Slow Remote File Access

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We have a number of remote workers – accessing the network via ADSL connection. They find accessing files a nightmare. Can anyone recommend anything we can use and / or do to speed things up?

Thanks

Roberta

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Please post more details about your network configuration. What hardware and OS? What firewall? Your connection to the Internet. How big are the files being accessed?

Joe

--Joe

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(Edited by JohnGray on 19-Aug-06 18:42. To add/update PS)

To add to Joe’s questions, I would ask what software they are using to access your domain? And what (maximum!) download and upload speed does your ADSL provider allegedly provide? Have you done any calculations of what data rate you expect to get for large files being transferred from central site to remote worker (and vice versa), assuming that’s what’s happening?

I’ve certainly found using 4 Mbps down and 0.5 Mbps up at two blueyonder-cabled sites ‘connected’ via VPN remarkably slow to transfer a 1.2 GB directory-full of files… (but then I didn’t do the max data transfer speed calculations before setting off the ROBOCOPY!).

John

PS To your specific question “how can things be speeded up?” I would again put forward my maxim “The most efficient way of optimising something is not to do it at all!“.

In this circumstance, if the quantity of people justifies it, I would look into Microsoft Terminal Server/Client, where minimal amounts of data (mouse clicks, keystrokes, changes to the screen image) are sent up and down the line, and all the work is done, and the file data is held, on one or more hunky Terminal Server servers sitting at Head Office.

Upside – hugely better response times (you could ‘almost’ use dial-up!). Downside – significant central hardware and software costs.

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Is the problem browsing through folders? Often a web interface to the file system is faster than having Windows Explorer retrieve all the info it retrieves. For example, if you are accessing files on a Windows server, perhaps you can use Sharepoint or another interface.

If the problem is the transfer speed of individual files, perhaps there is a bottleneck on the network side?

If the users do not need to take the file with them, but merely to work on it remotely, a remote control solution (from the lowly VNC to the high end Citrix) should be considered.

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