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Windows NT 4 and disk access speed

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by steve_goa

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Hi,
I got a Delphi application(s) and database which is on a NT 4 server. HP NetServer E800 with 128MB/8GB. The database is accessed by the programs which are accessed (thru shared directory) by about 12-15 users who use Win'95/98 over the network.

Previously when this (the apps & the database) was on a Novell Netware server, it was very fast.. now.. its very slow.. my users are complaining and my manager is on my neck.

I figured its because of:
a) A Network bottle neck.. could be because users are connected continously through shared drives from their Windows PCs.
=but i checked this with network monitor and it doesnt seem to be the problem.
OR
b) Disk subsystem bottleneck.
I tried defragging with Diskeeper Lite but no use.Its still slow. By the way the swap file size is 150MB and its on the same NTFS partition as everything else.

Any suggestions anyone?

-Steve

11 replies

by jason.barnett

What disk configuration are you using RAID 0, 1, 0+1 or 5?

The first thing I would do would be to set up my pagefiles a little better:

I would have a pagefile equal to the amount of RAM on the system drive (set both min. and mzx. to the same amount to prevent fragementation). I would then create a second pagefile on another volume with a min. value equal to memory and a max. value of between double and treble memory.

Another area to check would be that you have latest firmware for your disk subsystem (raid controller/disk controller) and are running the latest service pack. Check the HP site to see if there are any HP specific patches for NT.

Good luck.

by dcassat

Are you using the same server? If not the most likely suspects are the network card, and hard drives. Have you changed the client configuration ie: stripped out all the old network protocols and config files for the database that aren't needed? Is the slowness apparent when there are fewer users using the system? Does the database use an engine on the server or does it just access the data from the server? Have you experimented with the server throughput settings that you find by doing a properties on the server service? Find it by going to properties of network neighborhood, clicking on server service and checking the properties. There you find 3 different throughput settings. If the problem is as dramatic as you say this is not likely the problem. My best guess if none of this helps is that you need to reinstall or reconfigure the client setup. Also check to see if any other applications are suffering speed-wise. Good Luck.

by steve_goa

Yes, I tried the 3 different throughput settings, from server service but no avail. The clients aer using only TCP/IP.. There is no database engine on the server. It is just a shared directory being used by the database engine (BDE) which is installed on every client.

by nskharade

I think that there is a problem on physical level. I suggest to upgrade your network to 100 mbps. But if it is already working on 100 mbps, try segmentation of the network by adding two lan cards on the network.

by rayval

I have encountered that before. Its the network that is having the problem. But you can work around that if you reprogram the apps into three-tier architecture. It will be much faster definitely.

by steve_goa

Could you help me out on that one? Im very interested in 3-Tier client-server development for GUI database apps.. -Steve (steve_goa@hotmail.com)

by rayval

I have encountered that before. Its the network that is having the problem. But you can work around that if you reprogram the apps into three-tier architecture. It will be much faster definitely.

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