Windows server setup lags

S.Claus

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I’m trying to help a friend with their network setup and I can’t seem to find a solution to why the system hangs when opening a database entry. Every time they open a clients details the system hangs for a solid minute before loading the details.

Server PC with client database
500Gb NVMe drive
1060
16Gb Ram
i7 7700k

I (1m CAT6 LAN cable)
Router that acts as a switch
AC88U/AX88U (tried both)

I (3m CAT6 LAN cable)
Clients that run a cash register, label printer and slip printer
Mini PC with 4Gb Ram,64gb storage, and an Intel Atom processor

So far I considered replacing the router with a switch. I checked the routers UI and the CPU doesn’t max out at all (both cores run at 10-15%)

Any advice appreciated
 
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Not nearly enough info to work out what the issue could be. Why do you think its a network issue?
First step is to establish if its a client issue, network issue, or server issue

What is the server CPU, I/O doing when you open the database? Same for the client.

Can you open the database on the server? Does it have the same issue? Try running a ping from the client to the server. Are there any drops when you open the DB?
 
If its MySQL then add: skip-name-resolve to the [server] section of the config file. It will stop trying to do rDNS lookups on connections and will greatly speed things up.
 
You check the router resource usage but, you don't check the server resource usage while opening a client details..

This smells of disk IO being saturated while the lookup is being done..

Open task manager - performance tab - open resource monitor and now open a client details and check through the CPU, disk, memory, tabs to see if there are any spikes saturating resources..
 
I have updated the original post to give more insight.
@Rocket-Boy I'm not clued up on how to determine the type of database sorry. The software came with a warning that tampering can result in the program locking you out.
@Sinbad Its custom-written software and the developer cant be reached (we have tried)
@gregmcc If you open the same file on the server it doesn't hang and immediately opens. Some files can be opened on the client-side and they don't hang while others hang up to 25min.
@WAslayer I opened the task manager and monitored both the server pc and client pc and the most significant spike I saw was 45% for a few seconds.

To answer gregmcc question I suspect it's a network problem because I don't see any of the computers getting maxed out and I suspect the routers are the bottleneck. The only problem is the phones, printers, etc are all running over wifi so they don't want me to remove them otherwise I would have tried an 8 port switch.
 
I have updated the original post to give more insight.
@Rocket-Boy I'm not clued up on how to determine the type of database sorry. The software came with a warning that tampering can result in the program locking you out.
@Sinbad Its custom-written software and the developer cant be reached (we have tried)
@gregmcc If you open the same file on the server it doesn't hang and immediately opens. Some files can be opened on the client-side and they don't hang while others hang up to 25min.
@WAslayer I opened the task manager and monitored both the server pc and client pc and the most significant spike I saw was 45% for a few seconds.

To answer gregmcc question I suspect it's a network problem because I don't see any of the computers getting maxed out and I suspect the routers are the bottleneck. The only problem is the phones, printers, etc are all running over wifi so they don't want me to remove them otherwise I would have tried an 8 port switch.
Okay, so the client pc is also involved here.. I assume then that the client pc is the one that is hanging when the database entry is opened and not the server where the database is located..?

Seems unlikely that the network is bottlenecking.. the client sends a query to the database, which is kilobytes in size and the result returned would have to be 10s of megabytes on size to saturate the network to the extent that things are freezing..

That said, if you open resource monitor from task manager, you would also see what the network usage looks like during the freeze to see if it's the network that's bottlenecking..
 
Are you running AV and antimalware on the server and clients?
You can disable it and check if it's the same.
 
Okay, so the client pc is also involved here.. I assume then that the client pc is the one that is hanging when the database entry is opened and not the server where the database is located..?

Seems unlikely that the network is bottlenecking.. the client sends a query to the database, which is kilobytes in size and the result returned would have to be 10s of megabytes on size to saturate the network to the extent that things are freezing..

That said, if you open resource monitor from task manager, you would also see what the network usage looks like during the freeze to see if it's the network that's bottlenecking..
Yes, it's the client that's hanging.
So any other recommendations what it could be?

Are you running AV and antimalware on the server and clients?
You can disable it and check if it's the same.
I'll try tomorrow when I get there but won't it hang on all database queries if it was the AV/Antimalware? They are running Bitdefender.
 
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So any other recommendations what it could be?


I'll try tomorrow when I get there but won't it hang on all database queries if it was the AV/Antimalware? They are running Bitdefender.
I'm not a Bitdefender fan.
We had it running on Server 2008 back in the day. It crawled the Server's MySQL processes to a halt at times.
We cross-graded to Kaspersky and issues were resolved.
I'm an Eset fan personally.
If you ever need any Eset product, send me a pm. My prices should beat the rest on most of their software.
 
I'm not a Bitdefender fan.
We had it running on Server 2008 back in the day. It crawled the Server's MySQL processes to a halt at times.
We cross-graded to Kaspersky and issues were resolved.
I'm an Eset fan personally.
If you ever need any Eset product, send me a pm. My prices should beat the rest on most of their software.
Thanks so much as soon as I removed Crapdefender the system didn't hang anymore.

Thank you @Rocket-Boy, @gregmcc , @Sinbad, @WAslayer, and @access for being willing to assist
 
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