I need to learn ...how can I tell how much traffic is on a network?

[mcveigh]

I've done some computer work for a small printing company before. they have 8PC's win2k and 1 xp pro, and 1 mac.
mostly dell's I reccomended to them a couple years ago. They also have a win2k server, that is a file and print server only, no AD, not a domain controller.

For the most part everything has been smooth sailing for the past two years. Lately however they have beeen complaining of the network being slow when accessing the server. And sometimes when copying somewhat large files 15-20MB from the server to a PC it brings all the other computers to a standstill. So maybe I need to reinstall win2k? all the pc's except 2 are identical so I could just do a clean install then image it.

The switch is a generic 10/100 16port model--unmanaged. It was the only thing left from the old network, maybe it's going bad?

I was wondering what tools could I use to see whats going on in the network, I could plug my Linux laptop into the network, but what tools should I use? etherape? some others?, I really am not a guru to sort through tons to tcp dumps.

Are there some good windows tools for this? does the unmanged switch cause problems for diagnosing things like this? I am thinking that since I want to see the traffic for everything the switch will block me from seeing it ...if it's working properly?

edited for spelling

 

[Thoreau]

Well if the issue seems to be most noticeable with the Win2k file/print server, I would start there. Win2k comes with a network monitoring tool or two that may be of use. The first is just 'Network Monitor' which you will probably need to add in by going to add/remove programs, windows, and adding it through that interface. It'll then show up in the start menu under Admin Tools if I remember correctly. The other option is to use the 'Performance Monitor' MMC snap-in. You can tell it exactly what system aspects to monitor, including disk usage, network usage, etc to see where the bottleneck lies. I would also run something like Ping Plotter from a few workstations to see where the slowdown is. This one may not turn up much info since it sounds like the network is just a bunch of computers on a 16 port switch, but it's worth a shot.

 

[scorpioLP]

I would start with buying a new switch. Swap it out and see if it makes a difference.

If not, then return the switch. That's pretty easy.

If that doesn't work, then start on the Win2K machine.


Might want to also check on the NIC in that box too.