T
Tracy L. Baker
This may be a little long, but I felt that posting this
would help quite a lot of you out there. Please read
through to the end to see if it'll apply to you!
I have now done this "fix" in both WinNT Server (primary
domain controller) environments with Win2000 Pro clients
as well as with Win2000 Server (both PDC/active directory
and non-active directory) environments with Win2000 Pro
and WinXP (Home and Pro) clients. It has worked equally
well in all cases. This DOES NOT pertain to Win2000
Pro/Win98/WinXP peer-to-peer networks, nor does it seem to
be particularly useful when using all Win98 clients [in
the context of client to client speed, but it CAN make a
difference in client to server speed] -- so if you have
one of those, the only thing that may help you is un-
checking the "Register this connection's address in DNS"
box which is found in the advanced properties for the
TCP/IP protocol under the DNS tab [Win2000 and WinXP
only]. (See below.)
All of the installations to which I'm referring are all
small businesses with no more than 20 clients or so.
Also, none of these servers are acting as a DHCP or DNS
server in these installations (although, DNS and DHCP
services may be loaded). All have external DHCP boxes
(DSL/cable routers) -- although none of the clients are
using DHCP. All are using static IP addressing and have
their DNS server IP's pointing to the ISP's DNS addresses.
A few weeks ago, I posted a thread about a condition that
had arisen with one of my customers where a 26mb file
being copied from a Win98 client to a Win2000 client (both
in the same WinNT 4.0 domain) was very very slow (13
minutes). I also said that this slowness DID NOT occur
until the Win98 client actually logged into the domain.
[In other words, if you copied the same file while the
Win98 client was sitting at the name/password/domain login
screen, it would copy much faster.]
A few people said here that the clients' needed to
be "pointed at the server-IP", and not much more than that
was said. Obviously, this statement isn't really of much
use. After more research I found that the server-IP being
mentioned was in context of DNS and/or DHCP. This,
however, made no sense to me since DNS and DHCP aren't
being used in these installations. In fact, I saw no
reason to go through all the hassle to set up an "in-
house" DNS server since my only real need for DNS was to
resolve internet addresses -- so why not just use the ISP
DSN addresses? Also, since all clients are using static
IP addressing, setting up DHCP on the server was moot.
However, this did remind me that before Microsoft embraced
DNS in Win2000, they used WINS. Ultimately, that is
the "fix". Set up and start WINS on the WinNT or Win2000
Server and point all the clients (and server) to the
server's IP under the WINS tab (TCP/IP protocol and then
advanced). It is interesting to note that WINS is NOT
installed on the server by default. Good news is that
installing WINS on a Win2000 Server does not require a
reboot (WinNT may have to reboot a couple of times,
because after installing the WINS service, you'll was to
re-install Service Pack 6).
You may also want to uncheck the box "Register this
connection's address in DNS" as mentioned in paragraph
two, above -- as there is no reason to do this function in
quite a lot of small-business or personal networking
applications where an in-house DNS server is not used, or
really needed.
See Microsoft's KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/?
kbid=275554
See also:
http://www.incentre.net/incentre/frame/win2000dns.html
How did my "fix" turn out? Well, that 26mb file that used
to take 13 minutes to copy from a Win98 client to a
Win2000 Pro client now only takes 25 seconds. Also, one
Win2000 Pro user's Outlook, where the Outlook files are on
the WinNT server, runs very much faster. In other
installations, the users are absolutely amazed at the
speed increase -- from file and application server access
to print servers. (As an aside, all these network
installations are ones I recently took over, and were not
installed by me initially.)
A few other notes:
- Sometimes, setting your NIC's speed setting to something
specific (100mbit/full duplex or even 10mbit/full duplex)
instead of leaving it as AUTO is helpful.
- Removing all unnecessary protocols (IPX/SPX, NetBEUI) is
really helpful. Just take care than some old application
doesn't need one of these.
- Due to their decreased cost per port, switches should be
used instead of hubs.
- Use known good and tested Cat5 (Cat5e) cable runs and
patch cords.
- Use updated NIC drivers
- Install the newest service packs for your OS.
Well, I hope this helps a few people out there.
would help quite a lot of you out there. Please read
through to the end to see if it'll apply to you!
I have now done this "fix" in both WinNT Server (primary
domain controller) environments with Win2000 Pro clients
as well as with Win2000 Server (both PDC/active directory
and non-active directory) environments with Win2000 Pro
and WinXP (Home and Pro) clients. It has worked equally
well in all cases. This DOES NOT pertain to Win2000
Pro/Win98/WinXP peer-to-peer networks, nor does it seem to
be particularly useful when using all Win98 clients [in
the context of client to client speed, but it CAN make a
difference in client to server speed] -- so if you have
one of those, the only thing that may help you is un-
checking the "Register this connection's address in DNS"
box which is found in the advanced properties for the
TCP/IP protocol under the DNS tab [Win2000 and WinXP
only]. (See below.)
All of the installations to which I'm referring are all
small businesses with no more than 20 clients or so.
Also, none of these servers are acting as a DHCP or DNS
server in these installations (although, DNS and DHCP
services may be loaded). All have external DHCP boxes
(DSL/cable routers) -- although none of the clients are
using DHCP. All are using static IP addressing and have
their DNS server IP's pointing to the ISP's DNS addresses.
A few weeks ago, I posted a thread about a condition that
had arisen with one of my customers where a 26mb file
being copied from a Win98 client to a Win2000 client (both
in the same WinNT 4.0 domain) was very very slow (13
minutes). I also said that this slowness DID NOT occur
until the Win98 client actually logged into the domain.
[In other words, if you copied the same file while the
Win98 client was sitting at the name/password/domain login
screen, it would copy much faster.]
A few people said here that the clients' needed to
be "pointed at the server-IP", and not much more than that
was said. Obviously, this statement isn't really of much
use. After more research I found that the server-IP being
mentioned was in context of DNS and/or DHCP. This,
however, made no sense to me since DNS and DHCP aren't
being used in these installations. In fact, I saw no
reason to go through all the hassle to set up an "in-
house" DNS server since my only real need for DNS was to
resolve internet addresses -- so why not just use the ISP
DSN addresses? Also, since all clients are using static
IP addressing, setting up DHCP on the server was moot.
However, this did remind me that before Microsoft embraced
DNS in Win2000, they used WINS. Ultimately, that is
the "fix". Set up and start WINS on the WinNT or Win2000
Server and point all the clients (and server) to the
server's IP under the WINS tab (TCP/IP protocol and then
advanced). It is interesting to note that WINS is NOT
installed on the server by default. Good news is that
installing WINS on a Win2000 Server does not require a
reboot (WinNT may have to reboot a couple of times,
because after installing the WINS service, you'll was to
re-install Service Pack 6).
You may also want to uncheck the box "Register this
connection's address in DNS" as mentioned in paragraph
two, above -- as there is no reason to do this function in
quite a lot of small-business or personal networking
applications where an in-house DNS server is not used, or
really needed.
See Microsoft's KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/?
kbid=275554
See also:
http://www.incentre.net/incentre/frame/win2000dns.html
How did my "fix" turn out? Well, that 26mb file that used
to take 13 minutes to copy from a Win98 client to a
Win2000 Pro client now only takes 25 seconds. Also, one
Win2000 Pro user's Outlook, where the Outlook files are on
the WinNT server, runs very much faster. In other
installations, the users are absolutely amazed at the
speed increase -- from file and application server access
to print servers. (As an aside, all these network
installations are ones I recently took over, and were not
installed by me initially.)
A few other notes:
- Sometimes, setting your NIC's speed setting to something
specific (100mbit/full duplex or even 10mbit/full duplex)
instead of leaving it as AUTO is helpful.
- Removing all unnecessary protocols (IPX/SPX, NetBEUI) is
really helpful. Just take care than some old application
doesn't need one of these.
- Due to their decreased cost per port, switches should be
used instead of hubs.
- Use known good and tested Cat5 (Cat5e) cable runs and
patch cords.
- Use updated NIC drivers
- Install the newest service packs for your OS.
Well, I hope this helps a few people out there.
