Internet speed slow - since moving to server

[flashsnaps]

Hi all,

I decided to build a small network at home because I wanted to learn more.

I have installed Small Business Server 2003 on an old pent 4 machine, since moving across to the server the internet speed just hasn't been the same - it's been alot slower.

The server controls the DHCP now, as I've turned it off on my router. I've got me and my girlfriends laptops as clients.

Is the internet generally slow because of the old pent4 I am using as a server??

Any suggestions would be great.

[HMCTech]

Did both clients have full speed when connected directly to the router?

[flashsnaps]

Yeap they did.

[kmount]

Define slower, latency or throughput or?

[flashsnaps]

Just the general loading of webpages - seems to take a lot longer, don't really do much downloading.

[kmount]

Do some pings and traceroutes, see if it sheds any light on it.

[FN-GM]

are your clients pointing to the server in the DNS settings?

[flashsnaps]

No they are not - I point them to the opendns addresses, could this be the problem then?

[flashsnaps]

Just checked it on the client laptop- it is set to grab it automatically.
The dns address, is the server address.

[SYNACK]

How do you have it setup, with setup with two NICs acting as a router/fw or with a single NIC shareing the network.

If it is setup the first way it is very possible that the single cored nature and speed of the P4 is affecting your speed. If it is set up the other way I would sugest checking the DNS timeouts. If your server DNS is behaving slowly every new connection that must resolve an internet name will have to wait for your server to grab it from its fowarders, file it and then send it to the client.

I would say that the speed of your DNS is most likely the issue but if you are using the server as a router to this could also be causing a slow down.

How much RAM does the server have, 2GB should be the minimum if it is SBS which has exchange.

It might be easier to hook up your computers directly to the router and use VMs as your test workstations. You should still be able to access exchange on the non-domain joined pc if you set it up right.

[kmount]

I would have thought a P4 was ample enough to supply an internet connection to 2 workstations given until recently my router/dhcp/firewall at home was a P1 90Mhz with 32MB of RAM.

But then, it didn't run Windows.

Until we see some traceroutes to show where the latency lies it is near on impossible to predict whether its the server, the configuration or some bad luck.

[SYNACK]

I would have thought a P4 was ample enough to supply an internet connection to 2 workstations given until recently my router/dhcp/firewall at home was a P1 90Mhz with 32MB of RAM.

But then, it didn't run Windows.

Until we see some traceroutes to show where the latency lies it is near on impossible to predict whether its the server, the configuration or some bad luck.

SBS is a nightmare performance wise, it includes exchange and all of the stuff you need to run a domain. Personally I dislike it vastly as it covers up most of the actual workings with horible little wizards and stops you from doing certain things the 'proper' way as you would on a normal server system for fear of breaking the delicate balance of wizard configured settings.

SBS is good in certain very specific situations but if you are attempting to learn stuff for use on a full windows network SBS will propaly hinder more than help.

[kmount]

Ah! ....

[flashsnaps]

Cheers for the info, I'll take a look tonight.