I need speed or something!

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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:03 pm

Can anyone give me a bit of help with this one? I have moved to a new office with my company, and we are accessing our CRM software/database/mail via a VPN. We are using a Thin Client so the machines here are just, well, nothing but boxes� I cannot go outside of the Thin Client.

Anyway, it is sooooooooooo slow; I can�t look at any moving images whether they are movies or Flash thingy�s. My techie guys say it is the DSL capacity, currently 8 Meg. But on our router there is a spare port and if I plug my laptop in and go online it is quite normal, no issues at all. Plus me using up the DSL line on my laptop doesn�t affect the Thin Client machines in terms of speed at all.

Any tips? Help!

Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

Typical techie lol, have you tried turning it off?

The technical answer would be how the computers are connected and the protocol bandwidth assigned etc, the quick answer its dsl which to a degree is correct. I dont know how your system works but a rough guess would be:
A simple network would have a server, [ network in your case dsl ] and terminals.

Now if your "terminals" boot by themselves you would probably need the permission to mess with the protocols etc.

However if your "terminals" are booting from the server then really the server is calling the pages, grabbing the information and the speed is only about 512kb/s max or in real terms more likely a little faster than dial up for more than one machine, thus it really is the dsl but not as expected.
this is due to LCD *lowest common denominator, in dsl its the uplink speed, your machine can call at upto max 512, in practice it would be somewhat less, but it can grab at upto 8mb/s then you have to consider the server itself, it wont just be serving your 1 terminal so it has a message queue.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:41 am

Thanks for the response, although I didn't quite understand all of it. Basically, in the current configuration, I can't do anything about it? Our machines do indeed boot from the server...

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

As digital-one says, it sounds as if it is the DSL upstream speed (512kbps) that is affecting you. Another possibility is that the Internet link out of your server's site is a bottle-neck. Do you know what technology that is? If that is also a DSL link, then I would expect it to be dog slow, but a company that deploys thin clients is probably big enough to get a large leased line for it's main server site.

We have a similar set-up here, except not thin clients. Accessing (Microsoft) file shares across the VPN is really slow, so replacing the thin clients with full PCs (or having a local server) probably wont fix it for your day-to-day work.

The best solution may be to have a few standard PCs for web-browsing that do not go through the VPN. Don't just bring in your laptop though. It will need to be done by your IT department, or they will be justly angry with you. - The security and licensing issues are totally different.

It is possible that upgrading to SDSL (Symetrical DSL, so you get the same speed in both directions,) or a leased line, might help. But I would want to see traffic analysis for your site and the server's site before going down that road, since it would be expensive and may not help at all.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:14 pm

My Dad always says if it doesn't work, blow on it.

I have yet to see this form of technical genius work, but if it does, please let me know...

Trophy Videos · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:24 am

^^ I actually did have that happen to me. I used to repair electronice moachines, and there was an open to the air copper limit switch on this machine. It was like a typewriter, and when it hit the switch to the left, it was supposed to stop. There was a thin peice of dust? metal shaving touching the side. I blew on it, and it was fixed!! No shi*! hehehe Smile

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:28 am

@ Thud419 - cheers for that, sorry it has been so long in responding, but I lost the linky to the "old" forum and couldn't get back on without bothering Shiver... Anyway, back now.

I don't really understand why I can't use my laptop though, our techie guys are not helpful at all really, and seeing as I run this office, they will never find out!

And it's my eaterversary soon!

P.S. We aren't a very big company and have a SHARED DSL at our main office!! No leased lines in sight. Crying or Very sad

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

My Toe Hurts wrote:

I don't really understand why I can't use my laptop

Two problems. Firstly you have bypassed the company firewall, and may therefore be a route for malware to enter the company network. Secondly any software you run on that laptop will not have a license.

Run some good firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware on the laptop, and don't install anything you don't have a personal license for. IT will still kick your ass if they find out, but you're minimizing the effective danger.

Quote:

P.S. We aren't a very big company and have a SHARED DSL at our main office!!

That's your bottle-neck.

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:06 pm

^^^ Sorry to be pedantic, but my laoptop is plugged directly into the router here. Our company network is all done by Thin Client, I can't see anything of it via my laptop, no drives or printers... How could this then act as a gateway for any unpleasant stuff? I have a software firewall McAfee installed, and the laptop is kosher and I have paid for all the software I have on it...

Again, thanks for the info on the bottleneck, at least now I know it can't be cured easily. My techie guys couldn't explain it properly (or wouldn't!).

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

It could vary from no danger at all, to as dangerous as it gets, depending on exactly how the equipment is organised at your office and at head office and how it's configured.

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:00 am

I've had trouble with older thin clients & VPN work.

If the TC is running an encrypted VPN it might not leave enough processor power to do the work fast. Check the specs on the TC. I'd recommend maxing out the RAM on it regardless of what you are running.

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