Topic: Access server-manager from the LAN (only http)

[ngomes]

Hi all,

I wonder if is it possible to access the server-manager web console through http (port 80) from the LAN defined on SME7 box?

I am asking this because, by default, accessing server-manager through https (port 443 I think) when I am on the LAN side of a SME7 box is really, really, really slow...................

Does anyone have the same problem?
Does anyone know the db parameters to achieve this?

Regards,
Nuno

[Seeker]

Yes its slow. I understand the need for security but connecting from the LAN is a very low risk. I'd also like to see an option for the webmail as well.

[ngomes]

Yes its slow. I understand the need for security but connecting from the LAN is a very low risk. I'd also like to see an option for the webmail as well.

It's so slow that sometimes it gives timeouts (tested while creating users and ibays). I did not test webmail yet. There must be a way to change this for a non-secure acces (only http) when we are on the LAN side of the server. Does anyone have tried something to change this default configuration?

Nuno

[JonB]

ngomes,

I think you will be wasting your time trying to change server manager to port 80.

I would suspect that you probably have a network, DNS or hardware issue.

How is your network set up?
What are the specs of your server?

When I first tested SME7 it was on an IBM Xseries server with a 1GB PIII processor, 128MB ECC ram and 18.2GB scsi drive. I found that the server manager was a bit sluggish, webmail was slow to open and refresh and email was slow to send (up to 30 secs) due to the antispam and virus processing that was happening.

I built a new server, 2.6 Semperon, 1GB RAM, 160GB SATA drives and everything is now lightning fast.

Jon

[ngomes]

I would suspect that you probably have a network, DNS or hardware issue.
How is your network set up?
What are the specs of your server?

My specs:
- Celeron 2.66Ghz
- 512MB DDR400
- 2 x RAID1 ATA/100 40GB 7.200rpm for SME7
- 1 x SATA 120GB for data (/home/e-smith/files/users and /home/e-smith/files/ibays)

My SME7 is the main server of my network. That (and DNS) is working great!

The only way I can manage server-manager (create users/groups/ibays, etc) in a efective manner is through the "Access Server Manager" option on the text console, i.e., using localhost (the server itself) and a text browser. I completelly given up the web console on Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera (all tested).

The thing is, the web console on common browsers gives many times timeouts on several operations => impossible to manage this way (sorry to all great developpers...)

Regards,
Nuno

[JonB]

Ok, you have ruled out hardware however I still suspect that you have a network issue.

How is your server set up, server-gateway, server-only, private server-only?

Is the SME providing DHCP?

How are you accessing the server manager http://domainname/server-manager, http://hostname/server-manager or http://IPaddress/server-manager?

When you get a time out are there any error messages in the messages or httpd-admin logs?

If you think it is a bug then you need to add it to the bug tracker.

Jon

[ngomes]

Hi Jon and all,

How is your server set up, server-gateway, server-only, private server-only?

ANS: server-gateway behind a ADSL Router (Draytek 2600VG)

Is the SME providing DHCP?

ANS: Yes it is. Some computers have dinamically assigned IP addresses from the DHCP pool. Other PCs have statically assigned IP addresses using theirs MAC addresses (Hostnames and addresses). Both computer clients (all running Windows 2000 or XP Professional) are on the same subnet.

How are you accessing the server manager? :
- http://domainname/server-manager
- http://hostname/server-manager
- http://IPaddress/server-manager

I tried all with the same results = accessing server-manager is too slow and sometimes gives timeouts.

When you get a time out are there any error messages in the messages or httpd-admin logs?

I am investigating this...

Regards,
Nuno

[pfloor]

ngomes,

You are complaining a about slow access the server manager and your server specs are good.  I have an Athlon XP 2000 machine and have even run this on an AMD 300 Mhz machine and have never had time-out problems.  The 300mhz machine was pretty slow but it did work OK.  The XP 2000 machine just flies.

Server manager pulls up in about 1 second and webmail is just as fast.

1-Something wrong with your network configuration.
   Q: Have you tried to access the server manager from a different workstation?
   Q: Are you sure that you don't have two machines on the same IP address?
   Q: Are you sure you have your nics on the right cables?
   Q: Does everything else work OK such as internet access and file sharing?
   Q: Have you applied the registry hacks to the 2000 and XP machines? (I don't think this will matter unless your server is a PDC).
   Q: Have you tried changing cables/switches/etc to rule out hardware problems?
   
If you are sure that you don't have a network issue then it looks like you may have found a bug with the server.  Please take this to the bug tracker along with your log files so the developers can figure what is going on.

Also tell them if this is a fresh install, an update from a previous V7 beta or pre-release or an upgrade from a previous version.

Thanks,

Paul

[ngomes]

Hi Paul,

1-Something wrong with your network configuration.
Q: Have you tried to access the server manager from a different workstation?

Yes. The problem is still the same.

Q: Are you sure that you don't have two machines on the same IP address?

No I don't have

Q: Are you sure you have your nics on the right cables?

Yes I am sure.

Q: Does everything else work OK such as internet access and file sharing?

No. As a matter of fact internet access and file sharing is also very slow.

Q: Have you applied the registry hacks to the 2000 and XP machines? (I don't think this will matter unless your server is a PDC).

My SME7 is acting as a PDC and I have several Windows XP Pro on my network. Hence I have applied the XP hack reg file (supplied on the SME7 cd/iso).

Q: Have you tried changing cables/switches/etc to rule out hardware problems?

Yes I have already done this. The problems remain.

Also tell them if this is a fresh install, an update from a previous V7 beta or pre-release or an upgrade from a previous version.

This is a SME7pre3 fresh install in server-gateway mode.

I think this has something to do with the RSA certificate: I got several httpd errors with this. Is there a way to regenerate the SME7 SSL certificate?

Regards,
Nuno

[pfloor]

Q: Does everything else work OK such as internet access and file sharing?

No. As a matter of fact internet access and file sharing is also very slow.

So the whole system is slow?  This indicates a network/hardware problem.  Have you tried replacing BOTH nics in the server?

If you are running software raid, have you left the machine on long enough to sync all the disks?  I had this problem when I used the raid5 option with 4 disks.  It took a couple of hours to sync up and the server was quite slow during the sync process.  Every time you re-boot BEFORE the sync is complete, it will start all over again.  If you have software raid, what is the output of:

cat /proc/mdstat

I think this has something to do with the RSA certificate: I got several httpd errors with this. Is there a way to regenerate the SME7 SSL certificate?

This has already been raised it the bug tracker.  I think it is just log noise but search the bug tracker and see if the answer to this question is already there.

[ngomes]

Thanks Paul for your help,

So the whole system is slow?  This indicates a network/hardware problem.  Have you tried replacing BOTH nics in the server?

My system has 2 NICs:

# 1 Intel 100/1000 ethernet NIC onboard for my LAN (internal side).

The Asus install CD comes with the following drivers for linux:
- e1000-5.2.39.tar.gz
- e100-2.3.40.tar.gz

While performing the SME7 install it detects and installs the e1000 driver. Hence no need to manually install the drivers supplied by Asus. As a side note while testing this machine with SME6.0.1 the NIC was not detected so I had to download the dev-tools and install the e1000 driver manually.

# 1 Edimax WOL 10/100 (chipset Realtek RTL 8139D) for Internet (NET side to connect to my Draytek router).

This NIC was automatically detected by both SME7 and SME6.0.1 (driver 8139too).

Although I have one Gigabit NIC on my server my whole LAN runs only at 100Mb (I have not any Gigabit switch yet...).

So, after reading your last post I decided to change the SME7 configuration concerning the NICs: The e1000 NIC/driver becames the NET one (external) and the 8139too becames the LAN one (internal). After rebooting the server voilá!!! Everything rocks!!! Server-manager, proxy/squid, file sharing, etc...

My final question is this:
What was wrong with the e1000 nic/driver acting on the LAN side?
This is beyond my understanding. I can't figure this out...

About RAID:
Currently I have 1 RAID1 for SME7 install and 1 SATA disk for data (it will be upgraded to a RAID5 very soon). After analysing the logs (see my other post about HDD configuration) I think everything is running fine.

Also cat /proc/mdstat returned a good healthy raid1

Regards,
Nuno

[pfloor]

Thanks Paul for your help,

Glad I could help.

So the whole system is slow?  This indicates a network/hardware problem.  Have you tried replacing BOTH nics in the server?

My system has 2 NICs:

# 1 Intel 100/1000 ethernet NIC onboard for my LAN (internal side).

The Asus install CD comes with the following drivers for linux:
- e1000-5.2.39.tar.gz
- e100-2.3.40.tar.gz

While performing the SME7 install it detects and installs the e1000 driver. Hence no need to manually install the drivers supplied by Asus. As a side note while testing this machine with SME6.0.1 the NIC was not detected so I had to download the dev-tools and install the e1000 driver manually.

# 1 Edimax WOL 10/100 (chipset Realtek RTL 8139D) for Internet (NET side to connect to my Draytek router).

This NIC was automatically detected by both SME7 and SME6.0.1 (driver 8139too).

Although I have one Gigabit NIC on my server my whole LAN runs only at 100Mb (I have not any Gigabit switch yet...).

So, after reading your last post I decided to change the SME7 configuration concerning the NICs: The e1000 NIC/driver becames the NET one (external) and the 8139too becames the LAN one (internal). After rebooting the server voilá!!! Everything rocks!!! Server-manager, proxy/squid, file sharing, etc...

My final question is this:
What was wrong with the e1000 nic/driver acting on the LAN side?
This is beyond my understanding. I can't figure this out...

This I don't know.  Take this problem to the bug tracker and be prepared to provide details and log files.  The developers need feedback on things like this especially if that nic is supposed to work.

P.S. I am running a Marvel based gig lan and it works perfect.

Paul