Slow Performance on a Win2000

A network 'just about stopping' could be caused by any of a number of factors: network bottlenecks, cpu/memory overload, heavy disk usage, resource intensive software, etc. What exactly are the symptoms that occur? Are there any error messages showing in Event Viewer? Check event log entries other than error or warnings that occur around the times you have problems.

The first step to try (if you haven't already done so) is to open Task Manager (on the server), open the Performance tab, and see if your CPU or memory is being maxed out. If either or both are maxed out, open the Processes tab and see which process is using these resources. You may need to set up Performance monitors to try and determine whether the problem is relatedto hardware overload (CPU/memory/disk), specific software threads (specific software that is more resource intensive than advertised), network bottlenecks (improperly configured servs, routers, etc).

Since this sounds like a "scheduled" event (i.e. it ALWAYS happens on the same days at the same times - is this the case?), possible culprits could be drive defrag, AntiVirus scans, Active Directory replication between DCs (especially if your domain is part of a larger AD organization). Check any installed program that has any sort of scheduling feature.

The problem may not be the server itself. You mention Citrix. Is it possible that that a client is conducting a particularly resource-intensive operation on a schedule? Trapeze (fromUltimate Technologies?) looks like it could get very resource intensive for a big job.

Good Luck.