2003 R2 File server help

[hamper19]

Hi everyone..first post here. We have new Dell server with 1.6 TB disk space, and 16 gigs of ram in it.

Recently things seem to have slowed down quite a bit regarding performance on the box.

We just migrated everything from our old file server to that one about 3 months ago.

Can anyone give me some tips on how i can optimize the performance of it for better use as a file server?

I noticed myself a lot of times when working with files I have saved on my home drive, it fails to save it back to the network. Other users are complaining of increasingly slow performance as well

Any help would be appreciated.

Side note, we have two volumes, a C which is the system and D which is all of our data. Page file on system drive only with Windows default settings.

I've been looking at the perfmon but I don't think it's really telling me anything.

Kris

[cluberti]

If this is a 32bit system (and I hope it's not, given 16GB of RAM), try the /maxmem option in boot.ini to force it to 4GB of RAM to see if that improves anything - and do NOT, under any circumstance, run a file server with the /3GB switch, and if at all possible avoid runnign a /PAE kernel unless hot-add memory or hardware DEP is required. This will DRASTICALLY cut down on available PTEs (with the /PAE switch) and kernel paged pool and nonpaged pool memory (with the /3GB switch), both of which are very important kernel memory pools you need on a file server. Running either is a very, very bad thing for performance on a file server.

Also, make sure you're using the latest bits for ntfs.sys and storport.sys from Microsoft, and the latest SCSI or HBA drivers from your storage vendor (make sure you use the version of storport.sys they recommend, if they do recommend a version - and some do). One other thing that can absolutely sap a file server of it's effectiveness - real-time antivirus and antispyware scanning. Unless you'll be fored for not running those, get them off of a file server immediately. They're extra (unnecessary) overhead on a machine doing that kind of I/O (especially considering the client is likely also running the same darned A/V and antispyware package!!!).

If this box is 64bit, consider making sure your disk drivers are current and (if possible) WHQL certified, and you aren't running real-time antivirus or antispyware software (see above).

[CoffeeFiend]

cluberti has some good points, but your performance problems could be really ANYTHING at all.

Could be a problem with OS or drivers, could be faulty hardware, could be a network problem of some sort (including plain old getting hammered badly by clients, SMB problems, etc) - you name it.

Check the obvious stuff. Hardware (no fault lights on? can't cook eggs on the case? anything!). Check the event logs (often has some good clues) - and other logs. Check relevant performance counters. Check network traffic. Check the running processes. There's about a million other things you can check.

Last time I've seen this (a server being so busy as to seem offline), it was actually getting hammered by client PCs trying to cache locally thousands of files off a network share (off the said server). Not that anybody set it up to sync manually, it's some kind of weird problem that hapenned after pushing some update that triggered it (dozens of users trying to sync a few GBs off a server simultaneously like that puts some serious load). I actually found the problem "by error" (wasn't working on fixing it, I was just wondering where the stuff in the client side cache came from on one of my boxes, and stumbled on the problem). Someone had been trying to find the problem that was causing it (server going "dead", and very weird unhelpful stuff in event log).

Again, it could be so many things... The problem could even be on the client side for all we know.

[hamper19]

It's a Dell PowerEdge 6800 with (2) PROCESSOR, 80546, 3.0G, 8MB, XEON POTOMAC, 667, C0

so it's 64 bit hardware, but running the 32 bit version of windows 2003 R2.

Would that be an issue running the 32 bit version of the 2003 R2 Enterprise vs. the 64 bit?

My understanding is that Enterprise version supports I think up to 64GB of memory?

If so, can we just get the 64 bit and don in in place upgrade or something?

Edited December 20, 2006 by hamper19

[hamper19]

also, how do i know if i have the latest ntfs.sys and storport.sys?

here are my boot.ini settings

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /noexecute=optout /fastdetect

Edited December 20, 2006 by hamper19

[Stoic Joker]

I noticed myself a lot of times when working with files I have saved on my home drive, it fails to save it back to the network. Other users are complaining of increasingly slow performance as well

I'm with crahak, as that statment has Syncronization issue written all over it.

Also is that machine on a Gbit backbone? Or is all that "horsepower" sipping through a cocktail straw at 100M?

[hamper19]

lol yes it is on a Gig backbone, connected to a Gig port directly to our 6500 Core.

Also, users don't use offline files at all, so I don't see how the synchronization would be an issue.

Hardware all seems fine. I ran the Dell diagnostics which took a few hours over the weekend and it reported no problems with anything.

All firmware is current.

I mean I know this is a very broad question and it could be a number of things between the client and the server. I'd like to rule out the server being F'd up considering we just got it set up about 3 months ago.

Working for a state agency it was a huge headache getting the powers that be to let us finally move the files over from the old file server.

What about the Data Execution Prevention? Right now it is on for everything across the board. Should this be taken off?

I really don't see the possibility of that thing getting any virus of the type DEP would help prevent.

[Stoic Joker]

Well... (Not to beat a dead horse, but...)

Offline files has a habit of enabling itself. You're earlier statement

when working with files I have saved on my home drive, it fails to save it back to the network.

Implies that you are using some maner of folder redirection for user documents. Allowing them to be centrally backed up, right?

The fact that it appears to be saved locally (to a redirected folder), but isn't "showing up" in that folder implies that the workstation is caching the file instead of synching it, or for that matter just putting it there (like it's supposed to) in the first place. That behavior in itself requires that offline files be running or the file would have just gone straight to it's destination on the file server.

So if you haven't made a point of disabling offline files, then it's on ... and if you have enough users to require a dual Xeon file server it wouldn't take a high percentage of them syncing files at one time to jam up the wire quite nicely.

Just a Thought

Stoic Joker

[nmX.Memnoch]

My understanding is that Enterprise version supports I think up to 64GB of memory?

It's 32GB for Enterprise Edition. However for 32-bit Windows "support" and "use efficiently" are two different things. Unless you're running databases on there, you can probably remove all but 4GB of the RAM (or use the /maxmem boot.ini option as cluberti suggested).

Also, check into getting Diskeeper Enterprise Server Edition to help with file fragmentation. Fragmentation probably isn't the issue after only 3 months of usage (unless it's HEAVILY used with LARGE files), but it's something you need to consider at some point.

Also, if you're required to run AV on the file server (as I am where I work) then try to get it configured so that it only scans files on create/modify instead of open/create/modify. Also see if you can get it limited to specific file types instead of all files. We have to use Symantec Corporate Edition, which has options for configuring the real-time protection methods.

Another thing to check is your network controller drivers. Dell uses dual onboard Broadcom NetXtreme II NICs in the 28x0/29x0/68x0 lines (not sure about the 69x0 line, but they probably do). These NICs have an option for TCP/IP offload. You'll want to check the setting for that as well.

[cluberti]

If you can reformat and reinstall the x64 version of 2k3 R2, that would definitely be advised. However, if you cannot and must continue using the 32bit version, use the /maxmem switch to use only 4GB of RAM, and disable or remove any antivirus, antispyware, and backup software installed. That should remove the problem, and adding the software back, one at a time, should tell you which is causing the problem. If you can read files fine, but can't write them back, this smacks of filter driver issues...

If you want an "official" answer, configure your server for a complete memory dump and dump it via the keyboard the next time it's acting really slow. The .dmp file can then be analyzed for bottlenecks and who's causing them.