I'm having some trouble with internet performance at one of my branch offices. Users are complaining about poor internet connectivity, and I'm trying to figure out why. I have a solid connection to my distribution devices and even to some EU devices, but my Active Directory server, which also handles DHCP and DNS, is only hitting around 200 Mbps on a gigabit connection, and its speeds fluctuate a lot. On the other hand, my file server located on the same VMware host and network is consistently running at over 900 Mbps.
I've checked the event viewer, and there are no reported issues with AD replication, DNS, or DHCP services. Task Manager shows that the resources on my AD server aren't getting maxed out either. My firewall is doing its job without any QoS or traffic policies affecting this.
The routes to the IPs that I'm speed testing are clear, going straight from the VMware firewall to the internet. The only thing I can think of that might be causing some interference is Veeam, which uses the affected user as a proxy for offsite backups, but I've disabled all jobs and throttling rules while I'm testing. What could be causing such a significant speed difference? Should I consider updating VMware Tools or the virtual adapter drivers?
5 Answers
This could indicate that something is pinned to a management interface instead of being in-band. It's worth checking.
First thing I'd check is whether the NIC and adapter settings might be hardware limited. Sometimes, VMs are configured with a low bandwidth or inefficient adapter type, which could cause slow speeds.
Double-check the NIC settings on the VM. There might be some configuration limits that are causing the speed issues.
Consider running Wireshark on both the client and server sides to analyze for any dropped packets or errors. Compare the results with the VM that has better performance. Since it’s all in VMs, the issue might be at the hypervisor level, particularly regarding the connection from the hypervisor to the switch.
You should also investigate the failover settings on your vSwitches. If it's set to 'route based on IP hash,' that could lead to packet loss if your physical switch isn’t set up in the same way.
Good point! I'll definitely look into that.