From: Future Media (Luke Siemaszko) <email@hidden>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:57:02 +0100
Delivered-to: email@hidden
Delivered-to: email@hidden
I continually have stability problems with my Panther server. It
seemed fine when new 2-3 years ago, but has gradually degraded.
Earlier this year I thought it was my fault, for testing software on
the server. So I completely rebuilt the server from scratch, original
install discs, all the software updates applied before it was ever
connected to anything. And now I never test anything on the server.
It seemed Ok for a time, but now it's getting worse. We are only a
small office, not doing anything very challenging, and it really
shouldn't be this difficult.
While I have a software background, administering a server is outside
my area of expertise and I have had to learn a lot to get this set up,
I would love to outsource this, but in my neck of the woods there
doesn't seem to be anyone offering the relevant skills. So I am going
to have to sort it out it myself. So I could do with some help please!
What I have:
G4/733 quicksilver
10.3.9 server
1.5GB RAM (max for a quicksilver)
Hitachi Deskstar 128GB IDE disc for system and archiving
Atto UL4S SCSI card
Maxtor Atlas 10K 70GB disc for user data
Sony AIT2 firewire drive for backup
The system disc only uses 4GB out of a 40GB partition, and the user
disk is 50% free, so there is no disc space issue
What I do with it:
client authentication
network home directories
mail server
file serving
firewall
web serving - but there is currently no load on this - it is almost
never accessed
Runs the following server apps
filemaker 8
moneyworks
group organizer
Plus retrospect 6
Typically there will be 4 users logged in, using the above apps. Never
more than 6 users. So just that plus basic file serving.
Share points are 1 for user home dirs, plus 2 for user data.
First problem. A couple of months after I set the server up it started
getting terminally slow- within a couple of minutes of being restarted,
it would be so slow that users could not log on. Using Activity
Monitor I discovered that this was due to AFP. Sharing with NFS rather
than AFP seemed to sure this particular problem.
Now it behaves most of the time - but every few days, and increasingly
often, it will slow to a crawl. Mail.app and Moneyworks take ages to
get data from the server, and login process either becomes incredibly
slow or times out. Rebooting the server seems to cure it - until it
happens again in a few days.
Also I seem unable to modify firewall rules - I could when I set the
server up, but now when I try and change them in server admin I get a
spinning cog for ages, then the firewall crashes
Also I can't get ftp serving to work, have done everything i says in
the manual - clients can't connect, either annonymous or using known
good logins.
But the slowing and needing a restart is the most urgent issue.
I'm really at the end of my tether........ could do with any word of
wisdom about what to do.
I guess it must be just be me..... most people don't seem to
experience the same problems. Perhaps I should try offloading the apps
from the server one at a time onto another machine. Starting with
Retrospect. Does that seem like a good idea?
Thanks for any advice!
Regards,
Luke Siemaszko
Director, Future Media Systems Ltd.
Unit 2 Grange Rd. Industrial Estate, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 4JD
Tel. +44 (0)1425 270511 Fax: +44 (0)1425 278615
Website: www.futuremediasystems.com
