Windows NT Server Stops Responding To Macintosh Clients

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51

SYMPTOMS

Macintosh computers may temporarily stop responding when you access information from a Windows NT Server that is running Services for Macintosh (SFM). If the double network arrows displayed in the upper left corner no longer flash, this may indicate that the Macintosh client is trying to access the Windows NT Server. The Macintosh client will usually start communicating within 30 to 40 seconds. This has only occurred in production servers with large Macintosh volumes, (for example, more than 5 GB and more than 100 Macintosh clients). When you run large programs and files off the server, these same symptoms may appear due to the bandwidth required to carry the information across the network.

CAUSE

Windows NT Server rebuilds an index related to each of the Macintosh volumes, based on the number of changes to the volume (usually 1,000 changes),or the time since the previous re-index (usually 10 minutes). This process may take up to a minute to accomplish, depending on the size of the database, and is directly dependent on the number of files and directories in the volume. During this operation,a request from a Macintosh client is put on hold; this causes the Windows NT Server to appear to stop responding.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 3.51. This problem was corrected in the latest Windows NT 3.51 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K