SUPER SLOW connecting with PC server

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SUPER SLOW connecting with PC server

I have three G4 Power Macs that are now connecting to a Dell Poweredge 2900 PC server. Trying to open files across the network from this server is EXTREMELY slow. A PC connected to this same configuration opens the files just fine. The files to be opened are Mac originated Quark and Adobe CS2 type files and range from small (200K) to Huge (100M). Even the tiny files take a long time.

What can I do to speed the connection?

What's the best way to have Mac files on a server and also automatically backed up to this PC server's tape drive? The information on the server is (and needs to be) backed up to a tape each night.

We also have noticed that files are duplicating themselves (sometimes) when saved to this server. Any ideas on why that is happening?

Thanks so much for your help!

Power Mac G4, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Feb 21, 2009 2:49 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 23, 2009 12:05 AM in response to Janet Kelley

Janet –

Contrary to what you might see on TV concerning Windows and Mac easy interoperability getting them actually work can be both challenging as well as frustrating. So a few questions –

1. Are you connecting to a Windows Domain?
2. What type of Server software are you using (Windows 2000. 2003, or 2008)?
3. Can you move files from the Server to the Mac’s if so is this slow as well?

As for backing up files on your Windows Server that should not be a problem once you get the connectivity issue resolved. I currently run a home network with Windows Small Business Server 2003 and share files between my iMac and Window PCs.

If you could provide some additional information on how your network is configured I might be able to provide a better solution.

Respectfully –

BH

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Answer 2

Janet Kelley Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 23, 2009 6:58 AM in response to brown.hornet

First, Thank you for helping me with this.

For your questions:

1. Yes, this is connecting to a Windows Domain.
2. The server software is Windows 2003 R2.
3. We can move files back and forth and yes it is slower.

I have also read about a program called MacDrive that might help with this. Do you know anything about that software?

The original thought was that our archives (which were on an external hard drive and was becoming full) would have a faster access on the company server. But the reality is that it is MUCH slower. I am needing to find a solution to the speed issue.

Thanks again,

J

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Answer 3

Feb 24, 2009 10:19 PM in response to Janet Kelley

Janet –

Are you on Tiger or an earlier version of OS X? Though most are not thrilled at the prospects of upgrading an OS, Tiger does play much better with Windows and I would recommend that OS as a minimum for connecting to a Windows environment. With that said here are some other things to try –

- Open a ‘Terminal’ session on your Mac and check the response times between your Mac and Server <ping –s 4096 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx> where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the server IP. If your response times are greater than 2 ms then the problem could lie in your physical network. As a check I would run the same from a PC <ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx –l 4096>

- On the file server if enabled I would turn off (temporarily) any A/V and or firewall software you may have installed. (You may want to disconnect Internet access to your network when trying this test).

- Try/what happened when you move files between the Macs?

Also are the Macs in the Domain? Finally – I am not sure that MacDrive will solve your problem. It is primarily designed to allow PC’s to see Mac drives as Windows drives. Though I am not suggesting that it would not work I just think that your problem has more to do with server or network configuration.

One last thing I did a little checking you your Server and noticed that it is a dual NIC system. Are the NICs configured for failover? If so can you disable failover and then disable one of the NICs and see what happens? Also as this is a server I assume that the server has a static address as well? You may also want to assign your Mac static IPs as well – make sure to include both the DNS server as well as the WINS server (if installed) when configuring your IPs on the Macs.

Hope this helps –

BH

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Answer 4

Janet Kelley Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 26, 2009 8:16 AM in response to brown.hornet

Thanks so much for the insight. We are actually running 10.4.11. And I am going to try your suggestions later in the day. (Clients projects are calling...)

I also have another PC server guy looking into the issue as well. (He's from an outside company, so we don't use him much) I have also asked other PC guys who can't seem to get past Mac bashing long enough to figure out my problem.

Thanks again... I'll let you know how it works out.

J

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Answer 5

Janet Kelley Author

Level 1

15 points

Mar 31, 2009 7:46 PM in response to Janet Kelley

I am marking tis as answered even though I really didn't solve the problem in a usual way. It wound up being time to upgrade our machines and we are hoping 10.5 and fast iMacs will save the day.

Thanks

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