Long log in times

[Who be dat?]

Hello,

We are using Server2003 as an Active Domain Controller. The particular
clients I'm referring to are Server 2003 clients but I think Windows XP
machines did this as well.

We have a setup where some plants are located about 10 miles from a central
office where the AD controller resides. These plants are connected to the
central office with a T1 line. As long as the T1 line is up, login times
are fine. When someone correctly enters userid, password, and domain, it
takes 5-10 seconds to login.

Unfortunately, the T1 lines go down from time to time. When this happens,
the clients are [naturally] unable to connect to the AD controller. It
takes upwards of 3 minutes to complete a login. By trade, I'm a programmer.
I know a fair amount about networks and administrating a system. However,
those are not my areas of expertise. Members of the IT department are
telling me the long login time during a connection loss is due to the fact
machines are using cached information to login. This sounds good and
reasonable. However, why should it take so long to login when the
information on the harddrive? It's not having to send the information over
the T1 line, the information is stored locally.

Is there anyway to speed up the startup times during the periods when the T1
lines are down so the AD controller can't be contacted short of installing a
backup AD controller at each plant? The slow log in times occur for both
desktop logins as well as Terminal Server logins. In particular, I'd love
for the TS logins to speed up.

Thanks for any information.

Chris Smith

 

[Kurt]

Hello,

We are using Server2003 as an Active Domain Controller. The particular
clients I'm referring to are Server 2003 clients but I think Windows XP
machines did this as well.

We have a setup where some plants are located about 10 miles from a central
office where the AD controller resides. These plants are connected to the
central office with a T1 line. As long as the T1 line is up, login times
are fine. When someone correctly enters userid, password, and domain, it
takes 5-10 seconds to login.

Unfortunately, the T1 lines go down from time to time. When this happens,
the clients are [naturally] unable to connect to the AD controller. It
takes upwards of 3 minutes to complete a login. By trade, I'm a programmer.
I know a fair amount about networks and administrating a system. However,
those are not my areas of expertise. Members of the IT department are
telling me the long login time during a connection loss is due to the fact
machines are using cached information to login. This sounds good and
reasonable. However, why should it take so long to login when the
information on the harddrive? It's not having to send the information over
the T1 line, the information is stored locally.

Is there anyway to speed up the startup times during the periods when the T1
lines are down so the AD controller can't be contacted short of installing a
backup AD controller at each plant? The slow log in times occur for both
desktop logins as well as Terminal Server logins. In particular, I'd love
for the TS logins to speed up.

Thanks for any information.

Chris Smith

How many computers are at the remote site? Cached credentials allow a
user to logon to their computers even if they can't contact the domain
controller. If they do not have a network connection at all (if you
unplug the cable from the back of the computer), Windows realizes the
futility of even trying, and the process is very fast. If they DO have a
network connection, you have to wait for all of the attempts to contact
the domain controller to time out (DNS, WINS, NetBios Broadcast).

If you have enough users there to warrant it, putting a DC on-site would
do the trick. If your T-1 is really down that often, I'd be looking for
a different solution or a more reliable provider. If you have high-speed
Internet available at both sites, you can usually go many times faster
than a T-1 for a fraction of the cost using a VPN.

....kurt

 

[Richard G. Harper]

I completely agree with Kurt - you're trying to treat the symptoms of the
problem rather than the problem itself. A DC at your remote site may be
necessary, and a T1 should not be going down with any regularity.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
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