Monitoring network stresses...

I have a win2003 file server with approx 130 clients connected. Every so
often users complain that they are having delays in getting connections to
the networked drives that are already mapped. Basically applications are slow
to respond in browsing mapped drives. Since this delay very rarely lasts for
more than 5 mins. at a go it's quiet hard for me to diagnose the problem. Is
there any network stress monitoring software/utilities available (free) for
aiding in the investigation or has anyone any pointers? All clients are xp
pro, 100/mb nic's, using 3com 4400se 10/100mb switches. Excuse my lack of in
depth knowledge on this subject...


Chris

> Is
> there any network stress monitoring software/utilities available (free)
> for
> aiding in the investigation or has anyone any pointers?

You can use standard Win2003 Performance monitor (Start\Administrative
tools\Perfomance)

Use ethereal to examine the network traffic. Viruses, large print jobs, spy
ware you name it can cause the problem. Its nice to have a handle of your
network traffic.

http://ethereal.com

"coochy coo" wrote:

> I have a win2003 file server with approx 130 clients connected. Every so
> often users complain that they are having delays in getting connections to
> the networked drives that are already mapped. Basically applications are slow
> to respond in browsing mapped drives. Since this delay very rarely lasts for
> more than 5 mins. at a go it's quiet hard for me to diagnose the problem. Is
> there any network stress monitoring software/utilities available (free) for
> aiding in the investigation or has anyone any pointers? All clients are xp
> pro, 100/mb nic's, using 3com 4400se 10/100mb switches. Excuse my lack of in
> depth knowledge on this subject...
>
>
> Chris