Please share with me any ideas you may have for troubleshooting and resolving
the subject problem. I can give more details as necessary. (Please advise
if I should post this problem to a more specific group.)
Here's the situation in a nutshell. We're using WinXP Pro workstations
configured to a common standard on a nation-wide intra-network and we
recently migrated one operation involving networking with a WinNT server
(with WinNT-type security) to a Win2003 server (with Win2003 Server and
Active Directory-based security). The operation's networking consists of
mapping a workstation drive to the server, transferring a simple text data
file to the server, invoking a common MS VC++ 6.0 application hosted on the
server to process that simple text data file on the server, and then
retrieving the resulting simple text processed file from the server. In
processing the file, there is also an open Attachmate INFOConnect session to
a legacy database via which the C++ application uses Attachmate API calls to
write text to the session screen, cause that screen to be transmitted to the
database, and read the resulting session screen the database returns (i.e.,
"screen-scraping").
The operation is exactly the same whether we use a WinNT or a Win2003
server, except that the time required to perform the file processing on the
server is 400%-800% longer with the Win2003 server as compared to the WinNT
server. As far as I know, the only difference in the operation involves the
user's access to the server. With the WinNT server, there is a "group" or
"generic" user group on the server with essentially wide-open folder/file
access permissions through which all users access the WinNT server with no
regard for individual network credentials. With the Win2003 server, each
individual user is a member of an Active Directory domain global user group
(via that user's unique network credentials) that is, in turn, a member of a
local server user group, that has been granted specific folder/file access
permissions.
Changing our method of operation (whereby the application and data files
reside on the server and the user invokes the application from the
workstation) is not currently an option.
So, what is the most likely problem? Is the slower operation due to some
application-specific characteristic, like file-handling over the network,
that should be modified to more efficiently operate in the WinXP workstation
to Win2003 server
environment? Or is the increased security or other overhead associated with
the Win2003 server more likely the culprit?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
