Improve VPN Speed?

[Job Andersson]

Our server is accessed by remote offices over VPN. All clientcomputers have
their documents redirected to server.

In case you connect to within the same area as the server over LAN (no vpn).
Everything is fine. No big surprise since the 100Mbs connection to the server
is used.

Over VPN the sped is 1.8Mbs and even opening a small document takes half a
minute. Everytime you open a file from your documents a window appears saying
something like "Contacting server ...". Opening large word documents is just
painfully slow.

We use NETGEAR FVX538 (serverside) and FVS338 (remote offices). These might
not be the top of the line products but they should be more than sufficient
for our needs. Bandwidth has never been an issue .

Ive been recommended to install terminal servers for the remote offices to
solve the problem. But that just isnt an option. Our remote offices are
connected to the internet through 10Mbit Ethernet network connections.
Physical speed to server is 10 Mbit download 8.5 Mbit upload (sending data to
server over internet/ftp to the servers external ip).

VPN and HTTP is not comparable, but still 1.8 Mbit is way to slow in my
opinion.

I would like advice how to prod and poke my VPN to make it perform faster.

Any suggestions were to start?

[Guy Pardoe]

Hi,

I feel your pain. But as you describe it, you seem to already recognize
that the problem is the low bandwidth pipe you're using for the VPN
connection.

It's like saying, "Hey, I've got a garden hose attached to my house but
I want to blow water through it like a fire hose attached to a fire
hydrant. How do I do that?"

It's not going to happen!

The problem is the size of your pipe. Any adjustments/improvements you
may or may not be able to make with network settings will be negligible.

It seems your choices are:
(1) Get a bigger pipe.
(2) Reconsider the Terminal Services option.
(3) Endure the situation as is.

Guy



Job Andersson wrote:
> Our server is accessed by remote offices over VPN. All clientcomputers have
> their documents redirected to server.
>
> In case you connect to within the same area as the server over LAN (no vpn).
> Everything is fine. No big surprise since the 100Mbs connection to the server
> is used.
>
> Over VPN the sped is 1.8Mbs and even opening a small document takes half a
> minute. Everytime you open a file from your documents a window appears saying
> something like "Contacting server ...". Opening large word documents is just
> painfully slow.
>
> We use NETGEAR FVX538 (serverside) and FVS338 (remote offices). These might
> not be the top of the line products but they should be more than sufficient
> for our needs. Bandwidth has never been an issue .
>
> Ive been recommended to install terminal servers for the remote offices to
> solve the problem. But that just isnt an option. Our remote offices are
> connected to the internet through 10Mbit Ethernet network connections.
> Physical speed to server is 10 Mbit download 8.5 Mbit upload (sending data to
> server over internet/ftp to the servers external ip).
>
> VPN and HTTP is not comparable, but still 1.8 Mbit is way to slow in my
> opinion.
>
> I would like advice how to prod and poke my VPN to make it perform faster.
>
> Any suggestions were to start?
>

[JohnB]

You said your remote office's have a 10 Mbps connection to the internet - is
that a 10 Mbps broadband connection?


"Job Andersson" <JobAndersson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FC929BCC-46FC-4511-A65F-A1466D504C62@microsoft.com...
> Our server is accessed by remote offices over VPN. All clientcomputers
> have
> their documents redirected to server.
>
> In case you connect to within the same area as the server over LAN (no
> vpn).
> Everything is fine. No big surprise since the 100Mbs connection to the
> server
> is used.
>
> Over VPN the sped is 1.8Mbs and even opening a small document takes half a
> minute. Everytime you open a file from your documents a window appears
> saying
> something like "Contacting server ...". Opening large word documents is
> just
> painfully slow.
>
> We use NETGEAR FVX538 (serverside) and FVS338 (remote offices). These
> might
> not be the top of the line products but they should be more than
> sufficient
> for our needs. Bandwidth has never been an issue .
>
> Ive been recommended to install terminal servers for the remote offices to
> solve the problem. But that just isnt an option. Our remote offices are
> connected to the internet through 10Mbit Ethernet network connections.
> Physical speed to server is 10 Mbit download 8.5 Mbit upload (sending data
> to
> server over internet/ftp to the servers external ip).
>
> VPN and HTTP is not comparable, but still 1.8 Mbit is way to slow in my
> opinion.
>
> I would like advice how to prod and poke my VPN to make it perform faster.
>
> Any suggestions were to start?
>

[Kerry Brown]

You've reposted this question several times in a few newsgroups.. Just
because you ask the question in a different way doesn't mean you will get a
different answer. As you've been told every time a VPN connection is only as
good as the slowest part of the link. Each link has four components. There
is an upload and a download speed for each end of the connection. With
typical DSL and cable broadband connections the upload speed is usually much
slower than the download speed. For typical broadband connections 1.8 Mbit
is actually quite good. You have three options

1. Get a faster connection on one or both ends. You need to do some testing
to find out where the speed (both upload and download) is the slowest and
upgrade that end of the connection. If it's still too slow upgrade the other
end of the connection as well.

2. Use a terminal server.

3. Live with what you have.

Do you still have folder redirection enabled at the remote offices? The
first thing I'd do is disable this. This is not really feasible over a VPN
with broadband connections.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/
http://vistahelpca.blogspot.com/



"Job Andersson" <JobAndersson@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FC929BCC-46FC-4511-A65F-A1466D504C62@microsoft.com...
> Our server is accessed by remote offices over VPN. All clientcomputers
> have
> their documents redirected to server.
>
> In case you connect to within the same area as the server over LAN (no
> vpn).
> Everything is fine. No big surprise since the 100Mbs connection to the
> server
> is used.
>
> Over VPN the sped is 1.8Mbs and even opening a small document takes half a
> minute. Everytime you open a file from your documents a window appears
> saying
> something like "Contacting server ...". Opening large word documents is
> just
> painfully slow.
>
> We use NETGEAR FVX538 (serverside) and FVS338 (remote offices). These
> might
> not be the top of the line products but they should be more than
> sufficient
> for our needs. Bandwidth has never been an issue .
>
> Ive been recommended to install terminal servers for the remote offices to
> solve the problem. But that just isnt an option. Our remote offices are
> connected to the internet through 10Mbit Ethernet network connections.
> Physical speed to server is 10 Mbit download 8.5 Mbit upload (sending data
> to
> server over internet/ftp to the servers external ip).
>
> VPN and HTTP is not comparable, but still 1.8 Mbit is way to slow in my
> opinion.
>
> I would like advice how to prod and poke my VPN to make it perform faster.
>
> Any suggestions were to start?
>