Network problems

[Anonymous]

We are having problems accessing files through our network.

3 different CAD pcs are trying to access a teamwork file that is 150 mb on the SERVER pc

We are having problems connecting to the SERVER pc. This is our network: CAT5E Gigabyte

What do you suggest we change either on the CAD pcs or the SERVER pc or the network?

SERVER PC
System:
Microsoft Windows XP 32bit
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
Intel(R)
Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
2.79 GHz. 504 MB of RAM

Disk Drive
ST3200822AS IDE 40 pin

Display adapters
Intel (R) 82945G Express Chipset Family
Intel (R) 82945G Express Chipset Family

Network adapter
Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller

Processors
Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz



CAD PC
System:
Microsoft Windows XP 32bit
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
Intel (R)
Xeon (TM) CPU 3.40GHz
3.39 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM

Disk Drives
ADAPTEC RAID 0 SCSI Disk Device

Display adapters
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3450/4000SDI

Network adapters
Intel (R) PRO/1000 MTW Network Connection

Processors
Intel (R) Xeon (TM) CPU 3.40GHz
Intel (R) Xeon (TM) CPU 3.40GHz

SCSI and RAID controllers
Adaptec Embedded SCSI HostRAID Controller

Regards.

[Thomas Holm]

I'm just an amateur on this subject, but I think your server is starved for RAM. If it has just ca 500 MB in total that means most of it is eaten by XP alone. Very little space for caching, swap files etc which are needed especially in a dual-processor set-up. This in turn means that the server constantly is occupied with swapping things in and out of the hard disk, since RAM is constrained.

I'd suggest at least 1GB of RAM per processor to get the most out of that setup. Beware of cost though, you might get more out of the upgrade $$ if you buy a new server machine, with more modern processors.

Just my 2¢.

[TomWaltz]

Gyarfas wrote:
We are having problems accessing files through our network.

What kind of problems? Without knowing that, it's a little hard to diagnose.

If you're actually having problems "connecting" (as opposed to problems saving or performing Teamwork operations), it sounds more like a network software configuration issue. "Connecting problems" would mean that all programs have problems seeing or saving to the server. Is that what's happining?

That said, Thomas is right about the RAM being really low. I would expect them to be really slow.

[Anonymous]

Our local reseller asked these questions...

Does it take a long time to open/read/send changes, or does it fail?
3 people are accessing the same plp file as teammates. Each person has a story or two and sections. One person has all of the layouts.
1 Person is accessing a different plp file with exclusive access.
This is a total of 4 people accessing files on the SERVER PC, plus some one is working in Microsoft programs on the server PC on a different hard drive
The 4th person always has trouble accessing the SERVER PC no matter what file. The file will either crash while opening or never open.
Send / Receive is not bad as long as the 4th person is not trying to access anything and no one is working on the SERVER PC.
When only three people are accessing the SERVER PC Open/Send/Receive takes about 5-7 mins.

Has this started recently, or gradually gotten worse over time?
It has always been a problem, I have worked around it by splitting the file by story but now we have multiple story walls and windows. Trying to keep track of more than one file is a whole other problem.

Is it just one file, or is it affecting others?
It is not a one file problem. I think it is too many people trying to access the SERVER PC.

How often are you accessing the teamwork file - are you trying to send changes frequently during the day?
I access the plp file at 8am on the server pc and send/receive changes about every 30 mins. The other three people start to access it around 9-930pm and send receive changes about every 30 mins also.

Do you save a local draft on your own machine's desktop, or are you trying to save your work always to the server?
I am not familiar with the local draft method. We are on the server only.

Regards.

[TomWaltz]

OK, let's talk a little more about Teamwork.

The local drafts allow you to save your work without accessing the network. If you click "Save" while you are in a Teamworked project, you can save your work locally, reducing the need to Send & Receive. You can save a local draft (a PLC file) and close Archicad and go home (do NOT click Sign Out), come in the next day, re-open the PLC and have the same workspace ready to go. The Archicad user manual goes into this in depth.

There is no need to Send & Receive every 30 minutes unless you actually have people working so closely together that they cannot function without each other's work.

From a network standpoint, you're not having problems connecting to the server. (That's an important distinction... and network guy will charge you huge money to fix that problem, if you had it).

You might be right that it's too many people trying to access the server at one time, but it sounds more like a hardware problem with server than an actual "number of people" connected problem. I would upgrade the RAM first. It's a cheap solution (comparatively) and would pretty quickly tell you if you fixed it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.

I will see if we can upgrade the SERVER PC's RAM.

[Thomas Holm]

I agree with Tom that you description fits with a RAM shortage. The server needs to allocate a certain amount of memory for each user that accesses it. The less RAM, the less simultaneous connections allowed.

But please let us know if this idea solves your problem!

[TomWaltz]

Thomas wrote:
I agree with Tom that you description fits with a RAM shortage. The server needs to allocate a certain amount of memory for each user that accesses it. The less RAM, the less simultaneous connections allowed.

But please let us know if this idea solves your problem!

That's not really true. The server will never disallow connections due to a RAM shortage. You might wait for some time, but the server won't prevent a new connection or disconnect anyone for that (though you could eventually get a time-out error on your workstation).

[Anonymous]

The SERVER PC can be upgraded to 2 GB of RAM. I will probably go this direction because it will be the cheapest.

I will post back if this doesn't help.

Thanks.

[__archiben]

RAM will surely help, but to me it sounds like your switch/hub isn't up to the job . . .

what speed is your network? 100? 1000? do you run everything through a switch or just a dumb hub? what speed is the switch/hub?

~/archiben