How to speed up a novell netware 4.11 server

[gtiseb]

I've got a novell server hosting about 13 people. Here are the specs

P2 350
128 megs ram
dual (mirrored) 4.8g scsi disk
100 baset network


Sometime the system comes to a crawl. Any suggestions?

[MacGyver]

Use MONITOR.NLM to scope out the performance specs of the server, mainly utilization and total/available cache buffers. There are other values listed that may help you find the cause of the bottleneck. What things are you running on the server? What activities (running apps off the server, large database, GroupWise, AntiVirus scanners, etc.) are you doing in your office?

Try http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?10012765 . This is the optimization guide from Novell's support site. Some tweaks and tips are listed there and in the links at the bottom of the page.

We have a similar setup in our office with 14 people on a 4.11 server. Our server has two sets of mirrored drives, but it has 324MB of RAM. Put in as much RAM as either the mainboard will allow or you can afford. I think 128MB is way too little for the number of users you've got.

You can tweak to your heart's content but nothing beats a stack of RAM in a server.


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If it ain't broke, and you try to fix it anyway, then it WILL need fixing!

[This message has been edited by MacGyver (edited January 18, 2001).]

[pcshark]

I beg to differ. 128MB is plenty for your volumes, NOS, and all your users. IN fact, 128MB should handle 50 users quite well. I'd look for errant processes running. In Monitor, highlight Processor Usage and hit Enter, then hit F3 to bring up a histogram of all running processes. Ignore the process called IDLE, because that's just the part of the processor that's not in use (add all the other processes and subtract from 100% to get this number). Look for processes that are consuming 25% or more of the processor time. Processes that are consuming more than 90% are particularly suspect. Also, check your Cache utilization. Your cache allocation should be at least 60% of your total RAM. More is better. When it drops below 30%, you could be facing an abend.
One last thing is to go under Cache and make sure that your LRU Sitting Time is more than 15 minutes (0:15:00). Below 15 minutes means that the processor is working harder than it should.
Like MacGuyver said, you should keep in mind what processes are running on the server. Databases, email servers, firewall, whatever, must be taken into account when you are figuring the total RAM necessary to run the server. Remember the equation:

20+(total volume size*.003)+(RAM required by processes) = total RAM.

Where 20 is the base RAM for NetWare 4.11. Of course, that's for NW 4.11 only. NW 3.x's base RAM is 8, and NW 5.x's base RAM is 128.

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R. Bret Walker, CNE
(I'm not a Master Tech, but I play one on TV)

Wondering what videos to rent this weekend? Check out The People's Reviews (http://www.geocities.com/pcshark/b-e), movie reviews written for the people and by the people.

[This message has been edited by pcshark (edited January 22, 2001).]

[MacGyver]

We tried that logic with our server, however it wasn't until we put in the RAM that brought us up to 324MB that we had enough cache buffers. Ever since the server has been stable and reliable. I hate bouncing the server. http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm23.gif

Here is what we're running on it:
File serving on two sets of mirrored SCSI drives GroupWise 5.5 (POA, MTA, GWIA, and WebAccess) Inoculan 4 ArcServe 6.6 Callware Voice Mail BorderManager CD-ROM sharing (one drive) 3 Printers via JetDirect FTP server DHCP/NAT plus all the other stuff you'd find on a typical 4.11 server


The CNE and CNA who put this all together tell me that there aren't any IRQ's left.

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If it ain't broke, and you try to fix it anyway, then it WILL need fixing!

[gtiseb]

Sorry for the long delay in a reply,

The 13 users are using the server mainly for file access, they are sharing a database of the server bu they are relativly small (about 1200 or so entries in each and about 5 different databases). We also have a copier runnig off it for printing duties. I think the back-up program might be the cause of it because it starts to slow down in the afternoon. the tape drive was moved to a different server and is no longer on the novell.



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[gtiseb]

also I forgot to mention, the server's only job is to server files and manage the copier.

Firewall, Dhcp/NAT, email, webaccess is handled by a linux box, remote access by a NT box. This why the server speed concerns me : 13 users on a p2350 128 megs ram and it gets real slow when jsut sharing files ?



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[MacGyver]

You should have your tape backup in the same computer you are sharing files from, otherwise it will have to do the backup through a network cable instead of a SCSI/IDE interface. This will definitely slow down things. Simply having a tape backup drive in your server should not slow it down.

The tape backup should start at night when there's nobody around, and finish before anybody comes in. Ours starts at 1am (everyone is long gone by then) and takes about 2.5 hours to finish. If we try backing up during the day, it's painfully slow. If somebody needs to work on something big during the night, they let me know and I re-schedule the backup so it's not competing with an enduser.

Keep in mind Novell servers are set by default to do routine maintenance at midnight, so you should give your server enough time to complete these before you schedule the start of a backup.

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sHIFT hAPPENS11

[gtiseb]

Well the tape backup will now be done on the server again. I think the backup program was kicking in around 3:00 pm when everyone is trying to get work finished for the day.

Is there any supplementary files that should be routinely cleaned out or checked?


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[x_789]

May i say that with that many users on that server using it for file storage there may be alot of deleted files so I would first off run a "Purge" to get rid of all the deleted files. Also I have never had a problem with that amount of memory for the users he is having. X http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm25.gif

[MacGyver]

Netware is pretty good about looking after itself, just make sure no volume gets below 20% free space and you'll be fine. We do a weekly stats check and plot a graph on Excel so we can project when we'll need to offload some files or put in some more space.

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sHIFT hAPPENS11