Legacy Solution - Information may be dated.

SPEEDING TICKETS - NO CHARGE

1. Make sure MUP.SYS is current
2. Optimize The Redirectors on the PC - Important Win2K
3. Verify Duplex Settings - Important TCP/IP connectivity
4. Disable DFS Support if not used - Important for NON-DFS networks
5. Tweak Netbios Settings
6. Change drivers - newer or older
7. Remove IE5's offline Browsing
8. Optimize PC's OS
9. Disable Remote Computer Task Scheduler - Very Important (New!) (Not Fixed W2K SP2!)
10. Novell Specific: Install the client IPX ONLY - Do Not use IP and IPX
11. Novell Specific: Tweak Novell's Name Resolution Timeout
12. Novell Specific: Disable Unused protocol Search Methods!!!!!!!!!
13. Novell Specific: Enable/disable packet burst - Important Win2k
14. Novell Specific: Only Install Necessary Components
15. Novell Specific: Install Novell Client 4.83 w/patches  - Important Win2K (Updated 6/28)
16. Novell Specific: Ms Client Mistakes Novell Server for MS server
17. Novell Specific: Fix Netware Provider Registry Settings  (New!)
18. Novell Specific: IP preferred despite setting IPX as preferred in the Advanced settings of the Novell client.
19. XP Specific: Apply These important XP Patches to resolve many XP issues that effect the Novell Client.
20. Compressed Files cause Slow Browsing

1. Install Updated MUP.SYS from SP4 or Later. (Please Read - Provides Foundation for many other fixes in both Win95 and WinNT)

   MUP stands for "Multiple UNC Provider" which assists Windows in locating resources when more than one redirector is on a machine such as "Microsoft Client for Microsoft Networks" and the "Novell Client for Novell Netware". When a connection to a server is requested it does not know if the request is to a Novell server or an NT server. It will start looking for the server with the primary protocol on the primary requestor and then continue looking for the server on each protocol for each redirector on the PC.

   A bug exists in the MUP.SYS on NT stations prior to SP4 in which the system would continue searching for the server on all protocols on all redirectors even after the server was located. The article below discusses the bug.

   http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q171/3/86.asp?FR=0

2. Optimize The Redirectors on the PC

   If unused directors are installed on a PC or rarely used directors are configured with a high preference, you will see degraded performance. Common redirectors are the MS Client for Microsoft Networks, Novell Client 32, and various NFS clients.

    If any of these clients are not needed, they should be removed.  If they are needed, make sure to only bind the necessary protocols. A client with only IPX bound to the Novell client and IP to the Microsoft and NFS clients may be significantly faster in accessing network resources than one which has IP and IPX bound to the Novell client, IP, IPX, and Netbios to the MS client due to the unneeded searches performed by the MUP.SYS. Also be sure to make the most used redirectors the primary redirectors.

   To do this under NT- 
   open the Networking control panel and select the "Network Access Order" under the services tab and place the most frequently used redirectors at the top. If the MUP.SYS from SP4+ has not been installed, this will have no effect due to the bug mentioned above.

   To do this under Win2000 -
    Select Properties of "My Network Places", then  Advanced - Advanced  Settings from the menu.  In the Pop Up window that appears, select the "Provider Order" tab.

   The protocol bindings to each redirector should also be optimized. Within the Network Control Panel, select the bindings tab and move the most used protocol for each redirector to the top.

   If running Windows2000 with the Novell Client, it is recommended to place the Microsoft Redirector first if MS browsing speed is important.

3. Verify Duplex Settings 
   One common performance problem is incorrect duplex settings.  Full Duplex is only supported on switches, not hubs.  Make sure you are using switches and not hubs before setting you workstations to full-duplex.  Also it is important to match the duplex settings between the server, switches, and the client.  Make sure all are set to full-duplex or half-duplex.   "Auto-Detect" often causes problems due to a failure to properly recognize the correct duplex setting and should be avoided.  This is especially important in TCP/IP environments since TCP/IP has a longer retransmission delay by default than IPX since it is designed to work across the internet as opposed to a local LAN.  Therefore, any LAN problems causing retransmissions will cause more difficulty with an IP environment than an IPX environment.
    
4. Disable DFS Support if not used.

   DFS is a feature of NT which allows multiple physical file systems to be logically grafted together to appear as a singe directory structure. This can ease the difficulties of users locating resources across many different servers.

   The first step in locating a server via UNC is to check to see if it is DFS.  This  Disabling DFS support will cause this step to be skipped. To disable DFS, create the DisableDFS registry entry (DWORD with a value of 1) at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Mup\

   (Note:  Even when Client32 is set a the primary redirector, NT will still do an initial Netbios query to test to see if the UNC path is a DFS directory.  Therefore, it is highly recommended that this be disabled in Netware environments that do not use DFS.)

5. Tweak Netbios Settings 

   A client can be configured to attempt to locate MS resources via broadcasts, WINS servers, or a combination of both. In addition, the workstation can also be configured to use hosts file and DNS searches to locate resources. In efficiencies can occur is a machine is configured to use methods that are configured to work. The registry entries of

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]

   "EnableLMHOSTS"=dword:00000000

   "EnableDNS"=dword:00000000

   will disable both DNS and LMHOST searches if they are not used. Changing the final 0 to a 1 will enable the use of those options. The most efficient of all the NODE types is a P-NODE, which only uses a WINS server instead of broadcasting for name resolution. The following registry entry will set your machine to a P-NODE.

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]
   "NodeType"=dword:00000002 (For WinNT Machines)

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP
   "NodeType"=dword:00000002 (For Win95 Machines)

   Here are a few additional registry entries that can be tweaked to improve performance. You may set the values to match your local environment.

   BcastNameQueryCount
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD - Count
   Valid Range: 1 to 0xFFFF
   Default: 3
   Description: This value determines the number of times NetBT broadcasts a
   query for a given name without receiving a response.

   BcastQueryTimeout
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in milliseconds
   Valid Range: 100 to 0xFFFFFFFF
   Default: 0x2ee ( 750 decimal)
   Description: This value determines the time interval between successive
   broadcast name queries for the same name.

   CacheTimeout
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in milliseconds
   Valid Range: 60000 to 0xFFFFFFFF
   Default: 0x927c0 ( 600000 milliseconds = 10 minutes)
   Description: This value determines the time interval that names are cached in
   the remote name table.

   NameSrvQueryCount
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD - Count
   Valid Range: 0 - 0xFFFF
   Default: 3
   Description: This value determines the number of times NetBT sends a query to
   a WINS server for a given name without receiving a response.

   NameSrvQueryTimeout
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD - Time in milliseconds
   Valid Range: 100 - 0xFFFFFFFF
   Default: 1500 (1.5 seconds)
   Description: This value determines the time interval between successive name
   queries to WINS for a given name.

   Size/Small/Medium/Large
   Key: Netbt\Parameters
   Value Type: REG_DWORD
   Valid Range: 1, 2, 3 (Small, Medium, Large)
   Default: 1 (Small)
   Description: This value determines the size of the name tables used to store
   local and remote names. In general, Small is adequate. If the system is acting
   as a proxy name server, then the value is automatically set to Large to increase
   the size of the name cache hash table. Hash table buckets are sized as
   follows: Large: 256 Medium: 128 Small: 16
    

6. Change Drivers - New or Older 

   Generally newer LAN drivers perform the best due to constant improvements in the software.  Sometimes the latest drivers can actually cause a performance decrease.  Driver performance is not always equal between different sites due to differences in switches, routers, and how they are configured.  If you feel your PC is not as fast as it should be, try getting the latest drivers or down grading to a previous version.

7. Remove IE5's offline browsing
   IE5's offline browsing has been reported to noticeably decrease overall networking responsiveness.  Read About it here - Q226370.ASP 
8. Tweak OS through Registry Tweaks

   IoPageLockLimit – This setting determines the number of bytes that can be locked for I/O functions. Increasing the value from the default (512) can have a big boost on the performance on machines with a large amount of disk I/O. The example below increases the value to 4096bytes.

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
   "IoPageLockLimit"=dword:00001000
   
   LargeSystemCache – This entry will cause NT Workstation to use the same "LargeSystemCache" model used by NT server. This is recommended with systems with extra available RAM to increase the effectiveness of the system cache.
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
   "LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000001
   
   DisablePagingExecutive – This entry will prevent the system kernel from being swapped to disk. NT will slow down significantly if the kernel is swapped to disk.
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
   "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001
   
   NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate – By disabling this option, NTFS will not record the last time a file was accessed. This can speed up disk operations if applications are written to access many small files very frequently as is found in many pseudo database applications. (Modification timestamps will still be made)
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
   "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001

   ENABLE DMA TRANSFERS – By default, DMA transfers are disabled for your systems IDE hard drives. This can significantly decrease the performance of your system during periods of high disk usage. Turning on DMA Detection will enableDMA on devices which support DMA. All devices on a channel must support DMA. 
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters\Device0]
   "DriverParameter"="DmaDetectionLevel = 0x1;"
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters\Device1]
   "DriverParameter"="DmaDetectionLevel = 0x1;"

    

9. Disable Remote Computer Task Scheduler - By default, Win2000 will attempt to access the remote scheduler service on remote computers such as Win95, Win98, and Novell Netware.  This can cause long delays of over 30 seconds while futilely attempting to access the remote service.  This was scheduled to be fixed in SP2, but was not.    Use the Registry File below to delete this key, which will disable this feature.
   
   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}]
   
   http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q245/8/00.asp   
    
10. Install the Client IPX ONLY - Do Not USE IP and IPX

    By Default, the Novell client will install in IPX an IP mode with IP as the preferred protocol. This means that if you attempt to locate a server, it will first attempt to locate it via IP before it attempts to locate it via IPX. If the server is not a NW5 server running IP, there will be an added delay before the server is located. It is recommended to run the client as IPX only until all or nearly all servers are upgraded to NW5 to support native IP. At this point workstations can be converted to IP only.
    (Note: Under Some Conditions, the Novell Client will install IP support even when IPX Only is selected.  Be sure to disable all IP resolution methods under protocol preferences if they exist and you operate in an IPX only Netware environment.)

11. Tweak Novell's Name Resolution Timeout

    Under the advanced settings tab of the Novell Client, change the Name Resolution Timout to 1 from 10.  This setting can be pushed via the following registry entry -
    (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Novell\NetwareWorkstation\Policies\Network
    Timeout in Seconds=1)

12. Disable Unused protocol Search Methods
    
    By default, the Novell client will attempt to use many different resolution methods for IP that may not be configured for use on your network.  Under the "Protocol Preferences" tab of the Novell Client configuration, disable all resolution methods not used.  I normally disable Host File, DNS, and DHCP DNS.  I leave NDS and SLP enabled.  If SLP is not setup on the servers and configured on the clients, disable this resolution method also.
    (Note: Under Some Conditions, the Novell Client will install IP support even when IPX Only is selected.  Be sure to disable all IP resolution methods under protocol preferences if they exist and you operate in an IPX only Netware environment.)
13. Enable/Disable Packet Burst
    
    IPX communication originally was designed in which the sender sent a single packet to the receiver and waited for a response before sending a second packet.  Packet bursting was developed to allow the sender to send multiple packets before needing a response to send additional packets.  Normally this greatly enhances performance.  Some cards, however, do not handle this well and drop a large number of packets.  This causes a significant performance drop.  Disabling packet bursting can improve performance in these cases.  If disabling packet bursting increases performance, new NIC drivers or a new LAN card is recommended.   ( Packet Bursting frequently causes performance problems in Win2K. Disabling it will normally improve performance.)
14. Only Install Necessary Components

    On machines with limited memory, performance can be enhanced by only installing needed memory.  Some of the unneeded client components may include workstation manager, NDPS printing,  and remote control.
     

15. Install Novell Client 4.83 w/patches

    Be sure to Grab the latest nwfs.sys patch for the Novell 4.83 Client.  As of this writing, it is ->nt483pt2.exe
    The beta of 4.83sp1 may also help - b3nc483sp1.exe
     

16. Fix Server Misidentification
    
    There is a bug in the MS Client for Microsoft Networks that can cause a Novell Server to be misidentified as a Microsoft Server.  This can occur when the Novell servers IP address is in DNS and a DNS response is received before an IPX response from a Novell server.  This is documented in Novell TID 2929988, but can effect clients later than the 2.2 client listed in the document.  This error is sporadic and will not effect all sites and configurations.
     
17. Fix Netware Provider Registry Entry - 
    
    Windows2000 has a bad habit of changing a key Novell Client registry setting from the recommended Novell Client setting (NetwareRedirector) back to the MS Client for Netware(NetwareWorkstation) client setting.  Some sites have experienced this value change while others have not.  The exact cause is undetermined, though the effect is a definite slowing in browsing speed.  Be sure to force this setting out to the client workstations if the incorrect value appears.  

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetwareWorkstation\Net
    workProvider\DeviceName
    changing the string from:
    \Device\NetwareWorkstation
    to
    \Device\NetwareRedirector

18. Set Correctly Set IPX to Preferred if desired.
    
    Often the Novell client will still use IP as the preferred protocol, even when IPX is configured first in the advanced settings of the Novell Client.  To correct this issue, you need to change.................. 
    HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Service Provider\Order\Provider Order
    
    from the default of Tcpip/NwLnkIpx" to "NwLnkIpx/Tcpip"
    
    The value is a REG_MULTI_SZ and the following registry file will set IPX as the default.
    
    ----- Protocol.reg --------------
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ServiceProvider\Order]
    
    "ExcludedProviders"=""
    "ProviderOrder"=hex(7):4e,00,77,00,6c,00,6e,00,6b,00,49,00,70,00,78,00,00,00,\
    54,00,63,00,70,00,69,00,70,00,00,00,00,00
    -------------- Protocol.Reg ends -----------------------
     
19. Critical Windows XP Patches
    
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q317277
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316874
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q318024
20. Compressed Files cause Slow Browsing -
    On your Novell Server simply issue the following command -  "SET Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time = 0.1"
    See  http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/10067682.htm