Network efficiency in Windows 98.

[Sfor]

One of my clients has a problem with an application. The time necesary to generate a report takes a few minutes, at least. The idea was to replace the server with something stronger, but I decided to test a few things, first. So, I begun from comaring server efficiency with OpenFiler Linux. But, in the process I've noticed a few interesting facts.

The server is Windows 2000 professional. The amount of memory is sufficient to buffer all the application data stored on the hard drive. So, the hard drive speed is not important, here.

The client computer is a dual Windows 98, Windows 2000 system, so it is possible to test the speed of the same task in both systems.

The application tested reads about 120MB of data in a huge amount of small read operations from the server. The first run takes about 10 minutes, when the server does not have all the data buffered in RAM.

Results.

Windows 98 with TCP/IP protocol only - about 6 minutes.

Windows 2000 no matter what protocol is used - about 5,5 minutes.

Wndows 98 with NetBeui protocol only - about 5 minutes.

Windows 98 with more than just one protocol - from 6 to 21 minutes!?!

It looks like, when there are more than just one protocol binded with the Microsoft Networking, Windows 98 networking can work several times slower. I'm not sure, how the default protocol setting is related to this issue. As, I was unable to find any good explanation or consistent results in this matter.

The conclusions are:

- The fastest setup is to bind just NetBeui with Microsoft Networking.

- If the TCP/IP is necesary to use with the Microsoft Neworking, it is beter not to use the NetBeui with it.

Somehow, I was unable to observe the reduced network speed when both TCP/IP and NetBeui are binded with Microsoft Networking and the default protocol is set to TCP/IP. But, there is no good proof such a combination works with full speed all the time.

[Guest wsxedcrfv]

We have several office machines running win-98 and some servers running NT-4 (server) and Win-2K (server?).

All machines have giga-bit lan cards and are running at giga-speed.

The win-98 machines have both TCP and Netbeui protocols running, as do the NT-4 machines, and IIRC file-sharing on the NT's are bound to Netbeui (not TCP). We have a large contact database (about 500 mb) and an accounting program (AccPac - SQL server) running on the NT machines that are accessed by the win-98 machines and a few XP boxes. The 2K server runs Exchange - but only hosts shared folders and appointments - not e-mail. Everything runs pretty snappy.

What I would say that could be impacting the performance you are seeing is:

1) Netbios or network DNS issue. Consider hard-coding some of your IP addresses into your machine's local hosts file.

2) TCP/IP settings. Is full duplex turned on? Maybe force it on @ 100 Mbps. Enhanced mode (32-bit) NDIS turned on? Other settings (usually hardware or driver specific) like flow control, transmit threshold, etc.

3) Which protocal was set as the default on the win-98 machines?

4) Which protocal was set as default on the 2K server?

Is your large 120 mb data file being pulled from the 2k server using simple file-sharing? If so, maybe bind file/printer sharing on the 2k server to netbeui only.

[Sfor]

4) Which protocal was set as default on the 2K server?

I know nothing about the default protocol setting in the Windows 2000 professional. Please tell me where I can find this option.

According to my measurements there is no significant difference in speed when using different protocols in Windows 2000. So, setting one protocol as the default one seems to be of no importance to the network efficiency in this case.

3) Which protocal was set as the default on the win-98 machines?

I've tested all available combinations. The results were quite intersting. It seems the NetBeui is the fastest protocol on Windows 98. The TCP/IP is handled significantly slower.

In case more than one protocol is binded with the Microsoft Networking, there are setups resulting with multiple times slower network response.

The tests were made using the same client computer with two operating systems on it. The Ethernet connection settings were exactly the same. The only possible differences could be found in driver settings as Windows 98 and 2000 had different driver version sets installed. So, different protocol sets and network services bindings were tested with exactly the same driver settings.

Is your large 120 mb data file being pulled from the 2k server using simple file-sharing? If so, maybe bind file/printer sharing on the 2k server to netbeui only.

There is no simple file sharing in the windows 2000 professional, as far as I know. Also, a 120MB file was not pulled from the server. The whole data set does take about 0.5GB. The tested operation makes thousands of seqential reads from multiple data files. The total amout of data transmitted from the server is about 120MB. Also, the database is based on Clarion Top Speed (TPS) format. So, the server could be considered as just a plane NAS device with no SQL related software on it.

[Joseph_sw]

i'm also prefer NetBeui than "NetBios over TCP/IP".

i got that knowledge from http://www.grc.com/su-rebinding9x.htm

as Steve Gibson said, now i refuse to bind TCP/IP with any M$ services. (unfortunately, this can't be fully done in XP)

even on my all winXP box, i also install the (unsuported) NetBeui, and do checkings to ensure that any TCP/IP transport would have "NetBios over TCP/IP" disabled.

[Sfor]

According to my measurements, the bindings in the Windows 2000 systems do not affect the network efficiency. The speed server is answering is practicaly the same with both TCP/IP and NetBeui protocols. So, the exclusion of some protocols from the Microsoft services does affect the network security, only.

[Sfor]

Well. After thinking again about the problem, I've realized I do not know how much time the task will take without the network involved. So, I've decided to copy all the data to the local hard drive and do the measurements again.

The results were interesting, indeed:

- Windows 98 - 4m 40s

- Windows 2000 - 3m 50s

Apparently, the application works faster with the Windows 2000 professional. It also means the windows 2000 is much slower with the networking, then expected.

The differences in time between the local and remote data access:

- Windows 98 with NetBeui - 20s

- Windows 98 with TCP/IP - 1m 20s

- Windows 2000 - 1m 40s

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sfor

[Sfor]

I made some field tests with different protocol settings and the resutlts were different than expected. The speeds of the NetBeui i TCP/IP were almost exactly the same. More tests at home were giving the old results, but at some point the speed of the TCP/IP and NetBeui started to be the same. The investigation revealed the key factor was the NetBios over TCP/IP setting. With this option enabled the TCP/IP stack slows the NetBeui protocol down. It also happens when the TCP/IP is not linked to the Microsoft Networks client.

Edited November 15, 2009 by Sfor