Some pointers for someone new?

T

thornycrackers

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May 2, 2012
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Hello, I'm obviously new to this forum and I was wondering if there were a few pointers I could grab from some experienced people. I'm not looking for complete handouts but just a bit of direction. I got hired at a company as an I.T guy and the current I.T guy doesn't really know a whole lot about I.T except for the bare minimum. I thought the company would have a more well versed admin but that's that. I myself have a computer engineer degree so I understand computers but don't have alot of practical I.T experience. First off we have a new server a Dell PowerEdge t410 which was a decent amount of change to buy. The I.T guy is hooked it up but the network seems really slow to me for what this server should be doing. The network consists of 2 Dlink DES-1024D Switches and a Cisco 1941 series router. The hardware seems to be decent but not amazing but I can't figure out where in the network the weak point is. Does anyone know how to benchmark a network to see where the problem is? Also the company has been asking about vitalizing work environments with VMware and I only know a bit about it so second does anyone know of any good resources for learning how to implment a virtual environment like that. Last request, does anyone know of good resources for learning I.T related things such as how-to's and what not? I'm subscribed to a few I.T websites but most of the stories are about businesses in the I.T world not actual things like "Tips on optimizing your network" or such things. Thanks for your time in advance.
 
Upgrading to gigabit switches will help a lot, though it's hard to say what's slow and what's fast without seeing what exactly you are doing.
 
What is it that is slow? File transfers, internet etc?

How are the switches uplinked to eachother?
 
Accessing the server it self for loading files and internet are both slow. I believe the internet problem is our connection I havent checked what our speed is. The server takes a long time to authenticate when you log in and takes forever to load files and transfer. I'm not sure how the two switch are linked off the top of my head id have to check tomorrow.
 
If you are simply using standard profiles and getting slow logon you may have DNS issues.
 
First of all, welcome to the forum.

Jay's comments is a good place to start for the first issue you mentioned.

That being said.... Your first task is to really assess how things are working. Network maps, performance logs, looking at configurations, examining hardware, etc. Don't assume things are working or working well -- prove it.

I can understand that management and/or the company also having wish lists and projects they'd like to move forward with, such as desktop virtualization. Your research could go parallel with their projects. However, you'd be in a much better place during budget/resource decisions by knowing what else needs to be addressed and/or included in the project scope.

Good luck at the new job!
 
The other questions to ask:

-How many users on the network?
-How many other servers?
-Roaming profiles used? Used for admins?
-Switch utilization (if you can even get that info from the switches)?
-Again, how is the switches linked to eachother?

That is just a small amount to start going on the problem you are seeing.

For virtualization, I would also suggest to start playing on your own time if you can with VMware ESXi. Learn the basics and use this forum and others to learn more into it.

Again, questions like how many servers, specs of those servers, application reqs, etc. come into play.
 
If you are having slow authentications and logins, check your DNS settings.
 
Hey guys thanks for the tips I will definitely check into the DNS for issues with the login.
Heres a picture of the switch setup:
http://imgur.com/9y98h
The yellow cable on the bottom switch right beside the black one that links them together
is the one that goes to the router. I don't know alot about switches but I dont think this is the proper way to do it. To answer some more of the questions I would say we have about 20 - 25 people on the business's network. Aside from the new T410 there is an older T605. The other I.T. guy mentioned that roaming profiles were used for everyone and unfortunately I don't believe I can do any switch optimization as these are Unmanaged switches. Thanks for the advice PTNL, I'm assuming things aren't setup well which is why I was looking at resources for benchmarking performance to see where the weak links in the chain are. Thanks for all the pointers on things to check out it gives me more to think about I appreciate it.
 
oh dear!

Port 1 on switch 1 is being used as an uplink. As its 100Mbps and all other ports are also 100Mbps 1 user could flood that uplink causing all sorts of issues.
 
Definitely upgrade to gigabit switches as a starting point. HP Procurve 1810g-24's are cheap ($300).They also have web management which you can learn to use later.
 
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Yea that is definitely an issue I had previously not realized this. I switched over the computer I'm using from the top switch to the bottom switch and it was like night and day (not to mention that my connection to the switch is also spit again between 3 people so it's a huge difference). This problem is definitely clearing up now that I realize how bad our switches are I see that we will definitely be upgrading those right away. Thanks for the tips.
 
If nothing else, get 10/100 switches with 10/100/1000 uplinks for the switch and server links.
 
thornycrackers said:
Yea that is definitely an issue I had previously not realized this. I switched over the computer I'm using from the top switch to the bottom switch and it was like night and day (not to mention that my connection to the switch is also spit again between 3 people so it's a huge difference). This problem is definitely clearing up now that I realize how bad our switches are I see that we will definitely be upgrading those right away. Thanks for the tips.
Click to expand...

What do you mean "split"? You have smaller switches on the network besides your core switches?
 
I think what he's trying to say is that his desktop is connected to a 4 port switch (with 3 connected devices including his own) which is then connected to the 24 port switch. So there are 3 devices sharing a 100mb link.
 
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