AWS ec2 core windows shared network drive latency

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Hi there,

I am having two ec2 windows core server acting as application servers which is connected to front-end web servers and backend DBs. We are generating excel spreadsheet reports dynamically everyday and we used to share the spreadsheets from the ec2 instances (fileserver ) without any issues in the beginning. As the dataset becomes larger and larger we have found really high latencies for the users to access the excel sheets as their network drives and most of the time the application freezes, We have changed the instance type to relatively high specification ( as this server only have excel sheets) and the issue remains the same. Can anyone advice what are the best available solutions for our users to see the daily generated reports without any latency.

NB: Because these are core windows server troubleshooting is a nightmare!

Thanks in advance, Suji

asked a year ago265 views
1 Answer
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Hello there, Greetings of the day and I hope you are well! Thank you for contacting AWS re:Post. My name is Ankit and I’ll be assisting you on this case.

I understand that you are facing network drive latency with your Windows Core EC2 Instances. Please correct me if I have misunderstood anything related to your case.

ANALYSIS ***Query : Can anyone advice what are the best available solutions for our users to see the daily generated reports without any latency.


Answer : To set the right expectations, due to strict Data Privacy & Shared Responsibility Model:

AWS Support Engineers do not have any access or authorisation to view any content or applications inside your AWS Instances. Excel being a third party application our scope of understanding is very limited. However, I will assist you to the best of my knowledge and effort. Since the type of File Share or WebApp you're using is not clear, I am providing the below links of General Guidance basis :

[+] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/excel/save-file-to-network-drive [+] https://woshub.com/slow-network-shared-folder-refresh-windows-server/ [+] https://serverfault.com/questions/449305/optimize-windows-file-access-over-network

Regarding the troubleshooting the EC2 part, First and the foremost thing you can check in your EC2 to ensure you're at optimal performance are EC2 Drivers. Please ensure your system has latest PV Drivers [XEN] or ENA+NVMe [Latest Nitro Generation] :

PowerShell Command to check drive version : Get-WmiObject Win32_PnpSignedDriver | Select-Object DeviceName, DriverVersion, InfName | Where-Object {$.DeviceName -like "AWS" -OR $.DeviceName -like "Amazon"}

[+] Migrate to latest generation instance types - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/migrating-latest-types.html

If you're using newer generation instance running on Nitro Platform, ensure that you have enhanced networking enabled : [+] Enable enhanced networking with the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) on Windows instances - Enable enhanced networking on Windows - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/enhanced-networking-ena.html#enable-enhanced-networking-ena-windows

Next thing you can check is the volume performance of the attached root volume or secondary volume that is involved in the datasheet generation : [+] https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/ebs-volume-troubleshoot-performance [+] https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/ebs-aggregate-cloudwatch-performance

For troubleshooting the network related issues : [+] https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/network-issue-vpc-onprem-ig [+] https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/networking-and-content-delivery/debugging-tool-for-network-connectivity-from-amazon-vpc/

I hope that the given information and action plan is helpful to you.

If you feel we can provide any additional assistance with regard to this matter, please consider reaching us via opening a support case with detailed information of your use case and we would be glad to continue working on this issue with you.

Thank you and Have a great day ahead!

AWS
SUPPORT ENGINEER
answered a year ago

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