Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)

Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a system
with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and handed them
over to be used as his 'server'.

It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single 320Gb
drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't understand
why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and 4Gb RAM.

Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive and
installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will now be
one
of the backup repositories.)



It runs like a slug.

Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took almost
half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get to the
login prompt.

Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.

I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special running,
the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently, the
server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of time and
other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a few
others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for extended
periods.

It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting 70-80%
(task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an eternity to do
anything.

The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial install) was
default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I did
extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was that where
I went wrong?

I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available for the
Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I didn't see
any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual components
do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network adapter, RAID
controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.

Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone have
any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing nothing?
Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and bandwidth?)

Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.

Cheers.

I have a test box at home running off an Intel desktop board with a
single hard drive and 4 gigs of ram. It is a bit of a slug and it has
no AV or overhead of raid.If I were to expect this to work in a
production environment I would be a fool to run it with anything less
than 8 gigs. Once you get your box up to 8 gigs you can start to
wonder what else you can do.

Are the hard drives server grade hard drives with 16-32 megs of cache?

If you have experience with SBS 2008 you should be able to state "I
have installed X SBS 2008 using an Intel 3xxx motherboard with a Xeon
3xxx processor with 8 gigs of ram and WD server grade SATA drives and
my customers have been happy with the performance. Would you like to
have your server set up properly with a proper motherboard, processor,
hard drives and case?" I have delivered a small number of SBS 2008
using 8 gigs, a 3xxx motherboard, 3xxx processor, on board raid1 and
SATA server hard drives with great results. For bigger accounts they
get SAS drives and a dedicated SAS controller.

On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:15:46 +1100, "Andrew Zenz"
<andrew@newsgroup> wrote:

>Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)
>
>Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a system
>with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and handed them
>over to be used as his 'server'.
>
>It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single 320Gb
>drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't understand
>why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and 4Gb RAM.
>
>Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive and
>installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will now be
>one
>of the backup repositories.)
>
>It runs like a slug.
>
>Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took almost
>half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get to the
>login prompt.
>
>Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.
>
>I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special running,
>the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently, the
>server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of time and
>other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a few
>others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for extended
>periods.
>
>It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting 70-80%
>(task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an eternity to do
>anything.
>
>The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial install) was
>default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I did
>extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was that where
>I went wrong?
>
>I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available for the
>Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I didn't see
>any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual components
>do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network adapter, RAID
>controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
>Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.
>
>Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone have
>any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing nothing?
>Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and bandwidth?)
>
>Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.
>
>Cheers.
>

See what SBS support is working on
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/default.aspx
Check your SBS with the SBS Best Practices Analyzer
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive...A/default.aspx

FWIW I upped the RAM on my home SBS 2008 from 4 to 6 GB because it was
intolerably slow, and that's just a test server that usually runs with no
client PCs. That's on "real" server hardware, although I doubt using a
desktop motherboard is a big part of Andrew's problems.

In my experience with Intel desktop boards, you can sometimes find good
drivers by seeing the exact component name that's acting up in Device
Manager, then searching the Intel support forums. Someone in there may have
figured out a way to make that component work with a different driver -
probably Vista 64-bit drivers will work - I'm not sure the Intel chipset
driver installer will work on Server, but if not, you can extract the driver
files and manually upgrade/install the drivers for the individual components
in Device Manager.

I would definitely run MU to get this machine up to date with patches.

That Intel controller rocks for desktop RAID (I've actually got it running
on this PC). On a desktop, it does effect drive I/O a little, but IMO not
noticeably. I'm running it with RAID 1 here and single drive at home, and
cannot see any difference other than that the WEI for drive performance is a
little better on the single drive system. Of course, the minor difference
that's not noticeable to a single user might be amplified when trying to run
multiple users on the same system. I would not disable SMART, though,
unless you're sure it's responsible for a big performance hit. I would not
have thought SMART could effect performance, but I don't know all that much
about it.

IMO Intel's been a little disappointing with their drivers for recent
hardware and new operating systems. My home motherboard is still a current
shipping model (but one of the older ones), and the Win7 drivers didn't work
with every component - I had to dig around to find a solution in the forums.
And, they never released Desktop Utilities for Win7, which is inexcusable.
This is going to have me revisiting my love of Intel motherboards next time
I upgrade.


"Andrew Zenz" <andrew@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:uov$S9CmKHA.2188@newsgroup

> Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)
>
> Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a system
> with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and handed them
> over to be used as his 'server'.
>
> It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single 320Gb
> drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't
> understand
> why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and 4Gb
> RAM.
>
> Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive and
> installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will now be
> one
> of the backup repositories.)
>
> It runs like a slug.
>
> Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took almost
> half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get to
> the
> login prompt.
>
> Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.
>
> I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special running,
> the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently, the
> server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of time
> and
> other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a few
> others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for extended
> periods.
>
> It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting 70-80%
> (task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an eternity to do
> anything.
>
> The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial install)
> was
> default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I did
> extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was that
> where
> I went wrong?
>
> I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available for
> the
> Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I didn't see
> any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual
> components
> do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network adapter,
> RAID
> controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
> Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.
>
> Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone have
> any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing
> nothing?
> Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and bandwidth?)
>
> Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.
>
> Cheers.
>

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I have already suggested to the client that RAM should be doubled. That
should make some difference.

I will also perform a Windows Update and update the Intel drivers.

I still fail to understand how limited RAM etc will cause the CPU usage to
skyrocket. With nothing unusal running, Task Manager itself sits firmly at
25%. Limited RAM will cause swapping (excessive disk activity) but not,
AFAIK, high CPU (though I may stand corrected).

I'll report my success, or not, later on.

Thanks again everyone for your advice.

Andrew





"Andrew Zenz" <andrew@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:uov$S9CmKHA.2188@newsgroup

> Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)
>
> Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a system
> with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and handed them
> over to be used as his 'server'.
>
> It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single 320Gb
> drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't
> understand
> why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and 4Gb
> RAM.
>
> Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive and
> installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will now be
> one
> of the backup repositories.)
>
> It runs like a slug.
>
> Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took almost
> half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get to
> the
> login prompt.
>
> Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.
>
> I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special running,
> the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently, the
> server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of time
> and
> other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a few
> others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for extended
> periods.
>
> It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting 70-80%
> (task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an eternity to do
> anything.
>
> The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial install)
> was
> default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I did
> extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was that
> where
> I went wrong?
>
> I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available for
> the
> Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I didn't see
> any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual
> components
> do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network adapter,
> RAID
> controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
> Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.
>
> Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone have
> any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing
> nothing?
> Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and bandwidth?)
>
> Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.
>
> Cheers.
>

I have inherited a similiar situation, almost to the letter, but SBS 2003
instead of 08 on a desktop board with an onboard controller. Now that the
previous IT "Pro" is no longer around the customer is moaning the performance
as he sits at the console to fix things the previous "consultant" did not
finish or worse, broke. I have to remind him that the server is not used
like this normally and so what if emails arrive .01 seconds later becuase
the drives spin slower?

Admittedly it is agrovating that the WSUS approval screen takes 15 or 20
seconds to refresh everytime you approve an update, and that the Server Manager
takes what seems like a week to come up after logon, but this is a problem
only the admin will face.

The real test will occur when the system is actuall put into day to day use
and the uses can't load their word docs "fast enough", or accounting can't
get their AR reports to process timely. It will either be bearable or unbearable,
only time will tell.

In your case, add the RAM and see if it becomes bearable. <g>

-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

> Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
>
> I have already suggested to the client that RAM should be doubled.
> That should make some difference.
>
> I will also perform a Windows Update and update the Intel drivers.
>
> I still fail to understand how limited RAM etc will cause the CPU
> usage to skyrocket. With nothing unusal running, Task Manager itself
> sits firmly at 25%. Limited RAM will cause swapping (excessive disk
> activity) but not, AFAIK, high CPU (though I may stand corrected).
>
> I'll report my success, or not, later on.
>
> Thanks again everyone for your advice.
>
> Andrew
>
> "Andrew Zenz" <andrew@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:uov$S9CmKHA.2188@newsgroup
>

>> Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)
>>
>> Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a
>> system with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and
>> handed them over to be used as his 'server'.
>>
>> It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single
>> 320Gb
>> drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't
>> understand
>> why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and
>> 4Gb
>> RAM.
>> Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive
>> and
>> installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will
>> now be
>> one
>> of the backup repositories.)
>> It runs like a slug.
>>
>> Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took
>> almost
>> half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get
>> to
>> the
>> login prompt.
>> Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.
>>
>> I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special
>> running,
>> the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently,
>> the
>> server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of
>> time
>> and
>> other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a
>> few
>> others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for
>> extended
>> periods.
>> It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting
>> 70-80% (task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an
>> eternity to do anything.
>>
>> The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial
>> install)
>> was
>> default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I
>> did
>> extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was
>> that
>> where
>> I went wrong?
>> I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available
>> for
>> the
>> Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I
>> didn't see
>> any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual
>> components
>> do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network
>> adapter,
>> RAID
>> controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
>> Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.
>> Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone
>> have
>> any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing
>> nothing?
>> Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and
>> bandwidth?)
>> Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.
>>
>> Cheers.
>>

All sorted.

The client got the mobo changed to a server board, got 8Gb of RAM and
installted an Adaptec RAID card.

Much nicer machine to work on - doesn't behave anything like the old desktop
box.

Thanks everyone for your input, it made a difference.

Cheers,

Andrew Zenz

"Andrew Zenz" <andrew@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:OChfpvVmKHA.4872@newsgroup

> Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
>
> I have already suggested to the client that RAM should be doubled. That
> should make some difference.
>
> I will also perform a Windows Update and update the Intel drivers.
>
> I still fail to understand how limited RAM etc will cause the CPU usage to
> skyrocket. With nothing unusal running, Task Manager itself sits firmly
> at 25%. Limited RAM will cause swapping (excessive disk activity) but
> not, AFAIK, high CPU (though I may stand corrected).
>
> I'll report my success, or not, later on.
>
> Thanks again everyone for your advice.
>
> Andrew
>
>
>
>
>
> "Andrew Zenz" <andrew@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:uov$S9CmKHA.2188@newsgroup

>> Hi everyone. (cross posted from public.backoffice.smallbiz)
>>
>> Contrary to my quote and recommendations, my client has purchased a
>> system
>> with an Intel Desktop mobo (DQ45CB/DQ45EK) and SBS2008 SP2 and handed
>> them
>> over to be used as his 'server'.
>>
>> It had RAID1 configured on the board (2 x 1Tb drives) and a single 320Gb
>> drive which the shop configured as the system/boot drive (I don't
>> understand
>> why you wouldn't RAID the system/boot drive too!?), core 2 quad and 4Gb
>> RAM.
>>
>> Anyway, I have re-configured the RAID array as the system/boot drive and
>> installed SBS on a 100Gb primary partition. (The 320Gb drive will now be
>> one
>> of the backup repositories.)
>>
>> It runs like a slug.
>>
>> Before I installed the Intel ICH driver and disabled SMART it took almost
>> half and hour to boot, now thankfully it only takes 6 minutes to get to
>> the
>> login prompt.
>>
>> Once logged in doing anything takes an impossibly long time.
>>
>> I have been watching it for a while now, and with nothing special
>> running,
>> the task manager process is floating between 17 and 20% consistently, the
>> server manager MMC spikes to 25% for a longer than normal period of time
>> and
>> other random processes, WMIPRVSE.exe, SQLServr.exe, svchost.exe and a few
>> others, jump to 25% usage or more, pushing the CPU to 100% for extended
>> periods.
>>
>> It seems to have settled a bit as I write, System Idle is getting 70-80%
>> (task manager takes the balance) but it still takes an eternity to do
>> anything.
>>
>> The installation (both times - I wasn't happy with the initial install)
>> was
>> default, follow the prompts, answer the questions. The only thing I did
>> extra was to allow Forefront - the trial of AV - to install. Was that
>> where
>> I went wrong?
>>
>> I understand that Intel don't by default have any drivers available for
>> the
>> Desktop board for SBS 2008, and while I only skimmed the HCL, I didn't
>> see
>> any Intel Desktop board listed, I do believe that the individual
>> components
>> do have the appropriate drivers handy, the video card, network adapter,
>> RAID
>> controller to name a few. The only one I didn't find was the SMBus
>> Controller for the Q45 chipset for SBS2008.
>>
>> Have I stuffed up anywhere? Can I revive the 'server'? Does anyone have
>> any idea why CPU usage would be so high when it is apparently doing
>> nothing?
>> Should I perform a WU (or would that be a waste of time and bandwidth?)
>>
>> Any suggestions or replies will be seriously considered.
>>
>> Cheers.
>>

>
>