Login Times

[faza]

We have a Windows Server 2003 machine and Windows XP Pro clients. We have two domains 1 for staff and 1 for kids. We have one DHCP server which sits on the staff domain which releases ip addresses to both domains. The first DNS entry within the dhcp server is the staff one. So therefore when the kids login and we look at the network settings we find that the 1st dns entry is the staff domain, then it is the kids domain then it is the external dns (ISP). The login time lately is really slow 15 mins max to login to the network. It just says on Loading profile, applyng policy etc....

We have two servers on the kids domain, but while all the 6 computer rooms are being used the performance on the first of the kids domain servers is 100% for both disk and the paging file. On the first server we have the printer queues installed and the home directories for the kids.

Any ideas

Faza

[ChrisH]

What kind of system are you using for profiles?

[GrumbleDook]

How are the 2 domains linked? Are they both seperate domains in the same forest or seperate domains in seperate forests with a trust relationship?

Or is the staff domain the parent and the student domain the child?

When you say you have two servers in the student domain do you mean 2 domain controllers? Does the first server (the one with the problems) hold both the FSMO roles as well as profiles and do file serving?

[faza]

CHRISH - I am using roaming profiles

[faza]

How are the 2 domains linked? Are they both seperate domains in the same forest or seperate domains in seperate forests with a trust relationship?

Or is the staff domain the parent and the student domain the child?

When you say you have two servers in the student domain do you mean 2 domain controllers? Does the first server (the one with the problems) hold both the FSMO roles as well as profiles and do file serving?


Separeate forests but with a trust

Yes we have 2 DC on the student domain. Yes the first one has the FSMO roles profiles, file serving and the printer queues.

[Face-Man]

What size are the profile dir ?

We found that by stoping roaming profiles from having application data folder included (via GPO) the logon time quartered.

I assume that you have a switched network..

Are your DC on gigabit backbone as that will help as well

[Norphy]

Sounds like a DNS issue to me. Is there a forward lookup zone for the student domain on your primary DNS server or at the very least a forwarder for it?

[faza]

What size are the profile dir ?

We found that by stoping roaming profiles from having application data folder included (via GPO) the logon time quartered.

I assume that you have a switched network..

Are your DC on gigabit backbone as that will help as well

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Do you know the route to that in the GPO (what does the application data contain)

Yes the switches are on a gigabit backbone

[faza]

Sounds like a DNS issue to me. Is there a forward lookup zone for the student domain on your primary DNS server or at the very least a forwarder for it?

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Yes, we have a separate dns for the student domain.

So we have one dns server for the staff domain and one dns for the student domain. We have one DHCP server resides on the staff domain, so when we specify the dns servers through the scope options we specify the staff dns then the students dns in that order.

Would it be worth swapping the order so it is the student dns then the staff dns? But if i do that would it slow the staff login process????


I am at a loss :-(


Faza

[Face-Man]

You can stop application data being in the roaming profile in

Windows settings\Administrative template\system\logon/logoff\exclude directories in roaming profile

use it on a test ou first. Our main problem was it was filling up with temp scanner files etc that were not needed...

It may also be worth getting ride of recent files and cookies

I haven't done it my self but I've heard that folder redirection can slow things down as well.

[Norphy]

Yes, we have a separate dns for the student domain.

That isn't what I asked. If the clients get the staff domain DNS server IP address from the DHCP and the DNS server doesn't contain information on the student domain, you're going to have problems like these. You either need to have a forwarder set up on your staff DNS server to forward all requests for your student domain to the student DNS server or you need to have the forward lookup zone for the student domain replicated in your staff DNS server.

You may have the Student DNS Server set up as the secondary DNS Server in the DHCP scope but that won't help. Windows will only look at the secondary DNS Server if it can't find the primary one. If the record doesn't exist in the primary one, Windows will assume that it doesn't exist at all. It won't go to the secondary one if it can't find a record.

The forwarder is probably the easier option. To set one up, assuming you're using a Windows DNS server, open the DNS Console on either a server or a workstation. Right click on the DNS server, press Properties. Where it says DNS Domain, press New. Type in the name of your student domain in the box, press OK. Highlight the student domain, type in the address of the student DNS server in the Selected Domains Forwarder IP Address box and press Add. Put in an entry for every DNS server you have in the Student domain.

You will need to repeat this process for every DNS Server in the staff domain.

It would probably also be advisable to set up forwarders to the staff domain in the student DNS servers as well.

We also run a multidomain model but our DNS servers handle records for all of our domains. We have no issues with login times.

[faza]

Thanks a lot i will try all these options.

[Geoff]

No. That's not the 'right way' to go about it. You need to create stub zones in each domains dns server(s) for the other domain. Tutorial here on how to set them up:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/art...tub_Zones.html