Can we copy 3 particular registry keys from Workstation to Server, in order to avoid many modifications?

Question

Can we copy 3 particular registry keys from Workstation to Server, in order to avoid many modifications?

Madam, Mister,

In the Registry editor:
Ordinateur\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

in the sub-repository Workstation\Parameters, someone recommended to my Chief to change three values to 0 (in this order) :

DirectoryCacheLifetime;
FileNotFoundCacheLifetime;
FileInfoCacheLifetime;

(so: all the variables CacheLifetime), in order to "increase the number" of meta-data requests.

-My Chief would like to know if it is possible to move these 3 parameters under Server\Parameters to avoid modifications on all the workstations, please?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T14:40:19+00:00

I mistook the screenshots names; it is not large aera network, but obvisouly local aera network.
Sunny Qi 10,651 Reputation points

2021-05-14T08:58:21.917+00:00

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information provided was helpful.

If yes, you may accept useful reply as answer, if not, welcome to feedback.

Best Regards,
Sunny

Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T14:40:19+00:00

I mistook the screenshots names; it is not large aera network, but obvisouly local aera network.
Sunny Qi 10,651 Reputation points

2021-05-14T08:58:21.917+00:00

Hi,

Just checking in to see if the information provided was helpful.

If yes, you may accept useful reply as answer, if not, welcome to feedback.

Best Regards,
Sunny

Answer 1

MotoX80 23,491

Every Windows machine has a Server service and a Workstation service.

The registry keys that configure these services are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

-My Chief would like to know if it is possible to move these 3 parameters under Server\Parameters to avoid modifications on all the workstations, please?

Those registry entries only apply to whatever machine that you logged on to.

The "on all the workstation" sounds like what you are really looking for is Active Directory group policy where you can define registry entries on all workstations in your domain.

someone recommended to my Chief to change three value

Why did they make this recommendation? What is the root problem that you are trying to address?

Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T14:21:38.453+00:00

Yes, your precision is worthy; I wrote sub-folder Workstation\Parameters, but it is actually LanmanWorkstation\Parameters, where Lanman means Local Aera Network Management, (precision for the other readers).

-I'm not in the front-line about Windows Server in my enterprise, but I more or less saw manipulations about Active Directory some years ago (I did a learning in computers, in Switzerland).

-My Chief is not very prolix about the problem.

It seems that he got an answer from a support, probably from Microsoft (but I have not the initial e-mail address, in the transfert).

They wrote: "Disabling the File information cache can have significant effect on client performance and show an increase in the number of metadata requests that are sent to the server".

And my Chief entitled his e-mail in such: for performance of SMB. Where SMB seemed to mean Server Message Block (what my Chief confirmed).
MotoX80 23,491 Reputation points

2021-05-07T14:37:48.793+00:00

-I'm not in the front-line about Windows Server in my enterprise,

Whoever has the responsibility for supporting your Windows servers should be addressing any changes being considered to the domain/servers/workstations.

-My Chief is not very prolix about the problem.
They wrote: "Disabling the File information cache can have significant effect on client performance and show an increase in the number of metadata requests that are sent to the server".

In order for forum users to be able to help you, we need to understand what the problem is. You should recommend to your Chief that he should be working with the server support team to clearly define the problem or the reason for this change. Your server support team should then investigate the issue and run performance tests to verify that any change being made actually improves performance. (If that is the problem.)
Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T14:48:12.383+00:00

Your question about the initial problem is pertinent.

I asked him 1 or 2 times for: problem exposition, and the way to reach the problem, as complete sentances, but it seems not-to be obvious for him (he is a physicist of formation, developping an Enterprise Resource Planning).

-So I have to do with what I have, now, (he is speaking by phone, for a while).

I guess the problem was latency in the requests to the database part.
MotoX80 23,491 Reputation points

2021-05-07T14:56:07.373+00:00

I guess the problem was latency in the requests to the database part.

Then you need to get your network team involved so that they can analyze the routers and switches and run network traces to try to identify the problem.

Your database support team should also be involved to run an analysis on the queries that the application is making.

The database may be fragmented and needs to be reorganized or an additional index be added to improve performance.
Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T14:58:26.003+00:00

Okay, it seems wise. I'll give him your recommendation.
Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T21:02:14.82+00:00

My Chief debriefed me better.

He says that SMB (Server Message Block, which I thought to be a standard size of data), consists in several layers or components (texts, pictures, icons) to be displayed or loaded to the client computer, including about rights or privileges, making the accesses dependant on.

I do not state about this debriefing, but I understand from it that it is as a gaz industry, as we say in French to say a certain amount of complexity.

In the practise, for him, it consists in loadings which are made in a reasonable time, then slowly, then back reasonably and so on, in a random manner.

He also says that Microsoft is in advance on many points, but maybe not about SMB, which he says to be in 3rd version, and, whatever, in the same state of the art since the beginning.

I guess that to manage many functionalities through the net should make us face some randomness.

-But his purpose is to disable useless functionalities; in the occurrence: the caches.

Answer 2

S.Sengupta 5,581 Microsoft MVP

You can always back up and restore the Registry.

Ref:

Windows registry information for advanced users

Alexandre Courvoisier 1 Reputation point

2021-05-07T13:54:01.117+00:00

Thank you, but this doesn't (directly) address the question.

The server is a production server, meaning that it is always on.

Many operations are done on it, on the duration.

So I need the direct and certain answer from someone, whatever it is favourable with a justification (experienced with success would be the ideal), or not favourable.

Answer 3

In the practise, for him, it consists in loadings which are made in a reasonable time, then slowly, then back reasonably and so on, in a random manner.

So it sounds like the root problem is that your Chief is experiencing a random network slowdown when accessing a share on some server. Sometimes it performs well, other times it does not. Is that correct?

By setting those 3 registry entries to 0, I would expect his performance to get worse. Especially if the PC is on a slow network link. By disabling the cache, you will be forcing the PC to make more calls over the network to the server that is hosting the share.

When a slowdown occurs, you have no way of knowing if a backup is running on the file server and overloading the disk. Or if another user is downloading a large file and the network link has reached 100% capacity. Or if the anti-virus product on the PC has initiated a scan that is overloading the PC's cpu/memory/disk.

You really need to get your server, network, and desktop support teams involved to troubleshoot the problem. You should not be making registry changes without a full understanding of the impact of those changes.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/performance-tuning/role/file-server/

Can we copy 3 particular registry keys from Workstation to Server, in order to avoid many modifications?

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