Thanks Frank

Unfortunately the application in this instance is not written by us, and although a SQL based version of the application is available it doesn’t have all the modules over the VFP version so in most cases we are only able to install the VFP version.

We are mostly talking about Server 2012R2+ (Some Server 2008) including 2016 and Windows 7/10 clients, so SMB1 is for the most gone and this is about using SMB2 without issue.

Thanks

Chris.

-----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com On Behalf Of Frank Cazabon Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 13:30 To: profoxtech@leafe.com Subject: Re: SMB

Hi Chris,

I moved away from DBF and DBC a long time ago but I don't think it was very difficult to check the registry settings manually.

There is a tool available here:

http://www.symantec.com/connect/downloads/smb2-toggle-too-mikes-tool-set

Here are my notes from back then:

*To Disable SMB2*

When using the terms "client" and "server" in case of file and print sharing, it does not necessarily mean that a client-type OS such as Vista "always" connects to a server-type Os such as Windows Server 2008. Sometimes, a Vista computer will connect to another Vista computer, and in that case, the computer that is "serving" the shares is considered to be the "server".

Here's how SMB is used when related to SMB versions: When a Windows Server 2008/Vista "client" connects to a Windows Server 2008/Vista "server", SMB 2.0 is used. When a Windows Server 2008/Vista "client" connects to a Windows 2000/XP/2003 "server", SMB 1.0 is used. When a Windows 2000/XP/2003 "client" connects to a Windows Server 2008/Vista "server", SMB 1.0 is used. When a Windows 2000/XP/2003 "client" connects to a Windows 2000/XP/2003 "server", SMB 1.0 is used. So, for troubleshooting purposes, mostly in an environment that has mixed operating systems, you might want to consider disabling SMB 2.0. You need to do so on both the "client" and the "server" operating systems. To disable SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems run the following commands: sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi sc config mrxsmb20 start= disabled Note there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign. To enable back SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems run the following commands: sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsisc config mrxsmb20 start= auto Again, note there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign. In order to disable SMB 2.0 on the server-side computer, follow these steps:

Warning!

This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a trained computer specialist.

1. Run "regedit" on Windows Server 2008 based computer. 2. Expand and locate the sub tree as follows. HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters 3. Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of "Smb2" (without quotation mark) Value name: Smb2Value type: REG_DWORD0 = disabled1 = enabled 4. Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0, or set it to 1 to re-enable SMB 2.0. 5. Reboot the server.

This paper may also be of some assistance:

https://www.dataaccess.com/KBasePublic/Files/2476.Tuning%20Microsoft%20Netwo...

Frank.

Frank Cazabon

On 27/08/2019 06:57 AM, Chris Davis wrote:

Hi All

With any networked VFP application sharing a DBC the SMB performance of the server hosting the DBC is very important?

Assuming your answer to the above question is Yes or Of Course, then when you have one server that seems to perform well and one that doesn't it would be useful to easily compare the setup of the two.

Is anyone aware of any utilities that make the configuration and tweaking of SMB easy or at least allow you to compare to setups?

Of course, if your answer to the first question isn't yes I would also be interested in your thoughts.

I know there is a lot more that comes into the performance of an application other than the setup of the server, i.e the spec of the client, the os of the client, other software such as anti virus, network infrastructure etc etc.

Where I am going with this...

We have lots of sites where an application works well and one site where it doesn't, and without having to spend hours and hours investigating all the various settings and registry entries, I just want to start with the servers and make a comparison to see if there are any obvious differences.

Thanks

Chris.

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Has anyone got any thoughts on

New-SMBMapping -UseWriteThrough $True

-----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com On Behalf Of MB Software Solutions, LLC Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 14:44 To: profoxtech@leafe.com Subject: Re: SMB

On 8/27/2019 8:29 AM, Frank Cazabon wrote:

Hi Chris,

I moved away from DBF and DBC a long time ago but I don't think it was very difficult to check the registry settings manually.

Yep...same here.  I haven't designed major apps with DBFs since I saw Bob Lee use a MySQL database in New York from his VFP app in Milwaukee years ago at WhilFest.  So many benefits to that design decision.  I always lead by telling folks they're getting the same database as NASA and Google use and they'll never run out of space, that the app will be running long ago they've retired.

IMO, the key to good VFP app design is to use the N-tier approach where you separate the UI/BizObj/DataObj so that you can easily swap out backends or frontends or whatever.  I've loved working on my apps for 15 years because of that good design organization, imo.

Frank provided some good tips, Chris, so I hope they help.

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On Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 6:10 AM Alan Bourke alanpbourke@fastmail.fm wrote:

New in Server 2019 it appears.

At a guess, with regards to VFP applications, it would be similar to existing methods which turn off SMB caching, i.e. a bad idea as it will hammer performance.

Sorry to be dense, but I blame the long holiday weekend: which is a bad idea, SMB Caching or turning it off?

--

Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com

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From what I have read it is also in the latest version of Windows 10, so you can effectively type from the client end ...

New-smbmapping -remotepath '\myserver\myvfpappshare' UseWriteThrough $True

And it doesn't matter what the server is.

-----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com On Behalf Of Alan Bourke Sent: Tuesday, 03 September 2019 11:10 To: profoxtech@leafe.com Subject: Re: SMB

New in Server 2019 it appears.

At a guess, with regards to VFP applications, it would be similar to existing methods which turn off SMB caching, i.e. a bad idea as it will hammer performance.

-- Alan Bourke alanpbourke (at) fastmail (dot) fm

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Thanks Ted

As per my reply to Frank unfortunately the application in this instance isn't our own, so I am not worried if the application is well designed or not I am just simply comparing it running OK on one server and like a sack of spuds on another. We also get index corruption and crashes.

Typically most of the issues are with the newest server rather than the oldest. The worst scenario being more recent when Virtual Machines were employed so the highest specification and the performance dropped significantly.

Typically we are not responsible for the servers these are done by different third parties and so my end goal is advice to those companies on how to configure the server they have supplied to run this application.

Some of the advice given from the software vendor is to change these settings on the client which is why I was focusing on SMB.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters] "FileInfoCacheLifetime"=dword:00000000 "FileNotFoundCacheLifetime"=dword:00000000 "DirectoryCacheLifetime"=dword:00000000

Thanks

Chris.

-----Original Message----- From: ProfoxTech profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com On Behalf Of Ted Roche Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2019 13:32 To: profoxtech@leafe.com Subject: Re: SMB

On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 6:58 AM Chris Davis chrisd@actongate.co.uk wrote:

With any networked VFP application sharing a DBC the SMB performance of the server hosting the DBC is very important?

No.

Yes, network performance is very important, but that is a complex mix of network throughput, latency, congestion, theoretical max speed (VFP did some pretty nifty things on 10 Mbps networks, way back when), the basic hardware specs (CPU, clock speed, RAM amount, hard disk performance) and the other demands on the server (running VFP and Exchange and SQL Server on the same machine, for example). And finally, the actual structure and logic of the app is so important: I've been called in on apps where all the temp files were written back to the network, or all of the data files were opened, queried and closed on every call, ruining the VFP caching.

Ideally, all of the relatively static resources used by the app should be installed on the local machine: EXE, external reports, temp files, local working tables and the DBC, and a startup program should be invoked each time the app is launched to download an updated version if available from the network. That cuts down on calls to the network to just data, and removes all the contention from sharing the DBC.

Assuming your answer to the above question is Yes or Of Course, then when

you have one server that seems to perform well and one that doesn't it would be useful to easily compare the setup of the two.

No two Windows machines are the same.

Is anyone aware of any utilities that make the configuration and tweaking of SMB easy or at least allow you to compare to setups?

Is there a reason you are focusing on Server Message Block as the source of the problems? IME, a bad network card or cable is responsible for poor network throughput. Basic SMB is about the same from workstation shares through workgroups and domains and Active Directory.

Performance Monitor on the server is one of the easiest clue factories: CPU load, HDD performance, network load gives so many useful clues. Something is always the bottleneck, it's just a matter of narrowing down the possibilities.

And the Log reader is an application woefully underused: I often find a log full of error messages that the onsite folks have never seen.

Of course, if your answer to the first question isn't yes I would also be interested in your thoughts.

I know there is a lot more that comes into the performance of an application other than the setup of the server, i.e the spec of the client, the os of the client, other software such as anti virus, network infrastructure etc etc.

Where I am going with this...

We have lots of sites where an application works well and one site where it doesn't, and without having to spend hours and hours investigating all the various settings and registry entries, I just want to start with the servers and make a comparison to see if there are any obvious differences.

On the machine, or dialed in by remote control, File Explorer, This PC, right-click, Properties, will give you the basic OS version, CPU and RAM. Right-click on the taskbase and Task Manager, More details, will show you any obvious bottlenecks. Back to File Explorer, this PC, right-click and Manage brings up the Computer Management console, Event Viewer will let you look at the logs.

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Brilliant Alan thanks I will give it a shot

On 27 Aug 2019, at 14:32, Alan Bourke alanpbourke@fastmail.fm wrote:

...

On Tue, 27 Aug 2019, at 11:57 AM, Chris Davis wrote:

or at least allow you to compare two setups?

Go to server 1 and run PowerShell as administrator.

Then

Get-SmbServerConfiguration > server1-serverconfig.txt Get-SmbClientConfiguration > server1-clientconfig.txt

then repeat on server 2, outputting to different text files.

Then compare the text files using the compare tool of your choice, which will highlight the differences.

e.g.

fc server1-serverconfig.txt server2-serverconfig.txt

-- Alan Bourke alanpbourke (at) fastmail (dot) fm

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