SMB Network Share Access slow (MAC OS X SL and Windows 2008 Server)

You want to look at the Apple document Mac OS X v10.6: Active Directory binding lost on network transition (.local domain). Plus read these MacWindows.com file sharing reports on slow SMB fixes and see if any of these tips work.

I have a client experiencing the same issues. I have tried a few things, but nothing seems to be helping. They have a mix of 10.4-10.6 and all have slow browsing. Did you ever fix this issue?

You never said what this "Active Directory" server is? Is it 2003, 2008 or OS X Server 10.5.x or 10.6.X?

I have read some on sServer 2003 can speed up connections by implementing the setting fixes describe in the Microsoft article New registry entry for controlling the TCP Acknowledgment (ACK) behavior in Windows XP and in Windows Server 2003 and it Also helped 10.6 client users SMB speed. It might help if you have access to the Domain server machine.

Note: If you Windows name ends in .Local then read the Apple document Mac OS X v10.6: Active Directory binding lost on network transition (.local domain).

The AD is a 2003 Enterprise, and the shares are on a different 2003 Enterprise box. WINS is already configured and being pulled from DHCP. It is very speratic, sometimes if browses fine with folders with almost 30K files, and sometimes it hangs with folders with 5 files. But it isn't always the same folders causing the problem. One minute the folder is fine, and the next it takes 30-45 seconds to show the directory.

I too have the exact same problem and need to figure it out soon. Very slow response times. It seems the server is getting over utilized (look at your resource monitor).

Current configuration are:
MAC OS 10.6.4 using a Windows 2008x64 as a file server. Clients are connecting via SMB.
Whats the common denominator here?
Our users are using Adobe InDesign 3. When users open the file located on the server and submits a print job directly to the printer, the InDesign links ( some files contain around 100 ) reach back to the server to reference the file before it prints. This may be why the server's resources are heavily affected and may be the reason why it may cause slow response times for other MAC users who try and save, open or copy files from / to the server. We have not found a soultion and all things mentioned here including the internet links did not work. We are still testing other variables (copy the Indesign files locally to detemine if print times decrease, etc. Any comments appreciated.

Okay. We found the solution. Extremez-IP, a thrid party tool that we installed on the server significantly reduced response times.

There is an incompatibilty with the basic SMB protocol MACS use to communicate with Windows. Essentially the amount of data genereated when MACs open a file ( as well as pull file info ) generate an extremely huge amount of traffic through SMB, and only the AFP protocol can effeciently pull the data across the two platforms without the server taking a performance hit if it was to pull the same data through SMB. Mainly OS X and above seem to be the most affected.

Message was edited by: shodazz

try smb://server:139/share when connecting to the server.

Hi,
I've got a same problem and adding the port doesn't help...
Any ideas?