Environment
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.91 Support Pack 4
Novell Client for Vista 1.0.0 File Access
Novell Client for Vista 1.0.0 File Access
Situation
Performance over a WAN link seems slow. When transferring files
using NCP (using the Novell Client), performance is slower than
when transferring files using CIFS (without the Novell Client). A
packet trace reveals that the packet stream from the client to the
server is smaller (fewer TCP/IP data packets are transferred before
an ACK is required) with NCP than with CIFS.
Resolution
Increase the NCP TCP receive window on the file server. The setting
on the server is "NCP TCP receive window" and the supported values
are 1400 to 65535. Because the default is only 23360 bytes, the
client will only stream this number of bytes, creating more TCP
overhead for the NCP connection. Over a WAN connection, this can
impact performance. This parameter can be set (and checked) in
Monitor, by using the console "Set" command, or in the startup.ncf
file.
Monitor: "Server Parameters" ->"NCP" ->"NCP TCP receive window"
Set: set ncp tcp receive window = 65535
Monitor: "Server Parameters" ->"NCP" ->"NCP TCP receive window"
Set: set ncp tcp receive window = 65535