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I have problem. One of my clients does not connect to the AC database quickly. I ran the "test speed to/from database" under the Advanced Options tab of the Amazing Utilities. The test speed was 12 seconds. This compared to 0.3 seconds on the server, and 0.2-0.3 seconds from other machines. It's agonizingly slow in comparison.

The client in question is brand new, 64-bit machine, 8.0 GB RAM, 2.20 GHz Intel processor, and connects to the network via wired 1.0 GB/s connection speed.

Any thoughts on how to get this machine to communicate with the AC database any faster than 12 sec?

If you can help, I would appreciate tremendously!

See what programs are running and also update NIC drivers.

I did this, no dice. Any other thoughts?

Can you describe your setup further? Do all of these connect to the same switch/router?

Yes Sandeep,
All clients and server connect to a 1-GB network switch.

Small Business Server 2008 OS/ Dell PowerEdge 2900 64bit 24 GB RAM, OS resides on RAID 1, data resides on RAID 5.

The client in question is brand new, 64-bit Sony laptop, 8.0 GB RAM, 2.20 GHz Intel processor, and connects to the network via wired 1.0 GB/s connection speed. Runs Win 7 Pro.

I installed one other machine EXACTLY like this client on the same weekend, and it works fine, no prob. This one not as fast.

Adam,

Responded directly, but we can catch up this afternoon and compare notes. Hopefully we'll be able to turn this into a lessons-learned item quickly enough.

Hi Dr. Lauer,
You mentioned that the local PC with the slow connection is hard wired to the switch.
Another troubleshooting step you can try is to swap out the Cat 5 cable with one that is connected to a local PC that has no speed issue. Because it is just the one computer, it's possible the cable may be bad or damaged.

Thank you,

Anthony@AC

thank you for the reply anthony. I spent time today with Dan from Support.
No resolution unfortunately.

The client has no connectivity issues to the network other than AC. I physically took the client to the network switch and plugged directly into it using a brand new cat 5e cable, yet it was still connecting at 12 seconds to the AC database.

Using CMD line, I can ping the server and it returns packets within 7-10msec or less, there are no dropped packets. There is nothing otherwise different about this machine. It uses the same server driven antivirus and group policy security settings pushed out by the server to the clients.

Another user suggested directly modifying the etc/hosts file on that client. I asked Dan and he confirmed I should try this. I was called away and unable to fully complete this step, but I will try and report back if ineffective.

Mind if I take a look?
http://sluthra.x10.bz/remotesup/remotesupp.htm

I would be happy for you to look.
and I would be thrilled if you can fix it

It is set to auto-negotiate. thank you DrSeuss.....AKA Bert

I would still either swap one out or update/change the driver. The ultimate test would be to use a crossover cable and connect the computer directly to the server.

when i use CMD line to ping the server's IP address, it returns reply in between <1 to 7ms. And the computer is 3 months old. Plus I ran Drive Detective and it has the latest driver. I could get a cross over cable and try plugging into the server.

I would go to the manufactuer and check for the latest driver although it probably isn't that.

The crossover cable is the best best for troubleshooting.

I am sure you already know this, but a crossover cable is different than a patch cable to enable direct connections between computer hardware.

yes thank you for clarifying crossover cables. I don't have one of those.
However I do have a one million foot long patch cable that used to belong to you, now it belongs to me, connecting my server to the network switch.

You can make one yourself (GOOGLE), although I would suggest Computer Essentials or Sierra Communications or order it online:

Cable: $7.00
FedEx overnight: $32.00
Total: $39.00

When you use it: 10 days after it arrives.

How often you use it: once.

LOL

Unless your 'house call' bag has one of those, a Cisco blue cable, USB cable, micro USB cable, USB to serial cable, 5 monitor adapter pigtails, ....

My cable collection just continues to grow over the last xx years - someone complained what it weighed when the offered to help carry it once - their guess was it was close to 40 pounds before I put laptop[s] into it.

Maybe it converts into a stethoscope when not used to diagnose computers? If so, I'll get one today!

This might be a stretch but check your network settings on the computer in question, ie ip address, default gateway etc.

One of my computers ran just a bit off until I corrected this.

Rick

All of his settings are set by DHCP from the server, and it works perfectly with every other part of his network.

thank you Rick, good idea. I had already ran IPConfig/all from the CMD line just to double check as you suggested, DHCP is run from the server and these settings are all correct (IP address, gateway, and DNS). Also from CMD prompt, run ping [server] and all 4 test data packets are sent and received in less than 7 millseconds. I've taken other steps to rule out the physical network components and software network pathways. I've also spent time with AC support but they ran out of ideas fairly quickly. We tried re-writing the Hosts file in order to permanently point my client to the server, but this had no positive effect.

It's something screwy with the way AC is finding the database.

I have some suggestions from Indy to reset the defaults for AC:
Uninstall/reinstall AC on that machine
Remove and recreate the mapped network drive on that machine
Following these steps, I may need to compare the registry entries from a working machine to this one.

Sandeep has been kind enough to offer hopping into my machine and taking a look, I just need to find the time to coordinate with him.

thanks for the idea however. It's just a pesky issue and the fact that the solution is eluding me is more annoying than anything.

Sandeep is pretty good.

Experts Exchange would also be a good bet.

If you really want to stop being annoyed, just buy a $30,000 fluke meter. Or, more realistically, hire someone with one.

Hard to say, but there seems to be only one difference between this machine with AC and with the rest of the network; that would be its connection to or read/write to SQL.

I would also consider having someone like Raja take a look at SQL. Seems there must be a lag in there somewhere.

I gigantic thank you goes to Indy.
If this were Experts-Exchange, I'd award you 5 million points even though the max is only 500.

Seems like your ideas were correct. I removed network drive, then uninstalled AC from that client. I ran Registry Boost 2, to clear up any registry errors, then rebooted computer.

Next I created the mapped drive to the server's AC folder. And I installed AC.
Boom! connection speeds to the database are par with the other computers on network, 0.3-0.4 seconds. That down from 12 seconds.

thanks Indy!!!

Sandeep, thanks so much for the offer to hop into that client and look.
Indy's idea to reinstall AC and re-map the AC folder was successful.
If this were Experts Exchange, I'd give you some points too.
Since it's not, all I can give you is a giant thank you for extending such a kind offer of support!

BTW, it's only 2:22am EST. I did this all remotely from bed, kinda awesome...but kinda not awesome that I woke up and couldn't sleep thus feeling compelled to work from the heavenly comfort of this bed. Blasted insomnia, none of the meds work for me (tried them all), except melatonin helps initiate sleep. Wears off in 2 hours and if I wake up....well I find myself laying here in bed repairing a stupid computers at the office.

Glad you got it fixed. Indy's a genius.

Mapped drive? You never said anything about a mapped drive?

Nothing against Indy's elaborate fix, but did you try this before? Do you think that this is the step that fixed it? It's always: Reboot first, reinstall second.

I agree reboot is first step.
but uninstall/reinstall of a program should be the last option. I was assuming incorrectly that the program would work correctly on it's own.
But this is advice that other users have been given by AC support, so I should not have assumed anything. That's my own fault.

Where are you mapping to? The folder? The XML file?

the shared AC folder on the server.
It's mapped on each client making it easier for staff to find in the event of a broken connection to the database.

I am glad that works. I tried it once and had issues. Just afraid to map a drive with SQL databases in it.

I guess it makes no difference.

Is the AC folder visible for everyone to see? Can anyone change it or copy the AC database?

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

Mapping a folder on the server essentially puts a shortcut to that folder. With mapping, you can give it a drive letter. It now acts just as if it is a partition or actual drive. You can also make shortcuts or Add a Network Location which allows you to make paths to URLs or FTP sites.

The mapped folder has the same permissions as the folder on the server, but it can't be shared so other users can't access the server via the mapped drive. If you change permissions, they will change on the server and vice versa, but you would need the right privileges.

So, if a user has full permissions to the AC folder (not a good idea), then they will have full permissions to the mapped drive. So, either way, they could add, delete, edit files.

This is what I have against mapped drives. Most users aren't going to know how or just mistakenly browse to the server and delete a file. With a mapped drive in the My Computer, it is easy to open it and then who knows.

Nothing against Adam or those who use it for AC, I don't see the advantage. If AC is connected to the XML file on a mapped drive and for whatever reason you have to access AC again, it will seem easier, because it will be on My Computer on their desktop. But, just as every time you get to the connect window it remembers where the folder and XML file is, it does the same when it was last connected to the server. Just my opinion.

yes the AC folder is visible for everyone to see.
how could other users connect to it if it was not allowed with shared folder permissions?

So is there a way to have other users access the AC folder on the server without them being able to change it/copy it? If not this seems like a huge security risk.

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

Sharing folders is essential on a network. And permissions helps the admin to control who has access to what.

A share is the basic foundation for allowing users to access a folder. If a folder is not shared it cannot be accessed by other computers. There are some basic and primitive rules in sharing which allow someone to give privileges to certain people. These are generally read, change and full. Certain users can be given these rights by adding them to the share, highlighting them and then assigning the rights to them. A user with full permissions can do anything to that folder BASED on the share permissions. When a user or computer cannot access a folder, the first thing one should do is look at the share. Generally, there will be a hand icon or a couple of small people icons under or to the side of the folder if it is shared. I would recommend that you never use Everyone as a list of users.

After sharing a folder, you then set permissions. Permissions are based on NTFS and are much more granular than share permissions. You can set a lot more permissions or access to a folder using permissions. Again, you must decide who to include in the permission field and set his or her permissions. On a server, you can use group policy to make groups that have certain permissions. For instance, you may have 10 doctors, 4 mid-levels, 5 MAs and 5 clerical staff. It would be a pain to set policies for each individual. So, you may have a physician group, an MA group, etc. The physician group may have full permissions while your MAs only change.

Usually there's a security tab or something of the like when you right click a folder and go to properties. Looks like this below. You select the group and choose read. I believe AC recommends putting Everyone with full permission to this folder. I made a separate security group for my staff. So if someone had physical access to my network, they wouldn't be able to access t without being an authorized user. I'm not sure if AC works with just read permissions though.