loaded by the workstation in to virtual CD Drive.
Using the share (Simultaneous Users) to set how many can access a share at same time - when a CD is selected from workstation it checks against simultaneous users - if within limit it loads CD otherwise a message is displayed. I have found the server can take a couple of minutes at time to update simultaneous users.
All ISO images are stored on our one and only server.
All ISOs on server are labelled according to the id number provided in the ACCESS menu and they sit in a folder of the same name (shared folder).
Only evidence is some user complaining of general network slowness, unable to pinpoint exact times this happens as information from users is not specific enough. can't see any info in event logs that suggest anything.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Update - problem occurred yesterday - where 6 users were on (total of 18 workstations) - all 6 reported slow network (loading of Apps from our CD Menu). I was notified at 1:15pm. Immediate fix was to reboot Server and WS which solved problem for the time-being.
I Checked Event Logs on server:
DFS Replication on Vol C: -> DFSR JET database not shutdown properly
DCOM unable to communicate with WS 11, 12 & 13 (3 of the 6 WS in use)
This happened at the following times, for the same three machines – 8:43am, 8:58am, 9:25am, 9:50am, 10:40am, 12:25pm and 1:13pm all in the same morning.
I intend leaving these 3 machine off network for 7-10 days to see if we still have any ongoing issues (in the meantime will try and get cabling and anything else we can tested) for these machines.
I Checked Event Logs on server:
DFS Replication on Vol C: -> DFSR JET database not shutdown properly
DCOM unable to communicate with WS 11, 12 & 13 (3 of the 6 WS in use)
This happened at the following times, for the same three machines – 8:43am, 8:58am, 9:25am, 9:50am, 10:40am, 12:25pm and 1:13pm all in the same morning.
I intend leaving these 3 machine off network for 7-10 days to see if we still have any ongoing issues (in the meantime will try and get cabling and anything else we can tested) for these machines.
There are a LOT of components in play here and you've discovered that some of them have broken. I'm not a DFS expert, but you may want to read this MS article.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2663685
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2663685
I would think that you have some options, such as:
* stage the CD contents to a staging/transfer area and then monitor the connections. When the connection count = 0 you can remove the data from the transfer area.
* instead of having separate network shares, use a single network share and distribute the files throughout some meaningful directory structure
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What metric are you looking at and what tool are you using for your measurement?
What evidence do you have that something in this process is slowing down?