[Win2k3]Slow network file transfers

[BigDaddy]

When copying a 700MB file from Win2k3 server to a WinXP client thru a 100Mb LAN the transfer rate is only about 50% Mesaured with Task Manager in WinXP. And there were no other things running on the server.

But when I booted the Win2k3 machine into UBUNTU DAPPER LINUX the file transfer improved to about 80%. When copying the same file to the same WinXP client machine and mesaured with Task Manager in WinXP.

How can I speed up file transfers in Win2k3??

NIC is Realtek RTL8139. And Ive tried it with the default Windows drivers and also with Realtek drivers the speed is the same. And yes FUL DUPLEX is enabled.

[CptMurphy]

I don't think it's a network issue simply because the transfers would be the same both ways. I can give you a similar situation I've had. My system has an 80GB HDD, and a 20GB HDD. When I copy files from the 20GB to the 80GB, transfers are fast. When I copy from the 80GB to the 20GB, transfers are slow. This happens because the 20GB is a 5400RPM drive and the 80GB is a 7200RPM. Also, the 20GB has an 2MB cache, whereas the 80GB has an 8MB cache. So I'll just ask, what HDD's do you have on both systems?

[BigDaddy]

I don't think it's a network issue simply because the transfers would be the same both ways. I can give you a similar situation I've had. My system has an 80GB HDD, and a 20GB HDD. When I copy files from the 20GB to the 80GB, transfers are fast. When I copy from the 80GB to the 20GB, transfers are slow. This happens because the 20GB is a 5400RPM drive and the 80GB is a 7200RPM. Also, the 20GB has an 2MB cache, whereas the 80GB has an 8MB cache. So I'll just ask, what HDD's do you have on both systems?

Both hardisk are IBM and have 7200RPM with 8MB cache!!! And I said it was one way. Since I copied the file from the SERVER machine wich has Win2k3 and UBUNTU DAPPER. I only copied it again in another OS.

So in conclusion with W2k3 I get slower transfer rates than with UBUNTU DAPPER! And I would like to fix that, how?

[janus zeal]

I really doubt that the lan would be faster then the hard drive when just copying one file.

windows networking isnt the best. idk if its possable to make it to much faster.

one idea is to uninstall any unneeded protocols

Edited July 4, 2006 by janus zeal

[markajm]

have a look here

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321098

[CoffeeFiend]

There's about a million things it could be. From so-so quality network drivers (seen that too many times, kinda common), a [really] badly fragmented NTFS partition, un-optimized network stack, network utilisation somewhat high for some reason (something running in the background - spyware included), OS "too busy" with a process, you could be browsing the files using explorer (which loves to bog down the network to read metadata and things like resolutions of video files and the like - kinda painful on a video server), a firewall making the network slow overall, SMB speed issues (sometimes due to bad time sync as it's used by kerberos within SMB for authentication), etc. That list could be much longer...

Change drivers, try a different NIC, check the event log, check your performance counters, check what's coming across the wire via various network capture/logging/debuging utilities for various protocols (MS has a network monitor app, kerberos tools and all)...

You'll have to find the problem, and there's tons of places to look, tons of things that could've gone wrong, and it'll take time and knowledge to find and fix it. Good luck

[GrofLuigi]

In addition to some excellent answers already provided, I'll give some more (from experience):

- RequireSignOrSeal, SealSecureChannel, SignSecureChannel (search for them in registry; set them all to 0; hint: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters] )

These made up to 50 % speed increase on ANY combinations of machines I've tried; pose a great security risk; strange things may happen (including losing network connectivity); google for explanations.

- TcpWindowSize, GlobalTcpWindowSize (also in registry) - if mismatched between machines, slowdowns may occur; I often delete them and let Windows deal with them (usually it's doing pretty good job)

- Opportunistic locking is misconfigured/acting up (usually on older versions of Windows, but who knows...); google for it

- Parameters of the network adapter (in device manager) misconfigured... Many of them are not able to properly detect link speed/duplex; check them out.

As others said, there could be million things. Hope this helped a little.

GL