Weird Problem. Let's see who can solve this one...

[Hamins]

Hi,

First, let me describe our network.

We have a 256k lease-line connection, which comes through a lease-line modem, which is connected to a router, which in-turn is connected to a gigabit switch. We have a single Windows 2003 server, which works as a DNS/DHCP/File/Print/ADS server, and around 20 workstations. Typical work would involve working with Word, Excel documents, visiting work related web-sites/secure-web-sites, downloading documents, download & reading emails/digitally signed emails in Outlook Express.

Now for the problem .....

The users have been facing some serious latency issues when working on the internet.... Pages load very slow or not at all, secure server pages dont open at all, online PDF and word documents don't open at all, emails download very slowly into Outlook Express, secure emails dont open up etc etc.

However all these problems come-up only when the users working on the internet when logged onto the domain. These issues do not come up when the users are accessing the internet, when logged onto the local PC, instead of the domain.

I need a solution to this problem ASAP. My client is gonna kick my butt ...heheh

Thanx

[Hamins]

Anyone ???

Please I need to know this ASAP!!!

[cluberti]

Where's the netmon traces showing the slowness? Netmon a box that is slow, and netmon a box that isn't, and you should see the reasons in black and white .

[Hamins]

Hi Cluberti,

Thnx for the reponse.

I did a netmon on a slow workstation, but did not come across any conclusive reason. What could be the probable reasons for this weird behaviour ?

[cluberti]

You'll need to compare it to a non-slow workstation to be sure there aren't excessive retransmits, or auth failures, etc. My guess is going to be authentication failures or excessive retransmits when the users are logged into the domain, but it's just a guess.

Are there any events in the eventviewer, and is there a proxy in use on this network? Are login times to the domain controllers slow? Are any of the user's folders redirected?

Do the users use Internet Explorer / Outlook Express exclusively? Are the documents being downloaded and opened from a server on your network, or on a server outside the network?

Do you use DHCP on your network, and if so, what DNS servers are you pushing out via DHCP?

[Hamins]

Hi,

What do you mean by Authentication Failures and excessive re-transmits. The users are able to authenticate normally with ADS. Sorry, if I sound LAME, but this is the first live network I have setup, so I'm a noob.

No Suspicious event in the eventviewer. Anything in particular I should be looking for in the eventviewer ? No proxy server used.

Login times are normal. User's have roaming Profiles. No folder re-direction.

Yes, the users use only IE to browse, and OE as an email client. There are documents that need to be downloaded from an external web-based server.

Yes, we use DHCP on the network. I dont understand what you mean when you say "what DNS servers are you pushing out via DHCP?"

Once again, sorry for sounding lame.

[Hamins]

Does anyone have a solution/suggestion ? Please, I have to do something about this problem ASAP. It's affecting productivity as most of our work is based on internet.

Also, in reponse to Cluberti's suggestion of comparing a slow workstation to a non-slow one - The latency problem is present on all PCs, so there is nothing to compare with. However, there seems to be no latency problem while working on the LOCAL network. The problem occurs only when working with anything on the internet.

Edited November 13, 2005 by Hamins

[cluberti]

Again, if the problem exists only when clients are accessing things on the internet, what DNS server(s) are your clients using when logged onto the domain?

Here's a quick test - remove one of the "slow" machines from your domain and access the same information on the internet. Does the machine perform faster, or is the performance the same? Let me know and we'll go from here (you can PM or email me offline if it's faster).