Speed up local access 1

[gkdog]

I've got a small network (5 machines) with a sigle domain controller (PDC) running 2000 Server. All the machines access the Internet through the server. The server also runs MS-IIS to server up web pages.
I find that when I access my website from one of my own machines it can be excrutiatingly slow when It ought to be lightning fast. It is worse if the internet access is turned off or down.

I've found the problem to be in resolving the name as pinging the machine by name (ping userver1) takes about 15 seconds and yet pinging the IP address directly (ping 10.10.1.1) is instantaneous.

How can I speed up local access - Can entries be made in LMHOSTS or should WINS be enabled ?????????

Ideas appreciated........

 

[SF18C]

Have you properly set up and configured DNS? What OS are the clients running? What is your connection device (10 or 100 mb, switch or hub)?

How about you throw us a bone? SF18C
CCNA, MCSE, A+, N+ & HPCC

"Tis better to die on your feet than live on your knees!"

 

[gkdog]

I have a 10/100 Hub. All PCs have 100mb cards. I've configured DNS. I have windows 2000 pro on the clients. The problem is a lot worse when the internet turned off....

GD

 

[SF18C]

If all clients are 2000pro then WINS is not needed. I would look deeply into your DNS set up and make sure your not resolving you LAN addresses on some external DNS server.

Check here:

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/windows/active/dns/

Win2K AD is very dependent upon DNS, I had to learn this the hard way. Take the time to learn everything about DNS if you plan to make a Win2k AD network network. SF18C
CCNA, MCSE, A+, N+ & HPCC

"Tis better to die on your feet than live on your knees!"

 

[ashpp]

What DNS servers are the client & server setup to use?

Ash.

 

[gkdog]

When I setup the server I followed to the letter the Windows 2000 Server step-by-step guide published by Microsoft on the techweb (

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/server/serversteps.asp)

Surprisingly everything worked as it should and no errors were encountered. The preferred DNS server is xxx.0.0.1

If you look at the microsoft document above - that is exactly what I did. I didn't however take it the extra step and set up organizational units.......

As per the guide I appended local to my setup so that my domain name is Uranium.local.

A look at IPCONFIG on the client shows the setup:-

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Uranium.Local
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SURECOM EP-320X-R 100/10/M PCI A

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-44-63-07-4F
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:43:3

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 06, 2003 1:43


The forward Lookup zone (uranium.local) shows Userver1 as a host - so it appears OK.

Running the windows 2000 support tools also gives a clean sheet on various tests ...............

I Appreciate all the feedback.

GD

 

[gurner]

"The preferred DNS server is xxx.0.0.1"

Just out of curiosity can you ellaborate on this?

xxx.0.0.1 is a loopback address, i cannot be certain if this has some sort of bearing without knowing more.

 

[gkdog]

It is the loop back address - I can only assume that it's pointing to itself as the DNS (which seems reasonable).

Presumably you could use the actual IP address ( ) but I suppose xxx.0.0.1 will always work regardless of the actual IP address.

This value is the default address set by the AD wizard during setup (see MS documentation at (

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/server/serversteps.asp)

Everything seems to work OK (I don't see any error messages in the DNS section of the Event Viewer) it's just that if I'm not connected to the net a workstation (1 of 3) can take 15-20 seconds to find the server....

 

[SF18C]

This still sounds like a major DNS problem. When you go to the DNS snap in from admin tools, is the loop back address listed as server? And is the first folder (foward lookup zone)your domain name? Also what is your name sever listed as? (name servers tab under properties of the foward lookup zone) Do you have any fowarders set?

If your name resolution takes longer when disconnected from the Internet than when connected that leads me down to misconfigured DNS settings. Could you post the Ipconfig /all of your server as well.

As for DNS server messages in the event logs, those are primarly for replication, zone transfer, and service info. If your clients are not resovling correctly there may not be any error messages. SF18C
CCNA, MCSE, A+, N+ & HPCC

"Tis better to die on your feet than live on your knees!"

 

[SF18C]

Ah ha...you have two NIC's in your server. I missed the part about "All the machines access the Internet through the server" Your resolution is most certainly going out to your ISP DNS server address, it then it times out and then gets back to your DNS server. Bottem line up front...I'm not sure an AD/DNS server can also effectively be a ICS machine. I'd get a simple router and drop the ICS stuff. Maybe some else knows how to make the two work together...your DNS lookup is heading out to the WAN NIC and I'm not sure how you can make it go to the LAN NIC, because for normal I-surfing that's were you will need to go.

I set up my clients to resolve to the AD server but my
AD/DNS server resolves to my ISP's DNS addresses. Host files may be your best bet until you install that fat Cisco 7200 router!!!

I'll keep thing about this! SF18C
CCNA, MCSE, A+, N+ & HPCC

"Tis better to die on your feet than live on your knees!"

 

[ashpp]

>Other things I would try blocking ALL ports on the >xxx.xxx.192.35 connection to ONLY accept from he xx.xx.1.1.

I mean block all private ports using this and only accept the servers ip or public IPs.

I'm getting confused - I'm not overly certain my suggestions will work -somebody help!

Ash.

 

[gkdog]

I'm reluctant to delete xxx.xxx.192.35 from the DNS as that's the DNS for the internet.
All Internet calls are routed through xx.xx.1.1 anyway as that's where the cable modem comes into (second card).

I tend to think that SF18C is correct that when the internet is off it still looks to that address and then times out before it continues. This would explain why it runs fine when it is connected to the internet.

Ideally what I think I need it to do is look for internal addresses BEFORE it tries the external DNS. Unfortunately I'm not sure on how to do that ... which is why I thought the old lookup tables (configured in WINS) may help ......

 

[gkdog]

Ash
Followed your advice and set up forwarders and it has speed ed things up alot.
Didn't find the "." entry in DNS but set up forwarders to both ISP DNS addresses.

Appreciate the help ...........

GD