Slow Network 2003/XP and Retired SBS2000

I have a network of abour 100 users currently running Windows 2003 Server R2
SP2 x64 DC with a secondary domain controller running Windows 2003 R2 SP2
x86. Workstations are XP/2000 (and one Vista). The network was originally on
a SBS2000 DC and has recently been migrated to the full versions of Exchange
(2007) and SQL Server (2005) and obviously Windows Server 2003 (standard).

The upgrade was done by joing the seconday DC to the domain, DCpromo on
2ndry server, then adding the "primary" windows 2003 server to the domain,
DCpromo that server, then moving the AD roles to the "primary" 2003 server
and demoting the SBS2000 server.

All services were then moved off the old server, DHCP, DNS etc onto the
other server(s).

The problem I have is that if the old SBS server is offline, the network is
critically slow whenever it is accessed. I use a Windows XP machine here
which is normally very fast, but if the old SBS server is powered off, the
machine will take 20-30 seconds to respond just opening My Computer or
Internet Explorer. This is the same for any of the other workstations in the
enterprise. Boot the old server back up, and the network is fast again.

The servers and workstations are all on the same subnet, the only routing
that occurs is through an ADSL connection to the Internet, which is through a
default gateway on the secondary server.

I don't know if its related, but I have 1 user here with a Vista workstation
(poor bastard) which is also often VERY slow to do anything on the network
regardless of whether that server is online or not (will copy files at around
20kbps sometimes). I get event logs registered for that user saying
<Profiles> and <GPolicy> are taking 600-900 seconds to respond - not
suprisingly.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Michael

Michael wrote:
> I have a network of abour 100 users currently running Windows 2003 Server R2
> SP2 x64 DC with a secondary domain controller running Windows 2003 R2 SP2
> x86. Workstations are XP/2000 (and one Vista). The network was originally on
> a SBS2000 DC and has recently been migrated to the full versions of Exchange
> (2007) and SQL Server (2005) and obviously Windows Server 2003 (standard).
>
> The upgrade was done by joing the seconday DC to the domain, DCpromo on
> 2ndry server, then adding the "primary" windows 2003 server to the domain,
> DCpromo that server, then moving the AD roles to the "primary" 2003 server
> and demoting the SBS2000 server.
>
> All services were then moved off the old server, DHCP, DNS etc onto the
> other server(s).
>
> The problem I have is that if the old SBS server is offline, the network is
> critically slow whenever it is accessed. I use a Windows XP machine here
> which is normally very fast, but if the old SBS server is powered off, the
> machine will take 20-30 seconds to respond just opening My Computer or
> Internet Explorer. This is the same for any of the other workstations in the
> enterprise. Boot the old server back up, and the network is fast again.
>
> The servers and workstations are all on the same subnet, the only routing
> that occurs is through an ADSL connection to the Internet, which is through a
> default gateway on the secondary server.
>
> I don't know if its related, but I have 1 user here with a Vista workstation
> (poor bastard) which is also often VERY slow to do anything on the network
> regardless of whether that server is online or not (will copy files at around
> 20kbps sometimes). I get event logs registered for that user saying
> <Profiles> and <GPolicy> are taking 600-900 seconds to respond - not
> suprisingly.
>
> Anyone have any ideas?
>
> Thanks
>
> Michael

Did you update your DHCP server to hand out a DNS address of the NEW DC,
and not the old SBS server? Have you done a /release /renew on the
workstations to make sure they're pointing to the right place?

do an ipconfig /all on a slow workstation and ensure no legacy IP's of
the SBS server show up.

Thanks for your reply James.

I have set the server options on the DHCP server to point to the new DNS
server, with a backup DNS running on the secondary server. My workstation, in
fact, is configured with a static IP (so I can RDP to it externally) and has
static DNs for new servers.

No references to the old SBS server show up, even on dynamic IP workstations
on ipconfig /all.

Also, the red herring I threw about Vista has been resolved. It was the
auto-tuning problem and disabling it has relieved the stress for that poor
user (unless the old SBS server is down!). I originally dismissed the
"autotuning post 2003SP2" fix as it said it was relevant for SBS2003 only,
which we DONT have installed, but implementing the fix resolved that problem
immediately.

Thanks again

Michael

"James Beukelman" wrote:

> Michael wrote:
> > I have a network of abour 100 users currently running Windows 2003 Server R2
> > SP2 x64 DC with a secondary domain controller running Windows 2003 R2 SP2
> > x86. Workstations are XP/2000 (and one Vista). The network was originally on
> > a SBS2000 DC and has recently been migrated to the full versions of Exchange
> > (2007) and SQL Server (2005) and obviously Windows Server 2003 (standard).
> >
> > The upgrade was done by joing the seconday DC to the domain, DCpromo on
> > 2ndry server, then adding the "primary" windows 2003 server to the domain,
> > DCpromo that server, then moving the AD roles to the "primary" 2003 server
> > and demoting the SBS2000 server.
> >
> > All services were then moved off the old server, DHCP, DNS etc onto the
> > other server(s).
> >
> > The problem I have is that if the old SBS server is offline, the network is
> > critically slow whenever it is accessed. I use a Windows XP machine here
> > which is normally very fast, but if the old SBS server is powered off, the
> > machine will take 20-30 seconds to respond just opening My Computer or
> > Internet Explorer. This is the same for any of the other workstations in the
> > enterprise. Boot the old server back up, and the network is fast again.
> >
> > The servers and workstations are all on the same subnet, the only routing
> > that occurs is through an ADSL connection to the Internet, which is through a
> > default gateway on the secondary server.
> >
> > I don't know if its related, but I have 1 user here with a Vista workstation
> > (poor bastard) which is also often VERY slow to do anything on the network
> > regardless of whether that server is online or not (will copy files at around
> > 20kbps sometimes). I get event logs registered for that user saying
> > <Profiles> and <GPolicy> are taking 600-900 seconds to respond - not
> > suprisingly.
> >
> > Anyone have any ideas?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Michael
>
> Did you update your DHCP server to hand out a DNS address of the NEW DC,
> and not the old SBS server? Have you done a /release /renew on the
> workstations to make sure they're pointing to the right place?
>
> do an ipconfig /all on a slow workstation and ensure no legacy IP's of
> the SBS server show up.
>