Session Slow Downs

[Guest]

I have a 2000 Advanced Server that is running Terminal services, the server has dual 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon processors with hyper-threading turned on, 2 gig of RAM and a 1GHz network card running at 1GHz. I have 17 users that log in via RDP on a local LAN. We run a construction program called timberline which uses Pervasive engines and Windows Office XP, mainly excel and outlook. Our exchange server is located on our PDC that does Domain login, exchange and Norton Corp. No matter how many people we have logged in, 1 or all 17, sessions will experience random slow downs that some times last as short as 1 minute to never speed back up till they are able to log off there session and log back in, some times it takes up to 10 minutes to be able to open the start menu, hit log off and ok. Some cases i have to go into TS manager and log them off myself. Also when they are using our Timberline program modules they are in will just disappear and close the program, Timberline support say it's because the we are having connection issues with the server and the pervasive is getting disconnected, but when you get kicked out of there program you are still connected to TS so i don't think this is the issue. Any reason why this is happening? Or what i can change on the server to stop it from happening. It was a very expensive Dell server that we bought to run this whole office on TS and thought it would be good enough. We are planning on adding about 30 more users through out the year, and if this happens with 17 users i don't know whats going to happen when we add the rest. Also the only way people use this server is through TS. Nobody else uses resources on it.

 

[Mike Brandonisio]

I have a 2000 Advanced Server that is running Terminal services, the server
has dual 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon processors with hyper-threading turned on, 2 gig
of RAM and a 1GHz network card running at 1GHz. I have 17 users that log in
via RDP on a local LAN. We run a construction program called timberline which
uses Pervasive engines and Windows Office XP, mainly excel and outlook. Our
exchange server is located on our PDC that does Domain login, exchange and
Norton Corp. No matter how many people we have logged in, 1 or all 17,
sessions will experience random slow downs that some times last as short as 1
minute to never speed back up till they are able to log off there session and
log back in, some times it takes up to 10 minutes to be able to open the start
menu, hit log off and ok. Some cases i have to go into TS manager and log
them off myself. Also when they are using our Timberline program modules they
are in will just disappear and close the program, Timberline support say it's
because the we are having connection issues with the server and the pervasive
is getting disconnected, but when you get kicked out of there program you are
still connected to TS so i don't think this is the issue. Any reason why this
is happening? Or what i can change on the server to stop it from happening.
It was a very expensive Dell server that we bought to run this whole office on
TS and thought it would be good enough. We are planning on adding about 30
more users through out the year, and if this happens with 17 users i don't
know whats going to happen when we add the rest. Also the only way people use
this server is through TS. Nobody else uses resources on it.

Hi,

I was having similar trouble with network connectivity issues, lockups,
freezing and losing all installed printers. After weeks of trial and error
it turned out to be MS Office XP. When installing Office XP it has to be
done with TS in application mode. You can't have it already installed on the
server and then turn on TS. The installer on Office XP recognize TS and
changes the type of installation it does. I uninstalled Office XP and
reinstalled with the default setting no custom selections in the installer.
It fixed it. It's been days and no trouble. By the way we had only 5 users
on our TS. Config was Dell 600sc 1.8gig cel, 1.5ram, 80gig mirror raid and
win2k.

Mike
--
Mike Brandonisio * 3D Modeling and Animation
Tech One Illustration * Web Solutions & Interactive Media
mailto: (e-mail address removed) * Technical Illustration
http://www.techone.org/ * Web & Database Systems

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[Guest]

In addition to Mike's advice make sure you have the current drivers (provided by the manufacturer) and BIOS for NIC, Motherboard, RAID COntroller & SCSI Drives

You definitely should not proceed with any further rollout until this problem is resolved, or else you'll have a user revolt and likely get fired

P.S. For 47 users prepare to add another 2GB of RAM to this server, as 2GB will likely NOT be enough

What I'd recommend is to try first checking the above. If this makes no difference

1. Schedule some downtime, i.e. weekend (Presidents day is a long weekend if you're closed
2. Backu
3. Clean install of Windows Server w/ Terminal Services in Application Server Mode
4. Install NO applications
5. Test the reliability of the build. Procede or contact hardware vendor dependent on results of reliability testing
6. Add your application, then test again
7. Procede or contact software vendor dependent on results of reliability testing

You could also setup a Workstation class machine w/ Windows Server & TS and perform the tests listed above. If the application works fine then you can contact the hardware vendor for support. If the application doesn't work reliably (even from the server console) then you'll need to work with the software vendor on a solution

Patrick Rous
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Serve
www.workthin.co



----- Jamie wrote: ----

I have a 2000 Advanced Server that is running Terminal services, the server has dual 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon processors with hyper-threading turned on, 2 gig of RAM and a 1GHz network card running at 1GHz. I have 17 users that log in via RDP on a local LAN. We run a construction program called timberline which uses Pervasive engines and Windows Office XP, mainly excel and outlook. Our exchange server is located on our PDC that does Domain login, exchange and Norton Corp. No matter how many people we have logged in, 1 or all 17, sessions will experience random slow downs that some times last as short as 1 minute to never speed back up till they are able to log off there session and log back in, some times it takes up to 10 minutes to be able to open the start menu, hit log off and ok. Some cases i have to go into TS manager and log them off myself. Also when they are using our Timberline program modules they are in will just disappear and close the program, Timberline support say it's because the we are having connection issues with the server and the pervasive is getting disconnected, but when you get kicked out of there program you are still connected to TS so i don't think this is the issue. Any reason why this is happening? Or what i can change on the server to stop it from happening. It was a very expensive Dell server that we bought to run this whole office on TS and thought it would be good enough. We are planning on adding about 30 more users through out the year, and if this happens with 17 users i don't know whats going to happen when we add the rest. Also the only way people use this server is through TS. Nobody else uses resources on it.