Precise accounting of Win2000 Pro inbound connections

[Louis la Brocante]

Hi,


We run a small Win2K network and are getting short on connections to
our main machine, which has Win2K Pro. Upgrade to Win2K Server is
planned and in the meantime we must limit concurrent connections to
the server to something <= 10.

In this context I'd like to know what exactly accounts for one
connection to the server. I've read the KB article on the topic
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/122920/EN-US/) but some things aren't
very clear (we're just reaching the limit so every bit matters!). Here
is my understanding and some questions:

* one user logged on one machine yields one connection altogether,
whatever physical connections are made (through file sharing, TCP/IP,
etc.). Thus one machine with one user logged in + services make up
more than one connection. Right?

* since we're running a workgroup not a domain, I assume that if UserA
is logged on Machine1 and Machine2 and connects to the server from
both, they will open 2 connections. Right?

* what about "guest" directory shares (used as network drives)? Do
they add up to the currently logged on user's share of connections on
the client machine, or do they have a bag of their own?

* the server opens connections to itself through local named pipes
(Sybase ASE). Is this one connection again, even though from the local
host?

* more generally, they state in the KB article that all communication
means & transports are eligible to being counted as a connection. Can
you confirm that this includes plain TCP/IP connections?

* they also say that administrative tools do not take free connection
slots. I guess this refer to remote administering with Computer
Management, for example. Do open administrative shares like
\\machine\c$ matter? (I know it's not a good practice anyway!).


That's it. I might add that the server is not running anything apart
from the OS and Sybase (to which clients do connect with TCP/IP; the
server connects to itself with either named pipes or TCP/IP).

I hope the same questions were not addressed before here (not so
precisely at least). I'd be very grateful if someone could shed some
light on this matter. We'll then teach users so they can continue to
work seamlessly until we've upgraded to Win2K Server (we also might
lower the connection timeout to let it breathe more easily).


Thanks, and hope this is clear!

Regards,

Thomas

 

[DS]

AFAIK, a connection is just that. If ten PC's each use a printer on a p2p
'server', that is 10 connection's. If each of those ten PC's also have a
mapped drive to the 'server', then that is another 10 connection's.

This is ehy there is the auto-disconnect parameter. When the drive is
mapped, it is 'connected'. After x amount of time of in-activity, it
disconnect's, but not necessarily showing a red x over the drive in
explorer. When you attempt to access the drive again, it automatically
re-connects for use, provided there are <10 connection's already in use.


DS



(e-mail address removed) (Louis la Brocante) wrote in

 

[Louis la Brocante]

Mmmm, that's not what I understand from the KB article (the mapped
drives would account for the same connections as the ones to the print
server, provided it's the same target machine and the same user
accounts, so that's still 10 in total). Looks like I'll have to make a
few experiments to decide which of us is right!

 

[DanS]

(e-mail address removed) (Louis la Brocante) wrote in

Mmmm, that's not what I understand from the KB article (the mapped
drives would account for the same connections as the ones to the print
server, provided it's the same target machine and the same user
accounts, so that's still 10 in total). Looks like I'll have to make a
few experiments to decide which of us is right!

After reading the link to the KB article you cited, it would indeed appear
that I am incorrect, but, I have experienced this issue in the past. One
company I worked for had a Win2K non-server box being used as a file-
server.

Occasionally users would get the connection limit error message. According
to the KB article, all shares from one single PC under one single user only
count as 1 connection. Thing was, there was only 5 other computers in the
place.

 

[Louis la Brocante]

Maybe there were services running under a different account? Well,
obviously giving a definitive answer would be tedious since you'd have
to check every single service on every computer...

Many thanks for your answers anyway!