Session numbers keep inceasing...RDP-TCP#XX, in the Terminal Services forum on BrianMadden.com

I have a W2k3 Ent TS Server with 25 Users(Dual Xeons, 12 GB Ram). I am having major problems with latency and issues with programs running slowly. If the server is rebooted everything works fine for a little while. I notice a trend in the "Terminal Server Manager" where you look under the heading "Sesion" - the numbers keep increasing RDP-TCP#01 ++++ meaning after a couple days there will be RDP-TCP#45. You will no longer see RDP-TCP#01 - but will start at a number > than the privious day.

I don't know if this makes a difference but the all the users are connected via vpn connection and the server is located in a datacenter. There is a AD server in both locations. I have the My Documents folder mapped from the Datacenter to the main office( I am almost certain this is not good???)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You. Nitesh

I don't see where is a problem here.

Yes you have noted "feature" that it is only on windows 2003 servers. Every session when it is logged off, next session number is increased by one. On server with lots of users I saw this to increase over 10000.

On win2008 Microsoft removed this "feature". Every session is counted from beginning. Meaning if there are 50 users there will be 50 sessions, and if all users are logged of session counter will start from 0.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my first post. What I am trying to say is that I see a connection between those session#'s and degradation of the server performnce and was wondering if it is something that is actually an issue? If not I will continue to look at other things on server to find the where the performance lag is occurring.

My problem happens to be that I only have 25 users and have problems every couple days so - I am trying to narrow down the problem. I couldn't find any info on the those session# so I decided to post it here.

Thanks Again.

That is not definitely an issue. You should look somewhere else
This is just simple counter that counts sessions logged on to server.

What is you memory consumption of the server? Is it increasing every day? You have mentioned that server after few days is very slow... Have you tried UPHC service for unreconciled profile problems?

I don't have any issue in the event log dealing with profiles. I only have 25 users on the system. I wasn't sure if I needed UPHC... I am having a hard time figuring out why I am getting so much screen latency.

The total server memory consumption during pick traffic is 6 Gig.

Hi Nitesh,

Load on UPHC regardless.

Are you able to monitor your processes and see which ones are taking up the majority of your resources? 25 users using 6GB of memory is quite high.

I would monitor printer spooler, and also maybe check that your applications are built for a TS environment.

Cheers

JC

Hi,

This article is a good place to start:

http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Windows-Performance-Monitor-Baseline-Terminal-Server-Part1.html

Once you've read through the article and performed some preliminary perfmon captures, read up on other counters that can help you pinpoint the bottleneck. Post back when you have specific questions from the results.

Keep in mind that these kinds of bottlenecks can quickly arise when using RDP if you have multiple users simultaneously accessing multi-media content (video, flash, etc).

If possible, disable web access altogether within RDP sessions and force users to browse the web from there local computer instead - that should make a BIG difference. Search these forums for the words "dummy proxy" for ideas.

Cheers,

If the removed this "feature" from W2008 that's too bad... I'll have to check on this. Incremented the session name was fairly useful. You could use to tell how many sessions logged into the box since the last reboot and if you tracked it day to day you could get a rough estimate of how many logins per day.

If you've seen 10000 then that server is pretty stable and has been running for a while (unless the apps on it have a high turnover rate but stable none the less)

Joe

I know exactly what you mean, and I am having the same question.
I manage 4 servers now and 3 of them reset the counters. All of them have the same operating system, Windows Server 2003.

The new server, just purchased, keeps incrementing and does not reset the sessions. I am seeing performance problems on this server and I am relating it to that also. When users login it takes 60-70 seconds for the printers to come through with their session. On the other servers it takes 3-5 seconds. I am having major print issues because of this. I can not for the life of me figure out what is going on.

john

Let me clarify the "counters" - When you look at tsadmin, you will see several columns. One of them is called "ID" this is the one that is NOT resetting as the other servers. There is a column called "Session", this one continues on counting with a format of RDP-Tcp#... This one is fine.

I am concerned about the ID column not resetting back to one on this particular server. Three servers reset and one does not, not sure what setting forces this to happen?

Anyone?

Thanks,
John

I've seen this before on MPS 3.0, I don't recall if it caused any problems beyond the counter incrementing, but there was a hotfix that cured it.

Sorry I can't be any more help than that.

Simon