dbaron

Hi!

Hi have som problems with the logon time on one of the networks i am supporting and i can't find the specific problem, if there is one.

Well, the logon takes about 30 to 90 sec, 30 sec is ok in my meaning, but with my config i dont think it will take much more.

The setup:
One Windows SBS 2003 server, running as: print-, file-, DHCP-and DNS-server.
This is a small school with about 40 clients. The server are new (about 8 mounths) and most of the clients are under 1 year old, but there are a few wich are older. All are running at the same subnet.
Most of the users are pretty restricted troug GPO's.
The default profile is plased under NETLOGON, but are just about 1-2mb of size.


I don't know if this really are a true problem, maby i just need som optimation.

Thanks in advance
/David Baron

ecrocombe

how long does it take for a ping response from the clients and to the clients?
How much ram does the server have and how much is it using?
have a look in task manager for the network activity?
could you tell me a little bit more about the network such as switches, routers, client connection speed and server connection speed? and anything more you could add?

DoZZaSR

Make sure your DNS config is correct.

it could be taking a long time to resolve, i had this issue, and it all stemed from having a DNS setup problem.

dbaron

I think the pinging is good, will check this within an hour. Will do the same with the network activity.
The network are speperated in 2 building, its in 2 buildings with a fysical distance of 200 meters. Where the server is (building 1) where we also have the most clients, about 25. We have it switched with a hp 24xx, dont remember exaktly wich model we did puted there, but costs over $1000.
Between the buildings we have a fiber-channel (just runs at 100mbit). and the network in building2 are switch with a pretty cheap netgearswitch, there we have 10 clients.
The server is a HP Proliant server ML350.
Xeon 3ghz @ 64bit
1 GB advanced ECC DDRII SDRAM
4 disks wich 1+1 & 1+1 are in raid1 making 2 partitions.
The router are a simple netgear router, but it only acts as a gateway.

The DNS are right configured.

ecrocombe

how much ram is being used by the server?
are the client in the server building suffering from slow speed or just the clients in the other building?
$1000 is a pretty cheap server considering it has 40 clients but the specs arnt too bad.
have you had a chance to do a test ping? could you ping the domain name, the server name and the server ip address from the non-server building and post the results here?

oh and are you running WINS?

dbaron

the server was about 2000$ (still not expensive, but just to stay correct) it was the switch i was talking about when saying 1000 =).

The ram is okey,
the users are very simple normaly. They use internet, just som DNs resolving for the server, so not a problem.
they are also using their own docs and other files, and those are accessed on the server, not localy. But they don't use offlinefiles.
And as i said before, this is a school, wich means, mostley all this clients arn't in use at the same time.

No the problem are in the hole invironment, and not specific for one building.

I am using alot of GPO's to restrict them from doing much more than browsing and handling images and doc's.
Can this make differens in the logon, that all this GPO's are being implemented?

ecrocombe

ahh...Yes, a large about of Group Policy's can slow logon times to the extent that you are talking about.

The only option i can think of that you could try is instead of applying them at the server end you could apply them at the client end.

But wait and see if anyone else has anything to comment on this issue before jumping ahead. It would be a time consuming task and it wouldnt be centralized anymore so if you make a change you would have to physicaly go to every client (Pain in the ***).

Also, in what condition are the client computers in? do you run anti-virus checks? defrag? scandisk? that sort of stuff?

oh.. and you still havnt answered how much ram the server is using.

dbaron

The server are using between 400-500 megs at normal use.
The clients are mostley new, most of the specced for use of office and browser, 1 gig ram and a cheap CPU with 40-80gb HD, but they are not more than a year old.
There are som pretty old computers to, those are slow. But those aren't the problem (well they are also slow, but that is for obvious reasons... they are 256mb ram and old celeron CPU's)

I will check about logon time for acounts with no GPO's assigned, to se if there is a differens.

BigDaddy13

I have found that most of the time...slow log on times
are a result of misconfigured dns. Just my 2 cents.

dbaron

yes a know that, but the DNS are configured perfectly well.

As it's configured in the DHCP server, it will give an ip in a range, and the specified netmast, the gateway to our router and the primary DNS the ip to the DC.

DoZZaSR

just because it appares to work doesnt mean that it is configured correctly...

I would recomend downloading and running DC Diag, that will check for any misconfiguration.

ecrocombe

Yes i agree with DoZZaSR. that utility can be found with the Server 2003 Support Tools package and is used at the command line. might i also suggest using NetDiag as well?