Sudden slow in access

[edhan]

Using the D-link 323 with 2 units of 1.5TB harddisks. It was working fine for 6 months, but suddenly it is slowing down alot while accessing files and working with it. This device is serving between 6 - 8 users at the same time. Hook up with a 24-ports 1GB switch and Cisco router.

There are 4 computers using 1GB network adaptors while the rest are using 100Mbps adaptors. It happens about a month ago when the files accessing is sluggish and slow. Nothing has been changed which is puzzling why this is happening.

Is there a way to monitor why the access using Excel is slow? Or software that can tell where is the bottleneck?

[lpoulsen]

While I am not familiar with the D-Link device, I am guessing that one or more of the following have happened:
- the amount of data stored on the device may have grown to where the active working subset of data no longer fits in memory, and disk is being accessed where it wasn't before
- the drives may have become fragmented
- you may have network problems (packet loss) so that data transfers routinely invoke retransmission delays

Performance problems are always difficult to troubleshoot in a forum such as this, because you do not tell us what performance you are actually getting versus what you are expecting.

What is the typical aggregate transfer rate that you are getting from you NAS ? (In megabytes per second).

[MrGamm]

I don't know, but is it specifically with Excel and not other programs? Maybe copying files is still just as fast, but now opening an working with files is slow?

I am not fluent with Excel, but maybe memory is low and they are large files and Excel is using a remote scratch disk for virtual memory instead of a local one?

[edhan]

- the amount of data stored on the device may have grown to where the active working subset of data no longer fits in memory, and disk is being accessed where it wasn't before
- the drives may have become fragmented
- you may have network problems (packet loss) so that data transfers routinely invoke retransmission delays

Performance problems are always difficult to troubleshoot in a forum such as this, because you do not tell us what performance you are actually getting versus what you are expecting.

What is the typical aggregate transfer rate that you are getting from you NAS ? (In megabytes per second).

Disk storage is still low as it is only using about 30 GB for the 1.5 TB harddisk.

Seems like I am unable to defrag the harddisk as it is a network drive. I am still looking for a method to defrag. From what I understand, this network drive is formatting the 1.5 TB harddisk in linux format and not ntfs.

I checked with the D-link support and their staff said that they are 56 users in their company using the single DNS 323 network drive and have no issue of traffic. That is why I can't understand the logic of it being slow.

The performance of accessing the Excel used to be around 5 - 10 secs when you click to open a file or saving it. But now it takes 2 - 3 minutes. That is why it is so strange.

[edhan]

I don't know, but is it specifically with Excel and not other programs? Maybe copying files is still just as fast, but now opening an working with files is slow?

I am not fluent with Excel, but maybe memory is low and they are large files and Excel is using a remote scratch disk for virtual memory instead of a local one?

The files are not huge. Each system has 4 GB SDRAM. When work locally on the computer, there is no issue. But when work on the network drive, this is getting to be slow.

[weegillis]

@edhan: Recently my ISP pushed an update onto my gateway router. For several days/weeks I've had strange behavior in my internet connection. Today I discovered the change, reset the router and haven't had any problems since. It's not a D-Link, but perhaps this is all you need to do also? Log onto your router and reset it from the control panel. I don't know what effect a manual reset (button on modem) would have, but on top of wiping everything out, probably the same.

[edhan]

@weegillis: I think you have mistaken of what I was asking. I am not referring to internet access as that is fine. But what I was asking is accessing files with Excel through network using the 1GB network switch and 1GB network adaptors connection.

[MrGamm]

The files are not huge. Each system has 4 GB SDRAM. When work locally on the computer, there is no issue. But when work on the network drive, this is getting to be slow.

Well... if it helps, it seems there is alot on the internet specifically a problem with slow opening excel files.

Here is one with a solution.

http://excel2007-slow-open-file.blogspot.com/

I am guessing that during the microsoft excel installation process they are installing a lighter version of the software with less add-ons, so it is probably something that is a problem with the way the code works that they have not fixed?

Maybe a programmer used a technique that worked fine for them in a local environment but when moving the software to a network drive it drains too many resources?

I don't use excel, but maybe if the spreadsheets are not too complicated, OpenOffice might be something to try?

http://www.openoffice.org/

That is what I use when I need to. Just to see if you can isolate the slow performance to a specific application, or if it is indeed a problem with the network?

[weegillis]

@weegillis: I think you have mistaken of what I was asking. I am not referring to internet access as that is fine. But what I was asking is accessing files with Excel through network using the 1GB network switch and 1GB network adaptors connection.

There's no fun if you don't step in it! LOL

[edhan]

@MrGamm: Thanks. I have read most of the Excel problems in the internet but none of them is related to my issue. In internet, most of the users are having problems locally using on their PC. But for my case, it is fine except in the network situation. I do believe in the network environment, it is always complicated as there are too many variable. I am intending to eliminate one at a time but can't seem to figure out after many attempts. Thanks anyway.

[edhan]

There's no fun if you don't step in it! LOL

Opps. Did I take a wrong step?

[BigD]

Hello edhan

Since it is the network-stored file that is giving the problem, is there any possibility of a file sharing conflict?

Which version of Excel are you using? And which Excel file format is that of any file in question?

Does the file contain any macros?

Does the file contain any external links?

[edhan]

@BigD: Nope. Individual user opening their own folders in network. They are using Excel 2007. Yes, there are macros. No external links.

The strange thing is it happened one month ago as it was fine all along that puzzled me.

[BigD]

Hello edhan

Have you debugged and compiled the macros in the month since things started slowing down?

[weegillis]

Opps. Did I take a wrong step?

No. I did. Walked right in it...

[deepsand]

When the problem occurs, does it happen 100% of the time on all Excel files?

If not, what characteristics differentiate the problem class from the non-problem?

[edhan]

@BigD: No, the macros are not compiled. I will check on this and see how it goes.

[edhan]

@deepsand: Those are the most current project files that are being used and are having issues. Have not tested on others since they are no longer in the project. Will test this out as well.

[deepsand]

You might take a look for real time security scans being run on data transfers.

[edhan]

You might take a look for real time security scans being run on data transfers.

Any recommendation for the security scan?

[pixelbob]

There is a possibility that your network has be compromised. Try scanning your system with Malwarebytes.

[deepsand]

There is a possibility that your network has be compromised. Try scanning your system with Malwarebytes.
How would that affect only external Excel files?

[edhan]

I don't think it is affected by malware. Anyway, did scanning with Norton but nothing comes up. Still unable to track the source of the problem though it is definitely network issue.

[deepsand]

Any recommendation for the security scan?
I was thinking along the lines that such scans might be triggered in real time, thus slowing the transfer.

This from personal experience with both machine-to-machine transfers in general, and local loading of Excel files in particular.

The latter is particularly vexing, as Excel seems to ignore my directives re. what to not scan; and, the degradation in responsiveness to Open commands, owing to the time required for such scans to be completed, varies greatly, for no apparent reason.

For a given file, the scan time is sometimes negligible to the point of not even being noticed; other times, it is frustratingly long. I suspect that this might be dependent on the number and natures of other tasks then running, though I've not had the time to test for such.

[edhan]

I am thinking of putting some network monitoring software to check on individual ip address to see the workload. From there, I hope that I will be able to find out any clue to why the sudden slowness.

[deepsand]

Concur. Absent knowledge of traffic volumes and processing loads, it's a guessing game.

[edhan]

Most of the times, there will be 4 users while the other 4 users are mostly travelling so their usage is low. As they are busy with their current projects, I am unable to do any testing. So, guess I have to put a pause until they have time for me to do checking. Thanks for all your suggestions.

[d2halice]

Try to clear the temp folder, it might speed up something.:) i hope so

[deepsand]

Try to clear the temp folder, it might speed up something.:) i hope so
What the hell do Temp folders (note the plural - there are many) have to do with network transmission speeds?

[edhan]

Yes. It has nothing to do with temp folders. I have yet to do further testing as there are huge projects currently needed the attention. Once I have the opportunity to test, I will update my findings and hopefully resolve this issue.

[mikmik]

The automatic av scanning gets my vote. In any event, a remote process monitor might give you an idea. BTW, what server are you running?
Whoa! Check this site out: http://securityxploded.com/tools.php
and this: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/nmtf/nmtf-tools.html
YIKES!! http://www.monitortools.com/

It's christmas time!

Most organizations, from the smallest office to the largest enterprises rely on some kind of network monitoring tools to help them analyze performance issues, alert them to threats, and provide reports on the health of the network environment.12 most recommended network monitoring tools (http://www.zdnetasia.com/12-most-recommended-network-monitoring-tools-62202606.htm)

http://blogs.technet.com/b/netmon/

[edhan]

Using the D-link 323 with 2 units of 1.5TB harddisks. It was working fine for 6 months, but suddenly it is slowing down alot while accessing files and working with it. This device is serving between 6 - 8 users at the same time. Hook up with a 24-ports 1GB switch and Cisco router.

There are 4 computers using 1GB network adaptors while the rest are using 100Mbps adaptors. It happens about a month ago when the files accessing is sluggish and slow. Nothing has been changed which is puzzling why this is happening.

Is there a way to monitor why the access using Excel is slow? Or software that can tell where is the bottleneck?

This is SOLVED.

Reason for slow access is due to the new 24-Ports 1 Gb Cisco Switch giving intermittent response. Change new Switch and everything is super fast again.