Things to look at in the Network

Finding performance issues on a network can be tricky because many factors are at play. Resolving these usually involved swapping things around to try to isolate the problem. Things we've seen in the past include checking:

• if performance for all clients got bad at the same time:
  • check the ethernet card and settings on the server. Make sure that you are not dropping packets and that you are always connected at the speed you expect to connect to the network at.
  • Did you update virus software on the serve and neglect to exclude the database directory?
• Swap the wire from the server to the hub to see if that makes a difference
• Swap the port on the hub to another port to see if that makes a difference
• If only one workstation suddenly went slower, then check the ethernet card settings for speed and performance. It could be it is bad.
• Check the cable and change it to see if that helps
• Take the slow machine to a location where a machine runs fast, and plug it into its network port to see if that makes a difference. If so, it could indicate a problem of wiring in the wall or at the post on the router where the line terminates.
• Try switching the port on the router for the computer to see if that makes a difference
• Did you add any more network traffic? Does the performance change during the day and happen to coincide with other events. We had one University notice that tickets sales got slow each time classes got out and students used the internet. Another venue indicated that performance slowed down when all the actors were backstage using YouTube and doing mail. In both cases, the solution was to put the high bandwidth network users on a segregated (and controlled) network.

In all cases, it is important to go into troubleshooting mode to narrow down with component might be contributing to the problem. Eg:

• Turn all components off but TM to see if that makes a difference
• Try things at the server and move progressively away from the server to see if that makes a difference
• Swap wires or ports to see where that makes a difference. If swapping a wire at the server changes everything - you have your answer. If swapping a port makes the difference, then tells you there is a router issue
• Compare machines. All machines with the same issue tends to suggest the problem is at the server. One machine with the issue tends to suggest the machine of network port
• Move the problem machine to a non-problem location. That will tell you if the problem is in the machine or not