# Server Performance (Pause)



## ljkbrost (May 11, 2009)

Hello, 

I have been tracking a very puzzling and frustrating problem with a client's computer network. This problem has been on going for at least 6 months and we have not found any solutions. Running Windows Server 2003 R2.

The whole network seems to pause and become incredibly unusable for periods of time ranging from 2 minutes to 30 minutes at various times of the day. When the network slow down happens people working on documents stored on the server's share are given one key press every 5 seconds types of performance. Main applications turn into a 'Not Responding' state. People not using files on the server also experience a general slow down on their machine.

The office is setup with a DELL PE2950, 4GB RAM, 800 GB Raid 5 Array (4x300GB 10K SAS Drives), dual teamed network adapters. All updates applied to Windows. OS install on C: drive and files stored on D:. There are 750,000+ files over 285 GBs. There are 20-30 Windows XP machines that connect to the server. The files are PDFs or word documents.

We have been tracking performance metrics on the system and haven't really seen anything that sticks out except for the Available Work Items counters. The machine has 4 cores and counters range between 8-20 items available and sometimes drops to 0 (on all 4 cores) for 1 to 30 seconds. When everything drops to 0 we experience the slow performance. I have no idea what is causing the drops to 0.

Things we have done:
1) Network analysis to check for bottlenecks. None found. Teamed 1GB adapters run at 2-10% utilization.
2) Memory examination. No issue found - Real memory is generally 35% free. Virtual memory is generally 75% free.
3) Watching the avg disk queue length and see spikes between 2 and 12 but nothing constant.
4) Defragged all machines.
5) Ensured the page file is defragged.
6) Disabled anti-virus scanning on the server.

I'm at a loss to explain what is going on and to try and find a solution. Does anyone have any suggestions of what could be going on?

Thanks,


Kyle Brost
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## StumpedTechy (Jul 7, 2004)

Anything in event logs? Have you tried doing selective startup and eliminating items you may think are culprits?


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## ljkbrost (May 11, 2009)

There are no errors or warning in the event logs that have us worried.

It is a production box that does not have any 'extra' services running on it.

When the server pauses the whole network stops and the 20+ connected users experience the pause.

We have looked at the network and cpu and do not see any excessive use.


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## StumpedTechy (Jul 7, 2004)

I am not implying "extra" services. in production environments most everyone thinks that nothing is extra. What I am saying is break down the services based on the different functions the server uses and eliminate them 1 by 1? E.G. if its a combination file, print, IIS server have you tried first disabling the file sharing services? then the print ans so on to try and narrow down the culprit?

Also does this slowdown occur as your logged onto the server itself? Or is it just the clients connecting to it that notice the slowdown?

Lastly have you tried changing ports on the switch that this server is connected to to? Maybe even trying it on another switch altogether if you have more than one in your environment?


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