New Installation, Very Slow Performance

[jesseplace]

Setting up a small home network and just installed Server 2008 on a Dell GX280, P4 2.8 Ghz, 3 GB RAM. I have 2 harddrives, both 2 TB WD20EARS, relatively new and newly formatted. I know this isn't the typical hardware for a server, but I'm basically just looking for it to manage a domain, do my DNS and DHCP, and act as a file server.

 

Working directly on the server goes ok, but trying to copy to/from it over the network is extremely slow. (All my clients are running windows 7) I'm only getting transfer rates of 1-2 MB/s. I can download files from the internet faster, in some cases.

 

I'm not quite sure what to start looking at to troubleshoot. I realize with this hardware I'm not going to get the best server performance, but certainly better than this. Any ideas on where to start to look?

[F2 Staff]

I notice the same on my home network and have given up looking for the problem. I believe it has something to do with the way my network is setup at home or the way I have my Windows 7 boxes connections setup.

 

The reason I think this is copying to my remote servers is fast as my internet connection allows.

 

How is it when you using ftp to transfer files to the server? If you have do you get the same results?

[jesseplace]

I can't see what it would have to do with the internet connection. I've even tried disconnecting my router from the network complete (so have a completely local network) and I get the same performance. Tried FTP and it works a little better (6-10 MB/sec) but still not too good.

[nacek]

I can't see what it would have to do with the internet connection. I've even tried disconnecting my router from the network complete (so have a completely local network) and I get the same performance. Tried FTP and it works a little better (6-10 MB/sec) but still not too good.

 

Im afraid that is the limit for wired ethernet which has 100Mb/s ~ 12MB/s theoretically so 6-10MB/s is max you can get with FTP, you would need your home network with UTP cat6 or 7 for 1Gbps. But i dont know why is it that only FTP uses entire potecial of your network :)

And also if you have UTP cables cat 6 or higher, you need all switches and routers to be capable of handling 1Gbps and also network cards in all computers :)

[mmthomas]

Do you have other workstations on the network? What kind of speed do you get copying files between workstations? Do you have a separate switch or is everything plugged into extra ports on the router? What speed is your server NIC autonegotiating? It's possibly it may be having trouble with autonegotiating a stable speed. You may need to try setting either the server nic or switch to 100Mb full duplex or something instead of auto. Is the cable from server to switch new? If not, you may want to try a new one. I've seen a marginal cable that worked fine with XP/2003 cause slow network access with Win7/2008 -- not sure why.