Slow network performance with 2000 server...

[Philippine Mango]

I was wondering, since I'm on a 100base network and I'm only downloading at a max of 5MB/s from the file server, would I be able to increase the file server's performance if I switched it to a linux server or not. Currently I'm running windows 2000 PRO and was thinking of installing windows 2000 server but was worried I would get the same crappy performance. Any ideas on how I can improve these slow network speeds?

 

[mobilecommand]

Gonna need a little more info on this one.. What hardware is the server running, are you on a hub or switch, what kind of data are you moving etc...

There are so many factors that could cause slow performance such as, drivers, hub vs switch, speed of drive HD, multi tasking on the server, virus etc..

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: mobilecommand
Gonna need a little more info on this one.. What hardware is the server running, are you on a hub or switch, what kind of data are you moving etc...

There are so many factors that could cause slow performance such as, drivers, hub vs switch, speed of drive HD, multi tasking on the server, virus etc..

hum well for one thing it's a 440BX chipset based server, Pentium III 1GHZ, 512MB ram, intel gigabit ethernet card, fairly new fileserver, new drivers, the speed of the windows drive is 5400/5200rpm and the data drive (where files are kept) is 7200RPM (I dunno if the windows drive determines the speed of transfers or not even if it's directly to the data drive). Its currently on a hub but I shouldn't be getting poor speeds if only 2 computers (the file server/client) are accessing each other at one time.

 

[imported_netman]

Absolutely you will get poor speeds on a hub even with only 2 computers on it. Each computer is transmitting and receiving, and on a hub (which is only half duplex), this can't be done at the same time without causing collisions. I guarantee you that you will see a drastic performance change with a switch in this environment. You will then be able to operate at Full Duplex and each computer can transmit and receive simultaneously. If you wanted to try and prove this wrong, you could hook up a cross over cable directly between the 2 systems and watch the speed increase.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: netman
Absolutely you will get poor speeds on a hub even with only 2 computers on it. Each computer is transmitting and receiving, and on a hub (which is only half duplex), this can't be done at the same time without causing collisions. I guarantee you that you will see a drastic performance change with a switch in this environment. You will then be able to operate at Full Duplex and each computer can transmit and receive simultaneously. If you wanted to try and prove this wrong, you could hook up a cross over cable directly between the 2 systems and watch the speed increase.

actually thats what has me worried. When i Hooked up a straight through cable between the two gigabit ethernet cards, I saw horrible performance

 

[OmegaXero]

Check for the specs on the gig ethernet card from Intel. Most newer gigE cards are PCI 2.2 cards, I think the BX chipsets were 2.1. This will cause issues and most likely is the cause of your poor performance.

Also, I have three Marvell gigE cards that are very slow when I put them on 100mb hubs, they do fine with 10/100 switches. So it could be a thing with gigE cards and old hubs. Since you've already ruled out the hub by using a crossover cable I'd try swapping in a 10/100 NIC and see what happens.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: OmegaXero
Check for the specs on the gig ethernet card from Intel. Most newer gigE cards are PCI 2.2 cards, I think the BX chipsets were 2.1. This will cause issues and most likely is the cause of your poor performance.

Also, I have three Marvell gigE cards that are very slow when I put them on 100mb hubs, they do fine with 10/100 switches. So it could be a thing with gigE cards and old hubs. Since you've already ruled out the hub by using a crossover cable I'd try swapping in a 10/100 NIC and see what happens.

Here is the link: http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro1000mt_desktop_adapter.htm
This card is actually PCI 2.3 and not 2.2 spec so I don't know if the 2.3 spec solved any problems or not.

 

[Philippine Mango]

bump

 

[nweaver]

could have been a duplex mismatch in the crossover. If you get crappy speeds with a good crossover cable, then you have Driver/HW issues on one of the machines.

 

[TGS]

Hard set, 100 Full on both sides when you use the crossover cable. If it's possible test the cable for signal strength. Though on a 100Mb network I think that 5 MB/s is actually very good, especially on a hub. Your theoritical on a 100Mb network is probably around 12 MB/s, pratical usage is said to be around 10 MB/s due to protocol overhead.

Toss in a broadcast environment, and half duplex, and you are putting up some very respectable numbers. Going to a switched environment will obviously help, though as long as the network is 100BaseT, you are never going to hit the performance levels of the GigE card in the server. You will become I/O constrained off the single drive long before you hit the I/O limits on your GigE card even if you had a fully switched GigE network.

 

[imported_netman]

Now it comes down to if Mango was really referring to 5MBps or 5Mbps (Bytes or bits).

5MBps (roughly 40Mbps) would be a decent number if a hub was used.

As for the crossover cable, if it negotiated at Gig to Gig, the there is no option for a duplex mismatch, Full Duplex is the only option on GigE (in this situation).

 

[TGS]

Understood people rarely ever notice Bytes vs bits. Though he said he's on a 100Base(Assuming T) network. So I imagine his client network card is 10/100BaseT.

I can recall when I installed intel network cards (at least dual port 10/100s) in machines the duplex would be set at half by default.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Um I meant megaBYTES not bits... Yes I heard your not suppose to use crossover cables when directly hooking up two gigabit ethernet cards because gigabit ethernet does not need/like crossover cables.

 

[Philippine Mango]

bump