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Server 2003 VPN only slow on XP [Solved]


underdone

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I have server 2003 Standard edition running a PPTP VPN. Normally users will connect to the vpn and use it so that they can browse files on the fileservers. However, for some reason every machine that has XP or later installed takes 4-5 seconds to load the folder view. What makes it weird is that when I connect to the same VPN with a vista machine it is very fast with folder views loading in 1/20 of a second. I know that this is not a bandwidth issue because even when the folder views load slowly I can still copy a file over the VPN quickly. Internet access through the VPN is not noticeably slower either.

I have tried numerous settings on the XP machines to no avail. This seems to be a common problem, but I can't find anything about actually solving the problem.

Edited by underdone
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Do you see the same sorts of delays when browsing the shares via a command prompt?

Also, are these mapped drives (drive letters) or just browsing to \\server\share?

I do not see the same delay when browsing the share via command prompt. This is definitely interesting, altought I'm not sure why it would happen.

I see the same delay whether or not the drive is mapped.

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It would be interesting if you had a network trace from the client of the explorer slowness - since this doesn't happen in a command prompt, it's likely extra commands sent across the wire by explorer.exe to do something, like parse directories, display certain types of folder icons, etc.

You aren't using Access-Based Enumeration (ABE) on that 2003 server, are you?

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It would be interesting if you had a network trace from the client of the explorer slowness - since this doesn't happen in a command prompt, it's likely extra commands sent across the wire by explorer.exe to do something, like parse directories, display certain types of folder icons, etc.

You aren't using Access-Based Enumeration (ABE) on that 2003 server, are you?

What kind of program would I use for a network trace? I haven't done something like that before.

I have never heard of ABE before. Since it appears to be disabled by default on server 2003 I am going to assume that it is disabled. Although, on a side note, it looks like an extremely useful thing to setup.

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I have never heard of ABE before. Since it appears to be disabled by default on server 2003 I am going to assume that it is disabled. Although, on a side note, it looks like an extremely useful thing to setup.

I would actually suggest against it - depending on how many users you have using the filesystem and how your folder structure is laid out, you can bring the processors in that server up to 100% continuous utilization just by enabling it. It is useful, I suppose, but most filesystem layouts are not optimal for it (you need small folder structures with very few subfolders, and very few numbers of files in each folder, otherwise bye-bye server performance :)).

What kind of program would I use for a network trace? I haven't done something like that before.

I would suggest netmon or wireshark to gather data on the wire.

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  • 1 month later...
I have never heard of ABE before. Since it appears to be disabled by default on server 2003 I am going to assume that it is disabled. Although, on a side note, it looks like an extremely useful thing to setup.

I would actually suggest against it - depending on how many users you have using the filesystem and how your folder structure is laid out, you can bring the processors in that server up to 100% continuous utilization just by enabling it. It is useful, I suppose, but most filesystem layouts are not optimal for it (you need small folder structures with very few subfolders, and very few numbers of files in each folder, otherwise bye-bye server performance :) ).

What kind of program would I use for a network trace? I haven't done something like that before.

I would suggest netmon or wireshark to gather data on the wire.

Sorry for the really delayed reply. I've been really busy with school.

Turned out the issue was because I had the "Enable this computer as a Router" enabled. I don't know why I had that enabled in the first case as this server has never been a router before.

I attached a screenshot of the config screen in case anyone is interested.

Anyways, thanks for the help cluberti. Netmon is what ended up leading me to the answer.

post-110573-1197563901.jpg

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