Firewall, etc can do a lot of things and it is not as simple to say it is either a delay or fail all the time.
Look at that level to see if the requests are pushed through at that time on the firewall. Is it the first request that is the problem? The last? There is a lack of network information here before any sensible help can be applied. I have been looking at
the example given of winebid.com and it only occurs when you have multiple pages in the search - then it seem no page will work for a time.
What is the difference in the behaviour/code when you have only 1 page in the search? As there is a difference in the outcome for the client. Logically by the reasoning thus far it should fail then.
The sweeping generalization that FF 3.0.6 is broken with IIS 7 seems premature at this stage. Is some code on some pages is causing this? Are application pools being restarted?
It appears to be a combination of many things in certain cases. Could bad coding practices be to blame here and something that FF picks up that other browsers do not?
Could it be network/firewall/router related?
AFAIK there hasn't been any proper investigation into these causes and that is where I would look into first.
There hasn't been any "proper investigation" because the problem is intermittent. How do you track something like that?
I suppose I could start a Netmon capture when I start work in the morning, and let it run all day until the problem happens. Thing is that I've been on the server all day (today), and it's only happened twice.
Where do you suggest I start a "proper investigation"?
Get the exact time and run through your firewall logs at that time too. Check that with the databases logs, iis logs, the event viewer logs. Is anything happening at that time? App pool reset, anything like that.
Like I said these are not easy problem to solve in fact some of the most difficult to solve.
I was trying to find the firewall logs earlier, but couldn't seem to find it. Where do I find the firewall logs (On the server, not the router. I can deal with the router)?
I think the rest of the the logs I've found before and last time I tried to track this down, there were no entries at all in the Windows logs (Application and System) for that time frame. I checked the IIS logs as well, and it showed the page access, but
reported a response time far less than it actually was.
OK, I've reviewed that document, and right off the bat, it's not right. It says to open the Windows Firewall, then click on the Advanced Tab. When I open the windows firwall, there is no advanced tab. But, I clicked on "Change Settings". There is an
Advanced Tab there, but there is nothing about Security Logging there.
So, I go to the help file, and type in Security Logging. Looking at the View Security Log help entry, it says to go to the Event Viewer, and click on Global Logs. So, I go to the Event Viewer, but there is no Global Logs entry in there anywhere that I
can find.
However, in the Event viewer, under Windows Logs, there is a Security section. That simply show who logs in/out, and a few other things.
So, I "think" I've found the right place, but I'm not sure. What should I be looking for here (if this is where I need to be)?
OK. I've had it happen again. Here's what happened. While working on a page (I was updating a page, and refreshing frequently), I clicked on a link and got no response. I stopped it and clicked the link again, and still got no response. so, I stopped
it again, logged on to the server, and started a netmon session. I then clicked the link one more time, and still got no response. I let it run. After about 5 minutes it finally came back and gave me the page I had clicked on.
So, here is what I have:
* I've got a netmon capture file, but don't know what to look for.
* I checked the IIS logs, but the thing about that is that the time stamp indicated 5:43am. This occurred at approximately 8:50am (I realize that the time inside the file itself is GMT, but this is the time-stamp on the file itself, which is not GMT). Even
though I'd been accessing several pages on the site, there was no update in there.
The strange thing is now the entries are there where they weren't before. Anyway... Here is the entry for the page I was accessing:
This coincides with the response. However, The actual request was made at about 8:50 (12:50 GMT, I suppose), so it took about 6 minutes and change to respond.
* I have several Failed Request Log entries, but the times do not seem to coincide with the time I had the probem. Most of these have a warning in there of "LOG_FILE_MAX_SIZE_TRUNCATE"
If that was the same request then IIS responded qucikly and as desired.
It took a long time to:
a) getting to the server.
or
b) From the server to get to IIS
Check the packet sniffer logs to see when the request was actually made to the server from that client IP. Did any traffic hit the server from 8:50 to 8:55?
If the first occurrence was just before the IIS log time say 08:56 then it is a more general networking issue from maybe from the client machine or something on route.
I am fully aware of the various components that come into play regarding overall performance and page responsiveness. You are correct to point out that DB, JavaScript, etc. are all sources to look at. However, if it was a general server-side performance
issue, it would not be browser-specific. This issue only happens with FireFox, and even then only intermittently. I do believe that VorlonShadow and I are experiencing the same, or at least a related issue. I have seen pages take minutes to respond as well...
and the timing of the response is also intermittent.
Also, I am a bit confused as you state "I can reproduce your problem" and then say "You need to find a pattern where it is reproducable". It is an intermittent issue and following the steps I described it is reproducable. As VorlonShadow mentions, the logs
and tracing do not provide much insight into this issue.
The idea that there is no issue between FireFox 3.0.6 and IIS7 seems a bit odd, considering that I am experiencing it, our site users are experiencing it, and other developers are experiencing it. There clearly is some issue... the question is what is the
cause of the problem.
Also... just to rule out any programming or client-side issues, as both Vorlon and I have already mentioned, the issue disappears when switching between IIS6 and IIS7. I have run the site on an identical setup, using the exact same code, on IIS6 and cannot
produce the issue. It is specific to hosting on IIS7. In fact, I even tried hosting on IIS7 in IIS6 classic-mode but also experienced the issue. So I guess there is a chance that it is a problem with the Server 2008 networking stack and FF... since IIS7 and
Server 2008 are inseparable there's no easy way to determine where the problem lies.
Rovastar
3321 Posts
MVP
Moderator
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 12, 2009 09:12 PM|LINK
Firewall, etc can do a lot of things and it is not as simple to say it is either a delay or fail all the time.
Look at that level to see if the requests are pushed through at that time on the firewall. Is it the first request that is the problem? The last? There is a lack of network information here before any sensible help can be applied. I have been looking at the example given of winebid.com and it only occurs when you have multiple pages in the search - then it seem no page will work for a time.
What is the difference in the behaviour/code when you have only 1 page in the search? As there is a difference in the outcome for the client. Logically by the reasoning thus far it should fail then.
The sweeping generalization that FF 3.0.6 is broken with IIS 7 seems premature at this stage. Is some code on some pages is causing this? Are application pools being restarted?
It appears to be a combination of many things in certain cases. Could bad coding practices be to blame here and something that FF picks up that other browsers do not?
Could it be network/firewall/router related?
AFAIK there hasn't been any proper investigation into these causes and that is where I would look into first.
VorlonShadow
79 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 12, 2009 09:24 PM|LINK
There hasn't been any "proper investigation" because the problem is intermittent. How do you track something like that?
I suppose I could start a Netmon capture when I start work in the morning, and let it run all day until the problem happens. Thing is that I've been on the server all day (today), and it's only happened twice.
Where do you suggest I start a "proper investigation"?
Jesse
Rovastar
3321 Posts
MVP
Moderator
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 12, 2009 09:30 PM|LINK
Yeah that is one way to start.
Get the exact time and run through your firewall logs at that time too. Check that with the databases logs, iis logs, the event viewer logs. Is anything happening at that time? App pool reset, anything like that.
Like I said these are not easy problem to solve in fact some of the most difficult to solve.
VorlonShadow
79 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 12, 2009 09:36 PM|LINK
I was trying to find the firewall logs earlier, but couldn't seem to find it. Where do I find the firewall logs (On the server, not the router. I can deal with the router)?
I think the rest of the the logs I've found before and last time I tried to track this down, there were no entries at all in the Windows logs (Application and System) for that time frame. I checked the IIS logs as well, and it showed the page access, but reported a response time far less than it actually was.
Jesse
Rovastar
3321 Posts
MVP
Moderator
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 12, 2009 11:10 PM|LINK
Sorry I presumed you had a third party firewall. Windows firewall here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736373.aspx
VorlonShadow
79 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 13, 2009 02:08 PM|LINK
OK, I've reviewed that document, and right off the bat, it's not right. It says to open the Windows Firewall, then click on the Advanced Tab. When I open the windows firwall, there is no advanced tab. But, I clicked on "Change Settings". There is an Advanced Tab there, but there is nothing about Security Logging there.
So, I go to the help file, and type in Security Logging. Looking at the View Security Log help entry, it says to go to the Event Viewer, and click on Global Logs. So, I go to the Event Viewer, but there is no Global Logs entry in there anywhere that I can find.
However, in the Event viewer, under Windows Logs, there is a Security section. That simply show who logs in/out, and a few other things.
So, I "think" I've found the right place, but I'm not sure. What should I be looking for here (if this is where I need to be)?
Jesse
VorlonShadow
79 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 13, 2009 02:26 PM|LINK
OK. I've had it happen again. Here's what happened. While working on a page (I was updating a page, and refreshing frequently), I clicked on a link and got no response. I stopped it and clicked the link again, and still got no response. so, I stopped it again, logged on to the server, and started a netmon session. I then clicked the link one more time, and still got no response. I let it run. After about 5 minutes it finally came back and gave me the page I had clicked on.
So, here is what I have:
* I've got a netmon capture file, but don't know what to look for.
* I checked the IIS logs, but the thing about that is that the time stamp indicated 5:43am. This occurred at approximately 8:50am (I realize that the time inside the file itself is GMT, but this is the time-stamp on the file itself, which is not GMT). Even though I'd been accessing several pages on the site, there was no update in there.
The strange thing is now the entries are there where they weren't before. Anyway... Here is the entry for the page I was accessing:
2009-03-13 12:56:25 192.168.1.8 GET /dlg/bpamem/ConfSpecEvent.asp CID=2863&Inv=C093610&F=I 80 - 192.168.1.105 Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.9.0.7)+Gecko/2009021910+Firefox/3.0.7 200 0 0 62
This coincides with the response. However, The actual request was made at about 8:50 (12:50 GMT, I suppose), so it took about 6 minutes and change to respond.
* I have several Failed Request Log entries, but the times do not seem to coincide with the time I had the probem. Most of these have a warning in there of "LOG_FILE_MAX_SIZE_TRUNCATE"
Where do I go from here?
Thanks,
Jesse
Rovastar
3321 Posts
MVP
Moderator
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 13, 2009 04:04 PM|LINK
If that was the same request then IIS responded qucikly and as desired.
It took a long time to:
a) getting to the server.
or
b) From the server to get to IIS
Check the packet sniffer logs to see when the request was actually made to the server from that client IP. Did any traffic hit the server from 8:50 to 8:55?
If the first occurrence was just before the IIS log time say 08:56 then it is a more general networking issue from maybe from the client machine or something on route.
ianderson
22 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 13, 2009 05:01 PM|LINK
Rovastar,
I am fully aware of the various components that come into play regarding overall performance and page responsiveness. You are correct to point out that DB, JavaScript, etc. are all sources to look at. However, if it was a general server-side performance issue, it would not be browser-specific. This issue only happens with FireFox, and even then only intermittently. I do believe that VorlonShadow and I are experiencing the same, or at least a related issue. I have seen pages take minutes to respond as well... and the timing of the response is also intermittent.
Also, I am a bit confused as you state "I can reproduce your problem" and then say "You need to find a pattern where it is reproducable". It is an intermittent issue and following the steps I described it is reproducable. As VorlonShadow mentions, the logs and tracing do not provide much insight into this issue.
The idea that there is no issue between FireFox 3.0.6 and IIS7 seems a bit odd, considering that I am experiencing it, our site users are experiencing it, and other developers are experiencing it. There clearly is some issue... the question is what is the cause of the problem.
ianderson
22 Posts
Re: Pages appear to stop responding
Mar 13, 2009 05:07 PM|LINK
Also... just to rule out any programming or client-side issues, as both Vorlon and I have already mentioned, the issue disappears when switching between IIS6 and IIS7. I have run the site on an identical setup, using the exact same code, on IIS6 and cannot produce the issue. It is specific to hosting on IIS7. In fact, I even tried hosting on IIS7 in IIS6 classic-mode but also experienced the issue. So I guess there is a chance that it is a problem with the Server 2008 networking stack and FF... since IIS7 and Server 2008 are inseparable there's no easy way to determine where the problem lies.