Intermittent File share/ server access issues

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 1:21pm #1

Hi im kinda new to MS Sever 2003 SP2

But ive been haven this problem for a few weeks not and looks to be getting worse

Whats happen is:

One out the 9 computer that is using the server and a file server was not able to access it and then all of a shouden he could - but then it completely stopped work when the computer was moved - i ran a Cat5e cable and it looked to be fine after that

But now 2 more computer or not able to connect to the server but there able to access the internet-

First i thought it was the PC's but not its looking to be an intermittent problem with the server - but im not to sure which way to trouble shoot it

all the computer are added to the domain and are set to DHCP and the server is only use for a file server

Anything that i can try would be great

Thanks

Somanynames 90

feylya · 09-02-2009 7:07pm

Open your security logs on your file server and look for the machine name

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:02pm

Ok i was looking at it again to night

*All the computers are set to DHCP
*All are connected to a 16 port switch
*Eircom is the ISP set to DHCP
*Running Windows Server 2003 SP2
*There a Domain Controller and also DNS Server
*File server
*Wins server also also

when i go to start and run and type \\server or \\192.168.1.1 it can either come up striaght away or it takes a long time to bring up the window with all the folders

Some times

This problem is very imtermiant but its happens with in minutes

I spent a few hours today from 4:40PM till about 7:00PM trying to unber stand what is happin but im none the wiser

I took a copy of the Logs but not sure how to read them in terms what do i have to do

The Lay out the place is 9PC(Wired) and one Dell Server(512MB, 2.8Ghz, S 2003) and the ISP is Eircom

Any one any ideas

Thanks

Somanynames90

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:08pm

Have you checked your DHCP leases to check that there's no conflicts?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:14pm

How do i do that ?
check the DHCP leases ?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:16pm

I rang ping tests to
ping server -t
ping 192.168.1.1 -t

and all off them worked fine - but i was not able to access the files on the server

Somanynames90

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:20pm

DHCP snap in for MMC.

What sort of permissions do you have set on the shares? What sort of account are you using to log into the dodgy machine with?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:25pm

Do you have skype or MSN

I just look at the snap in - there is no DHCP
DHCP is all done by the Eircom Router whick is also provides the internet

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:28pm

Are all the machines the same build?
Are all the accounts being logged into with the same account?
Are these accounts in AD?
Are the machine accounts in AD?
Are all the machines accounts in the same OU?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:31pm

feylya wrote: »

Are all the machines the same build?
Are all the accounts being logged into with the same account?
Are these accounts in AD?
Are the machine accounts in AD?
Are all the machines accounts in the same OU?

Are all the machines the same build?
All XP

Are these accounts in AD?
Yes

Are the machine accounts in AD?
All but one due to i could not get it back on the domain

Are all the machines accounts in the same OU?
Unsure what you mean

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:35pm

I just got into the Eircom Box and the Lease time is 1 Hour

If thats any use?

S

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:35pm

I just reread your original post - is the Server DHCP?

Alzar · 09-02-2009 10:36pm

Check the speed of the network card on the server. There may be a mismatch between it & the port on the switch? Are you in work?

Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:39pm

NO - the server is not acting as DHCP - the Eircom Box is doing the DHCP

Im not in work at the Monment but im remotly connection to all the machines

S

Checked the Port Speed there all working at 100MBPS

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:43pm

Does your server get it's IP address from DHCP?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:46pm

No the Server has a Static IP - 192.168.1.1
Eircom is 192.168.1.254
Gateway for the computers/ server is 192.168.1.254

and gives out the lease rang of 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.253

Alzar · 09-02-2009 10:47pm

I think it may be a mismatch between the speed & duplex set on the port & the server. What i mean is the network card could be set to 100Mb/Full Duplex whereas the port maybe hardcoded to 100Mb/Half Duplex ot the port could be set to Auto/Auto.

Personally I don't go touching NIC settings while working from home. Much prefer to be onsite. Too many lost connections & unaccessible servers.

As a little aside, i'd recommend setting up a DHCP scope on your server & removing it from the Eircom Router. I don't know how you feel about it.

Al.

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:47pm

So it gives out an ip of 192.168.1.1 while the server is staticly set to 192.168.1.1. See any problem there?

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:48pm

Alzar wrote: »

I think it may be a mismatch between the speed & duplex set on the port & the server. What i mean is the network card could be set to 100Mb/Full Duplex whereas the port maybe hardcoded to 100Mb/Half Duplex ot the port could be set to Auto/Auto.

Personally I don't go touching NIC settings while working from home. Much prefer to be onsite. Too many lost connections & unaccessible servers.

As a little aside, i'd recommend setting up a DHCP scope on your server & removing it from the Eircom Router. I don't know how you feel about it.

Al.

If I done that would it help with the file server access ???

Thanks

S

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:50pm

feylya wrote: »

So it gives out an ip of 192.168.1.1 while the server is staticly set to 192.168.1.1. See any problem there?

Sorry i Typed that wrong - i understand how IPS work cos its static on server, the lease range

is 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.253

sorry for the typo

Alzar · 09-02-2009 10:53pm

@feylya - is there conflict detection a eircom router? I don't think so?

@Somanynames90 - first off I would change the dhcp scope on the router from
192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.253
to something like
192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.120

You only have 9 pc's right? You don't need 250 odd ip address' available for 9 clients.

Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 10:56pm

Alzar wrote: »

@feylya - is there conflict detection a eircom router? I don't think so?

@Somanynames90 - first off I would change the dhcp scope on the router from
192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.253
to something like
192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.120

You only have 9 pc's right? You don't need 250 odd ip address' available for 9 clients.

Al.

Cool I will try that - can i give either of yous a call

Just need to get my head around this

feylya · 09-02-2009 10:59pm

Alzar wrote: »

@feylya - is there conflict detection a eircom router? I don't think so?

Doubt it.

Please keep everything on thread, solely for the reason that it might help someone in the future

Alzar · 09-02-2009 11:01pm

What is the card speed & duplex set to on the server?
Do you have access to the switch?

Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 11:06pm

Alzar wrote: »

What is the card speed & duplex set to on the server?
Do you have access to the switch?

Al.

theres no GUI with the switch just 16 ports

and the card is Broadcom NetXtreame 5721 Gigabit Controller

and looks to be set to 100 full

Alzar · 09-02-2009 11:16pm

What make is the switch, as a matter of interest?
You have the latest drivers installed for the NIC too?

First off

!!!! I don't recommend doing this remotely !!!!

You could try changing the NIC speed/duplex to Auto/Auto
If the switch is hardcoded to something other than 100/Full, the card should perform better.
If you do this, it will drop your remote connection, but it should come back & you will be able to reconnect.

Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 11:23pm

Alzar wrote: »

What make is the switch, as a matter of interest?
You have the latest drivers installed for the NIC too?

First off

!!!! I don't recommend doing this remotely !!!!

You could try changing the NIC speed/duplex to Auto/Auto
If the switch is hardcoded to something other than 100/Full, the card should perform better.
If you do this, it will drop your remote connection, but it should come back & you will be able to reconnect.

Al.

I dont know the name of the switch sadly -

why do u think its the speed (full / half etc)

Alzar · 09-02-2009 11:34pm

somanynames90 wrote: »

I dont know the name of the switch sadly -

why do u think its the speed (full / half etc)

I took the info from your first/second post - can access the server sometimes but no problem accessing the internet through the router.

"when i go to start and run and type \\server or \\192.168.1.1 it can either come up striaght away or it takes a long time to bring up the window with all the folders

Some times

This problem is very imtermiant but its happens with in minutes "

We had a similar issue in work & it turned out to be a speed/duplex mismatch.

I'm not trying to be smart assed here, but have a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_mismatch
It will explain it better than I could ever do.

I certainly hope I'm not sending you off on a wild goose chase here, but your problem does sound so familiar to our problem.

Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 11:49pm

Alzar wrote: »

I took the info from your first/second post - can access the server sometimes but no problem accessing the internet through the router.

"when i go to start and run and type \\server or \\192.168.1.1 it can either come up striaght away or it takes a long time to bring up the window with all the folders

Some times

This problem is very imtermiant but its happens with in minutes "

We had a similar issue in work & it turned out to be a speed/duplex mismatch.

I'm not trying to be smart assed here, but have a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_mismatch
It will explain it better than I could ever do.

I certainly hope I'm not sending you off on a wild goose chase here, but your problem does sound so familiar to our problem.

Al.

Ok - I set the Server to 100 Full it was set to auto

S

Alzar · 09-02-2009 11:55pm

So the NIC on the server was set to Auto/Auto.
You've now set it to 100Mb/Full.

Guess the thing to do now is to test the change. I suppose you'll have to wait until you're back in work.

Remember if you need to undo the change, it will drop the NIC for a short time while it reconfigures itself.

Will you update the thread with the results - good or bad?

Ta!
Al.

somanynames90 · 09-02-2009 11:57pm

Alzar wrote: »

So the NIC on the server was set to Auto/Auto.
You've now set it to 100Mb/Full.

Guess the thing to do now is to test the change. I suppose you'll have to wait until you're back in work.

Remember if you need to undo the change, it will drop the NIC for a short time while it reconfigures itself.

Will you update the thread with the results - good or bad?

Ta!
Al.

Sure thing - Ive change all the computer to 100 Full Also

somanynames90 · 10-02-2009 12:00am

Thats all Done but there still a considerbally delay trying to open the file server

and even then it dose not seem to right fully

BLARG!!!!

S

Alzar · 10-02-2009 12:09am

somanynames90 wrote: »

and even then it dose not seem to right fully

Huh?

Is the delay longer than before?
is there a noticable difference between opening [URL="file://\\192.168.1.1\share"]\\192.168.1.1\share[/URL] and [URL="file://\\server\share"]\\server\share[/URL]

Al.

somanynames90 · 10-02-2009 12:13am

Alzar wrote: »

Huh?

Is the delay longer than before?
is there a noticable difference between opening [URL="file://\\192.168.1.1\share"]\\192.168.1.1\share[/URL] and [URL="file://\\server\share"]\\server\share[/URL]

Al.

Sorry about the Blarg!

Just been a long day -

Right what i done was i change all the nic speed to 100full and restarted the PCs only

and each one worked - with a quick response also

.... so at the min it looking good

sadly there 2 computer the are switched off

so fingers crossed

Many thanks to Alzar & feylya

S

Alzar · 10-02-2009 12:21am

we love long days :eek::eek: plenty of coffee & for me...ciggie's.

Anyway, if you see a slowdown tomorrow, trying going from the server to one of the affected pc's, i.e. from the server run [URL="file://\\pcname\c$"]\\pcname\c$[/URL] & see if that is slow too. If it is, the duplex may still be out.

Can you get access to the switch when onsite or can someone else do it? Do you think it's a Cisco or Netgear jobbie.
If you can either set everything to autonegotiate (Auto/Auto) - server, clients & ports on the switch or else hardcode everything to 100/Full.

let us know how you go tomorrow.
Cheers
Al.

somanynames90 · 10-02-2009 12:11pm

Ok im Logged in to the copmputer that has been the problem all along

and i set it to 100 Full - now its still slow - and theres an error

"An Error orrurred while connection Z:\ to \\Server\Share"
"The Local Name all ready in use"
"This connection has not been restored"

Any ideas ?

S

...........

Ok i disconnected the mapped drive and change it back to auto nego and seems to be ok - but im going to looking at it some time today around 5 ish

S

aidankk · 10-02-2009 4:09pm

did you try to turn off the windows firewall on the pcs, this caused a good few similiar intermitant problems when on an office network in the past for me..

Alzar · 10-02-2009 8:45pm

somanynames90 wrote: »

....but im going to looking at it some time today around 5 ish

S

Any news?

Al.

somanynames90 · 10-02-2009 10:35pm

Alzar wrote: »

Any news?

Al.

Ok - looked at the system again...

First off i was able to get the number from the last guy who looked at the server - called him and what we found out was

1. there was no AV
2. the computer has 512MB installed but.... it was only showing up 248MB
one of the RAM Modules is dead(going to order one tomorrow)
3. Back up system is not workin

So i call dell - and i was very surprised
A person called William was very help full and assest me in getting the computer up to date and also recommand what RAM i need for the server

So its going to be about 40 -50 euro for 2GB(2X1 GB)

As we speack the Server is running a back up -

Due to the Lack of RAM in the MAchine its possible that the sever was not abot to handle the traffic to the file server

So......

Just a waiting game for the RAM - I'm starting to get a smile on my face

Alzar · 10-02-2009 10:48pm

A W2k3 server is gonna crawl with 512Mb RAM & probably should've fallen over & died with 256MB.
Pop in the new RAM, get some AV on there & run daily backup jobs on that server.
Update the thread with the results after the RAM upgrade.

If nothing else you learned a bit about duplex mismatches

;) & how they can kill your LAN.

Al.

+Jim+ · 11-02-2009 1:05pm

Apologies if this situation has already been resolved, having read the previous comments and suggestions from other posters I felt I had to offer some relevant advice!

If I were troubleshooting this problem, the very first things I would do would be to remove the dhcp server role from your Eircom box. You should then install both Dhcp and Dns servers on your Server2003 machine (assuming that your server has sufficient resources, ie. ram and disk space)

Dns setup should include both forward and reverse lookup zones, and have correctly defined forwarders to your Eircom dns servers (external)
Then, you can configure Dhcp with an adequate scope, make sure to include the correct Ip Gateway (int address of Eircom box) and Dns server (address of server2003 machine)

In my experience, fiddling with duplexing on individual nics can surely help but is rarely the cause of intermittent loss of access to file shares on small to medium sized lans.

somanynames90 · 11-02-2009 9:29pm

Ok as i said before i was talking to the the person that was looking at the server before me

and he said to take off DHCP and apply static address and for the DNS settings for the primary user the server address(192.168.1.1) and for the second one use the DNS address form eircom

and straight away i notice a speed up in the network on the computers thats are connected

Ive not set up DHCP on the server yet im going to wait for the RAM to come in(next tuesday) thats enough time to see if any more problem happens

So fingers crossed

Thanks for every ones input

Jonathon

Alzar · 11-02-2009 9:49pm

On your server you now have the following IP config??
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.254

Primary DNS Server: 192.168.1.1
Secondary DNS Server: 213.94.190.194 -> or some other eircom dns server address

Any idea of what it was before you made the changes?

Al.

somanynames90 · 11-02-2009 9:56pm

mmm not really - but i kinda have a handle on the system now with im

about

Alzar · 11-02-2009 10:00pm

Ok. See how how go with the new RAM & a DHCP scope setup on the server.
Sorry if I sent you off on a wild goose chase about duplexing...guess I got tunnel vision on this one.

Cheers
Al.

somanynames90 · 16-02-2009 7:55pm

Hey Guys

Put in the ram and its working a hell of a lot better

Now on my findings last week i notice the backup tape was not working to well

What is the sorry with back ups and and LAW?

Thanks

Somanynames

Alzar · 16-02-2009 9:26pm

This is what i have to do, others may do it differently:

we keep month end tape for 12 months & the year end tape for seven years.

Al.

kippy · 16-02-2009 9:39pm

Good to hear the issue is nearing an end.
I would probably agree with +JIM+ in that DNS and DHCP setups are critical in an AD environment and really should be set up on a windows box if possible.

It appears the issue is close to being resolved (low RAM stopping the server respond to requests SEEMS to be a contributary cause.)

I would also check licensing on the server in case that is an issue, unlikely. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client_Access_License

Also, just for future reference, you should analyses the security, application and system logs when troubleshooting something like this, both on the client and on the server.

Kippy

somanynames90 · 17-02-2009 12:27pm

Alzar wrote: »

This is what i have to do, others may do it differently:

we keep month end tape for 12 months & the year end tape for seven years.

Al.

do you store your tapes off site ?

J

Alzar · 17-02-2009 9:39pm

We do, we have another premises about 2 miles away. One of the lads drops in a tape every night on his way home.

Al.

Intermittent File share/ server access issues

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