Networking For Dummies, 11th Edition

Chapter 21

Network Performance Anxiety

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding performance problems

Looking at bottlenecks

Developing a procedure for solving performance problems

Monitoring performance

Implementing other tips for speeding up your network

The term network performance refers to how efficiently the network responds to users’ needs. Obviously, any access to resources that involves the network is slower than similar access that doesn’t involve the network. For example, opening a Word document that resides on a network file server takes longer than opening a similar document that resides on the user’s local hard drive. However, it shouldn’t take much longer. If it does, you have a network performance problem.

This chapter is a general introduction to the practice of tuning your network so that it performs as well as possible. Keep in mind that many specific bits of network tuning advice are scattered throughout this book. In this chapter, you can find some specific techniques for analyzing your network’s performance, taking corrective action when a performance problem develops, and charting your progress.

Why Administrators Hate Performance Problems

Network performance problems are among the most difficult network problems to track down and solve. If a user simply can’t access the network, it usually doesn’t take long to figure out why: The cable is unplugged, a network card is malfunctioning, or the user doesn’t have permission to access the resource, for example. After you ...