Windows 2008 R2 Print Server Slow

[cbdudek]

We have about 5-6 Windows 2008 R2 servers running in our VM Environment. All these servers are very low usage servers, and they all work very well. We have a couple domain controllers, a SQL box, and a couple web application boxes running IIS. One of these domain controllers is a print server. The print server works well, but it is very slow. If you right click on any printer that is added on any of the clients and go to properties, where the server is the print management server, the client has to wait 30 seconds or so for the dialog box to come up with the properties. You can click between the tabs, but the tabs are also slow to respond.

This means if you have to make changes to the print job or margins for instance, it can take a full minute to wait between the screens.

Now, we had a physical Windows 2000 print server that worked fine before we got the VM Environment, so I know the problem lies in one of a few different areas.

1. It could be the VM Environment.

2. It could be Windows 2008 R2 server config or the server software itself.

3. Could be x64 bit causing an issue with 32 bit clients using the box.

I ruled out #3 by loading a 32 bit 2008 server on the VM environment, loading print management, and then loading a single printer and sharing it. The problem is still around on this current server. My next step is to try Windows 2003 server in the VM Environment but before I do, I wanted to throw this very curious issue to the VMWare community. Anything I should do before I go to more drastic steps? There has got to be something I can do to fix the issue.

[atbnet]

Hi cbdudek,

First thing to check is is there sufficient CPU/memory provisioned to the server 2008 R2 VM?

Secondly is there any limits on the CPU/memory of this VM?

If there are it may be causing balloning and swapping (this can be seen in the performance tab)

Aside from these standard areas to first look for performance issues, the only time I have come across slow windows server 2008 R2 guest OSes is due to the display driver.

This could be the cause as I saw this have an affect on file transfer speeds and also general administration in the GUI.

It might be worth checking you have installed the VMware SVGA 3D (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM display driver.

It has to be manually changed in devmgmt.msc even with the latest tools

See for more info on this... http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/vmware/35-esxserver/203-vmtoolswinsvr08r2dispdrv

I ensure all my windows server 2008 R2 and windows 7 templates have the correct display driver installed.

Hope this helps you.

Andy BSc (Hons)

VCP 3&4 / MCITP:EA / MCTS / MCP / TCSP

Help, Guides and Info http://www.VMadmin.co.uk

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[cbdudek]

On these specific print servers, under the virtual machine properties, we have assigned 2 CPUs and 4 gig of ram. Originally, we had 1 CPU and 2 gig of ram since all these would be doing is serving up print jobs. I can give these systems 8gb of ram and 4 CPUs and the lag time still exists on the print server side. Sometimes takes 30-45 seconds to open the properties of a printer from the client side.

Could it be because we are running ISCSI instead of FC?

I will look into the Video Card thing as well. That may be the issue right there. I will have to do some work on the back end though to get that right.

Any other suggestions?

[cbdudek]

The Resource settings are unlimited by the way. I see no ballooning in the memory.

[cbdudek]

I just checked out the display adapter and apparently, we already have that adapter installed on all our windows 2008 VMs. I was sure we didn't but apparently we did.

[atbnet]

It doesnt sound like a CPU/memory related issue or slow down from incorrect display driver.

Is it a client side only issue? If you open the properties of a printer on the printer locally (e.g.
localhost\printername) do you get the same problem?

Also what network adaptor are you using for this 2008 R2 guest OS? VMXNET3 should ideally be used. It offers a paravirtualized NIC designed for performance and multiqueue support (also known as Receive Side Scaling in Windows) amongst other features like jumbo frames etc.

If your not using VMXNET3 you could try that.

In terms of storage what is the disk and datastore latencies this VM is on? (in perf tab) iSCSI or FC should not matter just the actual IO throuput being used and what its capable of and if this is being exceeded.

Andy BSc (Hons)

VCP 3&4 / MCITP:EA / MCTS / MCP / TCSP

Help, Guides and How Tos... http://www.VMadmin.co.uk

If you found this information useful please award points using the buttons at the top of the page accordingly.

[cbdudek]

This is a client side only issue, and amazing enough, its only with printers. On the server itself, I can bring up the properties of the printers without any lagtime whatsoever. On the clients, if I go to the properties of any printer on the server, there is a 30-45 second wait time for the properties to come up, and then you are waiting to go between the tabs on the printer properties. We have tried different print drivers with the same results so I know it isn't the print driver. If you access the physical old windows 2000 print server, the properties of the printers come up instantly. It is only on these 2008 (64 and 32 bit) print servers, with the 32 bit server being dedicated with 4gb of ram and 2 processors, that we have this issue.

The exact network adapter I am using is an Intel Pro/1000MT Network Connection. In the VM Properties, its an E1000. It could be that adapter I suppose. I will look at that as an option. I will test on the 32 bit print server that I built to see how it goes.

In terms of storage, we have a Netapp FAS2020. We are using ISCSI and the ISCSI is in its own separate VLAN. We currently have ISCSI LUNs we are using that are working fine as well as the VMWare LUN that holds all our VMs. There are no detectable latency issues. The CPU usage on the shelf is low and there is plenty of bandwidth to go around according to the stats on the shelf.

I am going the next step by installing a 2003 server and installing the print server from there. I will then see how that works. If the 2003 server has no issues when I share a printer out and the clients bring up the printer, then I know its a 2008 issue. If it does have issues, then I know its a problem with the VM environment.

[JimL1651]

30 seconds sounds like a name resolution timeout problem. If you're using WINS check that the server is registered correctly.

If you have a Netware clients installed on the workstation, you need to add the Windows server names to the "Bad Server Name Cache". Otherwise the Netware client will try to resolve the name and can introduce a timeout delay. You can Google the specifics on this issue.

[cbdudek]

Name resolution isn't the issue. We are not using WINS here and our DNS is setup correctly. In fact, the server that is doing the print serving is also a primary DNS server as well. We are also not using Netware.

I have installed a 2003 server in the environment and am doing some testing. So far, things look to be noticably faster so it may be a 2008 print server issue. I will know more here soon.

[dfollis]

Any resolution to this issue? I'm having the exact same problem. Dell Equallogic iSCSI SAN, Dell R710 ESXi 4.1 Hosts, 48GB RAM each. Dedicated iSCSI segment over Force10 switches. Everything runs like a top, with the exception of printer driver loading. Print server is Server 2008 R2 x64. 1vCPU and 4GB RAM allocated. WINS and DNS configued the same as on all of our other servers. Also using the Intel vNIC, will try to change to see if that works.

[cbdudek]

Yea, I am still having this issue, but we are limping along as it stands right now. I will keep troubleshooting this, but it is not classified as a system down issue, just an irritation.

[dfollis · Accepted solution]

This may be the fix. Will test:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979394

[cbdudek]

That fix does sound interesting. We are already running 5.11. I will verify and test though.

[cbdudek]

I just accidentally clicked on the "Correct Answer" button and that wasn't it. Blah! I love my click happy mouse habits.

[dfollis]

Don't think that is the fix as I've gone out of my way to use a few drivers as possible. Should have read the full article before I posted, sorry. I'm using two Canon Fiery drivers and the HP Universal Driver 5.1. I have found that all of my PCs have legacy drivers installed so I have started removing those as I visit workstations. The problem is not consistent which is what is the most frustrating aspect of the issue.

[cbdudek]

Yea, its not the answer, I misclicked.

Anyway, I am in the same boat as you are. I am still doing testing with 2003 server and am noticing a difference in speed going that route. I will have more info soon on this.

[dfollis]

Interesting thread. Does appear to be related to the drivers. But I also have this issue when using the Canon drivers.

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Print-Servers-Network-Storage/Universal-Driver-on-2008-R2-print-server/...

[AlbertWT]

What about the vNIC is it configured with VMXNet 3 ?

Kind Regards,

AWT

[loizosko]

did you guys resolve the issue?

we are having the same issue. the client machines (windows 7) take about 30 seconds to open the printer properties

we tryied on 2 windows 2008 r2 print servers running on esx and different printer manufacturers.  (HP and Ricoh)

do not have any physical server to see if there is any difference

when printing it seams fine

[dfollis]

Not really sure unfortunately.  I've always been confused if I should use PS, PCL6 or PCL5.  Another bug we have had is with Office 2007 and printing will just stop working on x64 Windows 7 clients. The only way to resolve is to shutdown all Office 07 apps and that fixes the issue once they are started again.  Today coincidently I updated all of my HP printers to use the PCL5 HP UPD 5.2 (Universal Print Driver).  I use the same driver for all of my HPs.  This appears to be working better.  Speed is acceptable.  Still have a 7 to 10 second delay when pulling up the Canon printer properties, but that is a complicated driver so I think that is a Canon issue.

Make sure you are using the 2008 R2 Printer Manager is it makes keeping track of all of the driver versions much easier.  I also have a GPO set that allows users to install printer drivers from authorized servers without them being prompted for elevated privs.

Finally I made sure that all of my printers had proper DNS entries in the event that some type of name resolution delay was related to the slight delay.