server 2003 "network load balancing" - should i use it ?

T

troyquigley

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i only have 2 servers - both running server 2003
hp ml150g2 servers (2 gb of ram)

i am not running SQL or a web server at all.

about 30 office users and 30 laptop users (laptops vpn once and a while to send orders - but they do NOT actually work on the network via the vpn)

i am having some major problems with my one server (it is running dhcp, dns, mas200, etc)
some of the workstations get disconnected from the server at random times during the day. they can hit the icon in the right hand corner to reconnect, but obviously this should not be happening.

i have not made any changes to anything on the server lately - that would cause this change. so i am trying to figure out what is causing the server slowdown with network traffic.

i have the task manager running and it is not the cpu or ram or nic getting hit hard enought to be causing my problems so i have to look elsewhere.

my other server is running DNS, WINS - it runs great.

i have already installed the latest nic drivers to no avail.
i have rebooted both servers - to no avail.

so i went thru all the settings - and i found a couple of things that i was wondering might help.

network load balancing: is currently disabled.

and server optimization:
maximize data throughput for file sharing: is currently enabled

please help !

one last very odd thing. the server that is having the problems- seems to have problems surfing the internet. it takes FOREVER to load pages if it loads them at all. yet the other server with same network settings surfs fine.
 
Put a port sniffer on the box and see what's going on. Ethereal is free. As is NetMon, which is a microsoft product. I prefer Ethereal.

A windows NLB is good if you want some application/software (MS NLB is a round robin technology) load balancing. Just enabling won't do you any good. You have to set it up. Which is extremely easy. 2003 now has a wizard and gui but I still do it the old way, in the network interface properties. This is not going to solve your problem however. If you have a network issue on one server, it will still be there even if you setup an NLB. My advice to you would be to find the problem on the server that is having the problem. A sniffer would be the first step if you have done the typical troubleshooting.
 
Is there anything in the event logs that might give you a hint where problems are?

as ktwebb stated, NLB isn't going to help at all.
 
mobiux said:
Is there anything in the event logs that might give you a hint where problems are?

as ktwebb stated, NLB isn't going to help at all.
Click to expand...
i am getting no errors on the server that give me ANY indication of what is wrong.
the ONLY indication anything is wrong is the workstations losing connection to the server for a sec.

i was going to try "the dude" to monitor my server
http://www.mikrotik.com/thedude.php

killer app.
 
what do you mean by theyre being disconnected? are they getting disjoined from the domain? are they're mapped drives being disconnected? are theyre mapped drives being deleted? are they getting slow responses while browsing shares? HOW exactly are they being disconnected from the network?
 
If you have another NIC, I would install that into the server and see if that fixes the problems. NIC's do go bad from time to time. If you are unable to connect reliably to the internet from the server then I would suspect a bad nic. Definately run Ethereal and see what is running in the background.
 
ne0-reloaded said:
what do you mean by theyre being disconnected? are they getting disjoined from the domain? are they're mapped drives being disconnected? are theyre mapped drives being deleted? are they getting slow responses while browsing shares? HOW exactly are they being disconnected from the network?
Click to expand...

His clients are getting the disconnected from computer icon in the bottom right hand corner of their screen. It happens when a file server becomes unavailable and you have offline files enabled. It'll ask you to synchronize before showing the contents of that server when it comes back.
 
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