Re: clients lose connection to server for only a few seconds
- From: Joe <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:15:28 +0000
Jason wrote:
Problem is that the server and workstations have a few second hiccup between their connection. The workstations have three applications open that the data is stored on the server but the applications are on the local machine. We are only notified of the disconnect because the database application or quickbooks will notify us of an error accessing the file (sometimes delay write failure, file is not available, outlook shows error connecting to exchange, etc.) When the 1st user notices the error (it varies on which person notices it first) the other workstations also have the problem at the same exact time. If the user closes the application and opens again, then they can continue to work without problems until it happens again. If the user tries to stay in the application without closing, they continue to get errors and cannot work. The problem happens on all three workstations at the same time, the server does not have any logs that I can find that is yelling for help. The workstations have logs which show when the application fails so I can see when it's happening but not why. The disconnect only lasts for a few seconds and normally happens between 3-5 times per day. Also, this has happened for the past couple of years and it normally would only start happening after patch tuesday and after the server had been rebooted. In the past, shutting down all of the equipment (computers, server, router) and starting it back up would fix it until the following patch Tuesday. This time nothing has resolved it.
During one of the lost connections, I immediately tried to ping the server and the 1st ping failed but the 3 remaining were received. Each of the workstations and server has static ip's.
I have tried updating the driver on the server nic, they had this problem with an old router and new router. I have uninstalled the nic, reset the tcp/ip stack and reset winsock.
I looked through the windows updates and for Dec. and Jan. different hotfixes were installed.
Windows SBS 2003
1-XP Pro - member of domain
2-XP Home -members of workgroup
2 applications that are based upon MS ACCESS (data stored on server and application is on the local machines)
1 quickbook application (data stored on the server and application is on the local machines)
It seems unlikely that Windows is doing this, or we'd have seen a lot of it by now. I assume there's nothing massively obvious like the workstations being connected by wireless. That is bad news, unless you're using professional kit, like Cisco. Certainly you have exactly the wrong software to cope gracefully with this kind of problem, Access screams blue murder when it loses track of its data, and the low-end accounting programs aren't much better. This is the kind of thing that breaks database files, so frequent backups and Shadow copies are in order until it is fixed. At 3-5 times a day for years, you probably already know that.
I'd bet on network hardware/firmware, with the server NIC being the prime suspect, as you're on a second switch, but it could be a dodgy cable. Cables can 'nearly work', with a line receiver being right on the edge of reliable operation, until a slight change in temperature or supply voltage starts producing errors, or a connection could be physically intermittent. Is it possible to get a look at the NIC status lights on the computers and router when this happens? There might be a clue there. If not, I don't see much option but substitution, and that's not completely trivial for an SBS NIC.
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