Files appear very slowly in Open File dialog box

[Dan Kucherich]

Hi,

I have a NW6 SP3 server P4 Xeon/1GB Ram using NSS. I have applied nw6nss2c
(oplocks disabled) and tcp607k.exe I've Set Client File Caching
Enabled=Off.

The problem is when we go to an Office XP app like FrontPage or Word and go
to File-->Open and select a folder on a mapped drive to an NSS volume (about
a 30GB volume) that contains *.htm or *.html pages created in either
Frontpage or Word.

When opening from FrontPage the files appear about 1-2 per second until the
entire folder contents are displayed. This is only with webpages, not other
files such as Word or Excel documents which all appear immediately when the
dialog box comes up. One observation is when trying to open files from the
same folder in Word, all the files appear immediately, but the icons next to
them appear one by one about 1-2 per second.

I've tried this on several machines with both Win2K Pro and WinXP Pro as OS
with same results. The clients I've tried either have IPX alone or have IPX
as preferred protocol. I've also tried it on a Win2K machine with IP alone.
The client version is 4.83 sp1.

This problem doesn't occur on Win98 machines.

The files open fairly quickly once they finally all appear in the Open file
dialog box and I don't notice any other performance issues with the server
at this point.

Thanks,

Dan Kucherich

[Tony Pedretti]

Dan,

Here are some general performance tips for the Novell Client on Windows.
Let us know how they work for you...

Make sure you're using the latest service pack on the Novell Client, Windows
and apps (ie. Office).

Verify the speed, duplex, and frame type settings between the NICs on your
workstation and your switches or hubs all the way to the servers.

Try to have the Novell Client installed with IP-only or IPX-only. Avoid
supporting both bound to the Novell Client if you can.

Priortize each NIC, protocol, binding, etc. as appropriate for your
environment.
The interface to make these changes on 2000/XP is available in Windows
Network Properties, Advanced in menu bar, and select Advanced settings.

Security software like anti-virus has been known to interfere with
communications. Disable Network Scanning if available on the clients.
Rely on sever-based anti-virus software to scan network paths.

The ITHOWTO site always has good advice for those of us new to tweaking
Windows with the Novell Client...
Enhance Client32 Performance
http://www.ithowto.com/novell/clientspeed.htm

Take special note of numbers 2 - 4, 9, 10, 12, and 17.

These Cool Solutions summarize and one references the ITHOWTO site above...

Supercharge Your Client with These Performance Tips
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/netware/features/tips/t_client_speed_nw.html

Speed up NetWare Access From Win2K Desktops
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/netware/features/tips/t_speed_browsing_nw.html

More Speeding Tips for NetWare Access From Win2K Desktops
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/netware/features/tips/t_speed_browsing0_nw.html

Brian Baillie's comments in these Cool Solutions articles are solid...

Speed up NetWare browsing of Resources on Win2k
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/zenworks/features/tips/t_speed_nw_browsing_zw.html

Limit Connections, Improve Performance
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/nds/features/trenches/tr_performance_edir.html

Cache Exclusive Open registry update and a new nwfs.sys build may apply.
UNC Path Filter driver (NWFILTER.SYS, included by default with client 4.90
and soon in SP3 for 4.83) has helped quite a few people as well...

Novell Client 4.83 Post SP 2 Update "E"
http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/2966677.htm

BETA Novell Client v4.83SP3 for WinNT/2000/XP
http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/2967479.htm

The 4.90 code is slightly dated at this point compared to Update E so stick
with 4.83 SP2 unless you're transferring files larger than 4GB, using ZFD
4.x, or would like to use some of the other new functions including those in
NetWare 6.x.
Though Update B for 4.90 and beta SP1 are available. Beta SP3 for 4.83 is
also available. All worthwhile testing and reporting back to Novell's beta
site.

--
Tony Pedretti
TransUnion LLC

[r.vans...@syntegra.nl]

Dan,

in most cases you can fix this problem by installing NC4.83SP2 + Update E.
Don;t forget the Update E, it's very important.

It worked for me in several cases.

René

[Chip Orange]

Dan,

Did you ever get a resolution to this problem? We're also having it,
although with a 5.1 server and client 4.83 sp2e (ip only, win2k/pro).

It appears to us to only happen in MS Office apps, but not other apps such
as WordPerfect.

Chip

"Dan Kucherich" <dan...@fast.net> wrote in message
news:Amqwb.8732$I04....@prv-forum2.provo.novell.com...

[Hamish]

Chip,

> Did you ever get a resolution to this problem? We're also having it,
> although with a 5.1 server and client 4.83 sp2e (ip only, win2k/pro).

NSS or traditional volumes ? If you re-open the same directory again is it fast
?

--
Hamish Speirs
Novell Support Forums Volunteer Sysop.

http://haitch.net

(Please, no email unless requested. Unsolicited support emails will probably be
ignored)

[Chip Orange]

traditional volumes, only noticed in MS Office, and the second and
subsequent opens in MS Office are fast. We do not see the same problem when
using Windows explorer instead of MS Word.

Chip

"Hamish" <ham...@haitch.net> wrote in message
news:401857DF...@haitch.net...

[Hamish]

Chip,

> traditional volumes, only noticed in MS Office, and the second and
> subsequent opens in MS Office are fast. We do not see the same problem when
> using Windows explorer instead of MS Word.

A little strange then. If the files are compressed, see if "set dirty disk cache
delay time=0.1" on the server console helps.

[Chip Orange]

thanks, but not using compression. My thought was that this is really an MS
Office problem of some sort (at least, when used with Netware). I'm
wondering if it's trying to extract some sort of extra information from each
file as part of the display.

"Hamish" <ham...@haitch.net> wrote in message

news:401A8B8C...@haitch.net...

[Hamish]

Chip,

> thanks, but not using compression. My thought was that this is really an MS
> Office problem of some sort (at least, when used with Netware). I'm
> wondering if it's trying to extract some sort of extra information from each
> file as part of the display.

Possible. You could try a packet trace to see whats actually going on in the
back ground.