problems browsing files with sbs2003

[skyking]

The domain will run fine for sometimes several months, but in the last 3 days it has ground to a halt twice. The only cure has been a server reboot, since nothing in the logs is indicating the root problem. I know, reboots are a crappy way to handle business.
The server is used for exchange, internet gateway, domain control, remote access and it hosts about 100 gigs of company files and email.
There are a maximum of 14 clients.
It has a RAID 1 array, and I see no errors on bootup indicating a degraded array, failing disk etc.
In addition to the raid there is a backup single disk.

What is my next course of action? Any suggestions on hardware testing, any lower level debugging tools I can employ?
I do not have any win2k3 or domain training besides what I have picked up adding users, setting up email forwarding, cleaning up files to lighten the load. I am more well versed in linux servers and networking.

 

[RebateMonger]

Please define "ground to a halt". Are any services on the Server accessible? Is it just file sharing that quits? Local disk browsing?

No warnings or errors in the System or Application Event Logs at all?

 

[skyking]

Ground to a halt = users will open Word for instance, then attempt to open a file ( or close/save a file) located on the server. The application frezes, the operation neve completes or is very slow. Some of the users are running autocad, and eventually the file will save after 5 minutes or so. typically it takes a second.
I did not try browsing around on the server itself.
On the first instance, a remote user was able to get to his email in the morning but not later in the day. That did generate an error in the application log.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event Type: Error
Event Source: LicenseService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 201
Date: 9/10/2008
Time: 4:06:32 PM
User: N/A
Computer: OFFICE
Description:
No license was available for user OURDOMAIN\JOEBLOW using product FilePrint . Use Licensing from the Administrative Tools folder to ensure that you have sufficient licenses.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

These errors were repeated any time the user tried to use the web mail access from a remote location.

 

[RebateMonger]

What does the SBS Licensing count say in Server Management? SBS does enforce licensing after a fashion. And even if you have sufficient Licenses, SBS will sometimes "lose" them and think you aren't properly licensed. In that case, the Licenses need to be re-installed if you didn't make a backup of the Licensing file.

 

[skyking]

Thanks!
This was the first instance of a licensing warning or error in the application log, but by no means was the first freeze up.
I'll do some more research on the licensing and possible loss; the company seems to be quite scrupulous on keeping the certs and documentation there, but I was not in charge of any of it and the company that did support them is unresponsive.
They are the ones that suggest a reboot, and pretty much avoid any work towards resolving the issue in a proper manner.
Would such a freeze up be a typical symptom of too many devices/users for the license file?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: skyking
Would such a freeze up be a typical symptom of too many devices/users for the license file?

Well, it'd be the first thing to check. I had a client whose SBS lost the Licensing file and I know they had some serious problems, but I don't recall the exact symptoms. I know that I found the solution and they re-did the licensing screen and the symptoms disappeared.

Your error message is NOT a typical "warning" about Licensing. SBS has actually gone into "enforcement mode" and is actually cutting communicaton with that particular User (at least).

I should mention that the other current issue with SBS is Microsoft's DNS patch, which, on some SBS Servers, will shut down ALL communication to the SBS Server. It's easy to fix, but can be a bit vexing if you haven't seen it.