Network Homes problems

Question

Level 1

15 points

Network Homes problems

Hi all,

I'm running in to a lot of prblems with Network homes and unfortunately it is all very random.

I manage a lab of 25 iMacs running 10.7.4 connected to an xServe running 10.7.4 Server.

The basic problem is that the macs take an age to log in to the network accounts. Sometimes they will log in fine but other times a few will log in then it can take up to 20 mins to log in. We get a spinning ball on the login screenafter the password is entered.

I've replaced the server hardware (I had another xServe I could use), replaced the boot drive. Replaced the OS and in a final bid last week exported all the users, downgraded to standalone and then upgraded to ODM. This seemed to work for a couple of days but now I'm back to square one!

I've checked the server and the processors, RAM and network (Gigabit Cat 6 on managed switches) - none of them are under pressure?

Can anybody suggest what else I can try?

Xserve, OS X Server

Posted on Oct 25, 2012 7:05 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2012 6:50 PM in response to Gerard Allen

I would go and reconfirm all of your network setting across the board. While it's manifested through the network user accounts it's probably caused by something buried in a service like DNS. Failing that, have a look at the console logs on both the server and client and see if something stands out.

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Answer 2

Oct 29, 2012 10:41 AM in response to Gerard Allen

If you ping your server using its fqdn from one of your client machines, how long does it take to send a packet?

On gigabit I would expect it to be in the range of <= 5ms.

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Answer 3

Gerard Allen Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 31, 2012 7:10 AM in response to infinite vortex

Thanks for the suggestion. I've already confirmed forward and reverse lookups both on machine name and FQDN.

I've trawled the logs and (unless I'm missing something) can see nothing out of the ordinary.

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Answer 4

Gerard Allen Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 31, 2012 7:12 AM in response to Jonathan Melville

Ping times are less than 1ms (with occasional spikes during login but nothing more than 15ms

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Answer 5

iToaster

Level 3

739 points

Nov 1, 2012 7:23 PM in response to Gerard Allen

Bit of a long shot but. Have you checked for any firmware updates for your switches

I had trouble with quite well known brand of brand new switches a few years back

Not quite the problem you're seeing but the switches would stop traffic on random ports

I could still ping but no traffic would flow quite bazar behaviour only powering the switches of and on would clear it

After tearing my hair out numerous calls to the switch manufacturers, cable tests,replacement switches, buck passing

Several firmware updates later that each promised to fix the issue, finally the problem was gone

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