AFP Slow! Need help fast!

[macmanjc]

I am having the same problem but I have found a way, at least in my setup, to avoid it. Unfortunately, I think that the solution raises more questions than it answers.

First, the setup: 1 older G4/766MHz acting as the OD Master w/ DHCP and DNS running. 1 first generation XServe G4/1GHZ acting as an AFP/SMB file server and running FileMaker Server 7v3. 1 XServe G5/2x2GHz acting as a Mail server and running Retrospect 6 for backups.

I installed OS X 10.4.2 clean on each of these machines on Saturday and configured them as described above over the weekend. As I was logging into the clients via Remote Desktop and logging into the server to test connectivity I noticed that the activity lights on the XServe G4 were maxed out. I immediately ran Activity Monitor and noticed the same thing that everyone else is reporting: AppleFileServer was running as two separate processes, one of which was running at between 85%-100% of CPU capacity.

I immediately kicked the clients and it settled down. Since I needed to get the clients up and running for Monday morning, I decided to configure all of the clients to bind to the Open Directory server and get their mobile accounts working, and then troubleshoot the AFP issue.

Here is where it gets interesting!

I found that any client that logs into the server as part of the Login process (via an alias to the share point in Accounts -> Login Items) did not cause AFP to go crazy. In fact, after getting all 21 users configured and attached to the server, it was running at about 5% CPU capacity.

Just to see what would happen, I ejected the share point on one of the machines and then logged into it through the CMD-K Connect To interface, and even though it still authenticated using Kerberos, it still instantly caused the usage to skyrocket! I then ejected the share point and tried going in through the Network icon, and the same thing happened: instant CPU peak.

So…. I’m curious if any of the people who have reported this problem are using the same setup that I am, and getting different results, or are your users logging in through one of the Connect methods?

Also, one caveat to this:

I needed to mount the two sharepoints from the XServe G4 on the XServe G5 so that Retrospect can back them up. I decided to try the path of least resistance first, and used the CMD-K Connect To method to select the file server, and then authenticated through Kerberos… and they mounted with no problem! No strange CPU spikes when connected manually to the XServe G5. So then I tried the same thing from the G4/766 server, and the usage went up to about 65%; not as bad as when a client connected, but still more than when the other XServe connected.

So, is it something to do with the XServe hardware? Something to do with the difference between OS X Server and OS X client? (BTW, the clients that are connecting are almost all 10.3.9, but I did connect with two clients that are running 10.4.2 and had the same issue).

I hope all of this long-winded information is helpful to someone out there!

-John

P.S. I am also posting this to the following thread, since these topics are virtually identical:
https://www.afp548.com/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=25&showtopic=8080&lastpost=true

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