Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction response from the NtFrs service

We are getting an event 7011 Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a
transaction response from the NtFrs service on SBS 2003.

I have found references to excluding various system folders from AV
realtime scanning and also disabling the autodisconnect feature for LAN
connections.

Neither of these has worked.

It seems to conincide with the 7:00 a.m. Shadow Copy and then happens
randomly throughout the day and night.

When it happesn the server locks up for 30-60 seconds and appears to be
frozen. Then everything goes back to normal.

I have found MANY references to this issue esp. with SBS - but
unfortauntely - no real solutions.

Help!

Hello Sting,

Thank you for posting to the SBS Newsgroup.

I understand that your SBS 2K3 Server intermittent hangs in the morning,
with Event ID 7011 recorded in Event Log. If I have misunderstood your
concern, please let me know.

Based on my research, this issue can be caused by varies of factors. So I
need your help to gather following information for accurate
troubleshooting:

1> When did the issue occur? Did it occur recently or right after the
installation of SBS? Did you make any changes or install any
software/updates on the server, recently?

2> Besides the event errors, is there any other performance impact or
issues to the server? For example, Can you successfully backup server, can
Exchange Server receive/send emails successfully?

3> You mentioned that "I have found MANY references to this issue esp. with
SBS", I need to know what steps you have performed so we can skip these
steps to save your time and work more efficiency.

4> Based on my research, most of the issue caused by third party software
and the hard disk. So I suggest that have a check.

1. Let's perform a clean boot to see whether there is any interference from
third party software:

a. Click Start->Run, type "MSCONFIG" (without the quotation marks) and
click OK.

b. In the System Configuration Utility (MSConfig) window, click the
"Startup" tab.

c. Click to clear all the check marks from the list box under "Startup".

d. Click the Services tab, check the "Hide all Microsoft Services" box and
then click the "Disable All" button to disable the non-Microsoft services.

e. Click OK to close the MSConfig window. Click Yes when you are asked to
restart your computer in order to enable the changes.

f. After restarting, please check whether this issue still exists.

2. I also suggest that check whether there are any interference comes from
hardware.

5> If the issue persists, please help to gather full content of the error
information in Event viewer. To do so,

On the server, run "eventvwr" (without quotation marks), check whether
there is any error. If yes, double click it, click the Copy button and
paste the full content to the Newsgroup.

Please take your time to perform the steps above and collect the
information for us to troubleshoot your issue. If anything is unclear,
please feel free to let me know. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

"Brandy Nee [MSFT]" wrote:
> Hello Sting,
>
> Thank you for posting to the SBS Newsgroup.
>
> I understand that your SBS 2K3 Server intermittent hangs in the morning,
> with Event ID 7011 recorded in Event Log. If I have misunderstood your
> concern, please let me know.

It always hangs arun 7 or so - but will record the same Event ID 7011
multiple times throughout the day and evening. Each is accompanied by
the server seeming to freeze (users cant do anything) for a minute or
so.

> 1> When did the issue occur? Did it occur recently or right after the
> installation of SBS? Did you make any changes or install any
> software/updates on the server, recently?

I am a consultant and I was just made aware of the issue - but it
appears to have been happening since install or right after.

> 2> Besides the event errors, is there any other performance impact or
> issues to the server? For example, Can you successfully backup server, can
> Exchange Server receive/send emails successfully?

No - besides the server being non-responsive for a minute or so -
everything else works perfectly and there are no other event log
messages aroung the same time that would indicate any specific service
causing the issue.

> 3> You mentioned that "I have found MANY references to this issue esp. with
> SBS", I need to know what steps you have performed so we can skip these
> steps to save your time and work more efficiency.

I have excluded all of the MS recc. directories from AV scanning. I
have also temporarily turned off AV scanning (Trend Micro) and this did
not resolve the issue.

I have also changed the autodisconenct to the highest setting to
eliminate that as a possibility with no change in behavior.

> 4> Based on my research, most of the issue caused by third party software
> and the hard disk. So I suggest that have a check.
>
> 1. Let's perform a clean boot to see whether there is any interference from
> third party software:
> f. After restarting, please check whether this issue still exists.

I will try this (although it is a production server so I don't know
when I can)

> > 2. I also suggest that check whether there are any interference comes from
> hardware.

Its running on an HP ML350 with the latest drivers from HP for all
hardware.

> 5> If the issue persists, please help to gather full content of the error
> information in Event viewer. To do so,

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7011
Date: 10/29/2005
Time: 2:05:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SBS
Description:
Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for a transaction response from
the NtFrs service.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Just an FYI - this error is still there after upgrading to SP1 (2003,
exhchange, and SBS) today. Server is now current with all MS updates
and SP's.

Thanks,
Ross (sting7777)

Hello Ross,

Thank you for posting back!

I understand that your SBS Server works well except hangs for a while in
the morning, everyday.

According to the information you applied, I suggest that we check following
settings:

1. Are there any additional DCs in SBS domain?

2. If no, on the SBS Server, go to Start -> Run "services.msc", right click
File Replication Service, select Stop. Will this issue persist?

If you have any updates, please feel free to let me know. I am looking forward to your reply!

There is another DC in the network. Is there anything else we can try
in terms of logging WHY this is happening?

There are no errors in ANY event log outside of the normal Terminal
services "can't install a printer" type errors, and the 7011 error.

This a.m. it happened at 4 5 6 7 and 9 a.m. exactly one hour apart
each time.

Everything functionally is fine - no replication errors, no DNS errors,
sire replication is fine, GC is fine.

But still the timeouts...