Redirected My documents performance is poor

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephen M
  • Start date Start date
S

Stephen M

I find that the speed with which my redirected "mydocuments" folder responds
within internet explorer is considerably slower (several seconds to see the
contents of a selected folder rather than one second or less) than a network
drive mapped directly to the same folder in the same share?

Is there away to speed this up?

The client is Win2K pro, the server is a spanking new Dell with 2003 Std.
only in the pilot phase of deployment so there are only 3 people using it
(it's not busy).
 
Stephen said:
I find that the speed with which my redirected "mydocuments" folder
responds within internet explorer is considerably slower (several
seconds to see the contents of a selected folder rather than one
second or less) than a network drive mapped directly to the same
folder in the same share?

Is there away to speed this up?

The client is Win2K pro, the server is a spanking new Dell with 2003
Std. only in the pilot phase of deployment so there are only 3 people
using it (it's not busy).
Click to expand...

How did you set up your folder redirection? In a policy? I usually set it up
to a subfolder of the user's home directory, so it points to h:\my
documents.....
 
It could happen due to the version of IE you are running. MS has posted some
known vulnerabilities with its IE5.5 and the way it authenticates upn etc.

-Jim
 
It is set up as a policy associated with a OU of which I am a member.

BTW it is not unique to me it happens to the other pilot users as well.

BTW, I misspoke. I meant "windows explorer" not IE.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
 
Oops,

I meant Windows Explorer, not IE. The delay is present if I double-click on
the (redirected) my documents or if I just run explorer
 
-----Original Message-----
I find that the speed with which my
Click to expand...
redirected "mydocuments" folder responds
within internet explorer is considerably slower (several seconds to see the
contents of a selected folder rather than one second or less) than a network
drive mapped directly to the same folder in the same
Click to expand...
share?

It sounds like you are talking about the difference
between \\server\share\mydocs and k:\mydocs where k: is a
mapped drive to \\server\share. If you call "mydocuments"
via a UNC path it has to authenticate first. If you map
first, then use the mapped path, well you've already
completed part of the process you are seeing take place
when you use the redirect.
 
Stephen said:
It is set up as a policy associated with a OU of which I am a member.
Click to expand...

OK, but how? UNC or mapped drive? As I said, use a subfolder on the home
directory settings and you should be fine - another reply mentioned why UNC
might be slower.
BTW it is not unique to me it happens to the other pilot users as
well.

BTW, I misspoke. I meant "windows explorer" not IE.
Click to expand...

I knew that ;-)
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
How did you set up your folder redirection? In a policy? I usually
set it up to a subfolder of the user's home directory, so it points
to h:\my documents.....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
redirected "mydocuments" folder responds
share?

It sounds like you are talking about the difference
between \\server\share\mydocs and k:\mydocs where k: is a
mapped drive to \\server\share. If you call "mydocuments"
via a UNC path it has to authenticate first. If you map
first, then use the mapped path, well you've already
completed part of the process you are seeing take place
when you use the redirect.
Click to expand...

I've seen this when users TEMP folders point to their remote My
Documents folder.

While I've never tried to map using a mapped drive, I've always used the
\\server\share_md\%username% method. I would never put the MD in the
users home folder, it's amazing what they can mess with when you do
that.

One other thing, the amount of data in the remote MD folders is what
seems to be the problem for our users - the initial connect takes a
couple seconds or less, but on folders with tons of files it can take a
couple seconds to display them (nothing to do with authentication). We
only use 100 base on the users network, so I suspect that it's all about
network performance, much like accessing anything that is remote.

What till you try and have remote offices connected to a single DC in
another office over a T1/VPN with redirected folders :)
 
UNC. On the target tab of policy:\user configuration\windows
settings\folder redirection\my documents

I have:
Target folder location: Create folder for each user under the root path
Root path: \\SERVER\share

Are you suggesting that I change that to k:\ where k: is mapped to
\\server\share? If so to I need that mapping to be present on the client or
the server or both?

(sorry that's I know that's a really ignorant question)

-Steve





"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Stephen said:
It is set up as a policy associated with a OU of which I am a member.
Click to expand...

OK, but how? UNC or mapped drive? As I said, use a subfolder on the home
directory settings and you should be fine - another reply mentioned why UNC
might be slower.
BTW it is not unique to me it happens to the other pilot users as
well.

BTW, I misspoke. I meant "windows explorer" not IE.
Click to expand...

I knew that ;-)
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Stephen M wrote:
I find that the speed with which my redirected "mydocuments" folder
responds within internet explorer is considerably slower (several
seconds to see the contents of a selected folder rather than one
second or less) than a network drive mapped directly to the same
folder in the same share?

Is there away to speed this up?

The client is Win2K pro, the server is a spanking new Dell with 2003
Std. only in the pilot phase of deployment so there are only 3
people using it (it's not busy).

How did you set up your folder redirection? In a policy? I usually
set it up to a subfolder of the user's home directory, so it points
to h:\my documents.....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Stephen said:
UNC. On the target tab of policy:\user configuration\windows
settings\folder redirection\my documents

I have:
Target folder location: Create folder for each user under the root
path Root path: \\SERVER\share

Are you suggesting that I change that to k:\ where k: is mapped to
\\server\share? If so to I need that mapping to be present on the
client or the server or both?
Click to expand...

Hmm - well, as I said, I do this to the users' home directories which are
already mapped/specified in ADUC, so honestly I'm not sure if you can do it
via a mapped drive if it isn't the home directory....doubtful.
(sorry that's I know that's a really ignorant question)
Click to expand...

Saright. :-)
-Steve





"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Stephen said:
It is set up as a policy associated with a OU of which I am a
member.
Click to expand...

OK, but how? UNC or mapped drive? As I said, use a subfolder on the
home directory settings and you should be fine - another reply
mentioned why UNC might be slower.
BTW it is not unique to me it happens to the other pilot users as
well.

BTW, I misspoke. I meant "windows explorer" not IE.
Click to expand...

I knew that ;-)
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
message Stephen M wrote:
I find that the speed with which my redirected "mydocuments"
folder responds within internet explorer is considerably slower
(several seconds to see the contents of a selected folder rather
than one second or less) than a network drive mapped directly to
the same folder in the same share?

Is there away to speed this up?

The client is Win2K pro, the server is a spanking new Dell with
2003 Std. only in the pilot phase of deployment so there are only
3 people using it (it's not busy).

How did you set up your folder redirection? In a policy? I usually
set it up to a subfolder of the user's home directory, so it points
to h:\my documents.....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hmm - well, as I said, I do this to the users' home directories which are
already mapped/specified in ADUC, so honestly I'm not sure if you can do it
via a mapped drive if it isn't the home directory....doubtful.
Click to expand...

So, if I understand you correctly, you are not "redirecting"
my documents, You are simpley offering them a personally secure location on
the network on a mapped drive.

What I hoped to achieve my using redirection is to "fool" ignorant users who
store things in "my documents" into actually putting things on the network.

Your solution does not do this. Or am I missing something?

Thanks,

Steve
 
Stephen said:
So, if I understand you correctly, you are not "redirecting"
my documents, You are simpley offering them a personally secure
location on the network on a mapped drive.

What I hoped to achieve my using redirection is to "fool" ignorant
users who store things in "my documents" into actually putting things
on the network.

Your solution does not do this.
Click to expand...

Sure it does. It redirects all users' My Documents, via group policy, to a
subfolder of the user's home directory, which is a mapped drive (I specify
the Home directory in the ADUC properties/profile path). Users can't modify
it, either.

What I was saying above was that if you aren't using the home directory as I
do, you may not be able to do this via a mapped drive, but use a UNC path
instead, which is how you have it now. I haven't tried that so I can't say
that I know anything about the performance difference between the two - why
not test & try yourself to see if it makes a difference?
 
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