Slow performance browsing directories on an OES server

  • 7016645
  • 30-Jun-2015
  • 01-Jul-2015

Environment

Novell Client 2 SP3 for Windows

Situation

When browsing directories on an OES server, the Novell Client can exhibit performance problems, particularly when browsing a large subdirectory over a slow connection link.

Resolution

Fixed in Novell Client 2 SP4 for Windows, but requires NCP server-side changes too which are expected to be delivered in OES 2015.

With the Novell Client 2 SP4 or later and an OES 2015 or later server, the NCP client will provide a 65535-byte buffer and the NCP server will return as many directory entries as will fit in that buffer.

As such, the enumeration of a large directory will now require fewer total iterations to enumerate the entire directory.

Cause

The NCP 87,20 and NCP 89,20 verbs have historically been limited to no more than 538 and 1514 bytes, respectively, regardless of how large an NCP reply buffer was actually provided. This small size results in needing more request/reply exchanges between the client and the server. Over a slow link, this can result in visibly slower performance.