Re: OT? network speeds

["bodothemeerkat" <brian.g.reynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Dave, I know the theeling.

I will have a look at PTRG although I think I looked at this earlier
this morning.

Thanks again, very much appreciated.

B.


--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "David Irwin" <david@i...> wrote:
>
> Sorry for the late response, but well, work and all that!! (some
poor bugger
> has to ;-) )
>
> In addition to the below, which covers most of what I have found, I
would
> like to add a few comments.
>
> 1. End users think everything is caused by a slow network.. I once
had
> someone say to me the reason their computer was loading word slowly
was
> because of a "slow network" - in reality it was caused by
the DVD
they were
> trying to encode to MPEG4 on their machine in the background! The
moral here
> is check what they are doing and running on their local machine.
>
> 2. If it really is a network operation something from the network
(opening a
> file from a network drive for example) do some tests;
> 	Does 20Mb of small files take the same ammount of time as 1
20Mb
> file?
> 	Is it traffic from only one server / NAS device? (check
> server/device load)
> 	Is the speed the same from client -> server?
> 	Is the speed the same from client -> client (on same switch /
hub /
> etc)
>
> 	With regards to the DNS point below, I can highly recommend a
WINS
> server as well as a DNS server for local lookups - Even on WinXP
machines I
> have seen them sit doing broadcasts when there is not one even if
they
> should have checked DNS first!
>
> 	If you have managed switches, an SNMP monitoring tool like
PTRG on
> the uplink ports to check load levels on the switches
> (http://www.paessler.com/prtg) may
help show areas where the
network is
> heavily used - perhaps you have an errant computer flooding the
network?
>
> 	By this point I hope you have narrowed things down?
>
> Dave
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of
> Ian Lowe
> Sent: 29 December 2005 12:08
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] OT? network speeds
>
> Generally, it's more of a hands on thing - on most networks that I
have
> worked on "slow" doesn't actually relate to network
throughput, but
rather
> user experience: which is a much more nebulous beast.
>
> People complain about the darndest things, usually with little or no
> understanding of what's happening underneath, or without the
language to
> describe what they actually mean.
>
> One thing to check as a first step - get the user to show you
stuff, and
> watch carefully - what's slow? Is the PC generally slow, or is it
fast for
> local stuff slow for network operations - secondly, and most
importantly of
> all - is it slow consistently, or is the "slowness" in
connecting
to a
> network resource? During sustained copies? During "busy"
periods
such as
> early morning logins etc?
>
> The single biggest "slow network" issue I see is where some
uneducated but
> well meaning "my mate does IT" bod has configured the ISP's
DNS
servers on
> client PCs (whether directly, or handing them out via DHCP). If you
are
> running an active directory (like an SBS or most windows server
2000/3
> installations) you pretty much *have* to make a Directory
Controller your
> DNS Server for clients. Otherwise the clients will sit *forever*
waiting for
> a network connection, as the client tries (and fails) to get _SRV
records
> from the ISP's DNS servers (or the gateway router like a vigor etc).
>
> Finding out the profile for the slowness is probably more important
than
> measuring raw throughput.
>
> I.
>
> Ps> just my 2p ;)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of
> bodothemeerkat
> Sent: 29 December 2005 11:39
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] OT? network speeds
>
> Hi all,
>
> I have been tasked with trying to find out why some peoples network
speed is
> "slow"
>
> You know the feeling, you go onto site and someone stops you and
says the
> "network is slow today"
>
> What do any of you network administrators use to test this? I have
a feeling
> it is an infrstructure issue but I need to check this by technical
means
> other than what the user thinks is slow.
>
> Thanks all,
>
> B.
>
>
>
>
>
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