Approximately every 50 minutes our windows server 2003 hangs. To the best of my knowledge this only seems to happen during business hours. The hang lasts 4 to 8 minutes and nothing can be done on the server or it is extremely slow to respond: Users have trouble logging in, cannot access files, admins cannot access via remote desktop. I have been monitoring the server with Process Monitor. I can clearly see what is going on when the hang happens but I have not been able to narrow down the exact cause. Here is a sample of procmon just before and the start of the hang. The hand starts around 10:58:45. 10:54:39.4162774 AM winlogon.exe 488 375.1617626 NotifyChangeDirectory C:\WINDOWS 10:54:40.4316162 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 1.3228660 FileSystemControl C: 10:54:41.7545352 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 12.9096879 FileSystemControl C: 10:54:42.7439529 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 11.9202788 FileSystemControl C: 10:54:54.6656079 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 6.0089222 FileSystemControl C: 10:54:55.6507540 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 5.0231975 FileSystemControl C: 10:55:00.6745730 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 6.9027063 FileSystemControl C: 10:55:01.6660788 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 5.9107645 FileSystemControl C: 10:55:07.5773296 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 53.1295688 FileSystemControl C: 10:55:08.5725260 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 52.1338138 FileSystemControl C: 10:56:00.7069377 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 15.7731760 FileSystemControl C: 10:56:01.6981914 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 14.7819292 FileSystemControl C: 10:56:16.5513326 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 134.1636035 FileSystemControl C: 10:56:17.4810894 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 133.2334124 FileSystemControl C: 10:56:20.4175591 AM winlogon.exe 488 404.5057728 NotifyChangeDirectory C:\WINDOWS\system32 10:56:39.6990139 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 11.0448142 FileSystemControl D: 10:56:51.5296576 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 30.2459250 FileSystemControl D: 10:57:22.7618803 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 132.2979860 FileSystemControl D: 10:58:30.7149904 AM ntfrs.exe 2736 77.9866969 FileSystemControl C: 10:58:31.7003477 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 68.0068046 FileSystemControl C: 10:58:45.5295841 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9992313 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.crt 10:58:54.5290978 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9998413 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.crt 10:58:59.8890935 AM jqs.exe 2400 8.9992888 CreateFile C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\classes.jsa 10:59:03.5400127 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9890735 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.key 10:59:05.0063655 AM LogMeInSystray.exe 9228 8.9915262 CreateFile C:\Program Files\LogMeIn\x86\LogMeIn.dll 10:59:05.0137668 AM winlogon.exe 488 8.9997570 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll 10:59:08.8889343 AM jqs.exe 2400 8.9995711 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\setupapi.dll 10:59:12.5293983 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9998024 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.key 10:59:13.9996924 AM LogMeIn.exe 2600 8.9983289 CreateFile C:\Program Files\LogMeIn\x86\LogMeIn.dll 10:59:14.0135549 AM winlogon.exe 488 9.0000247 CreateFileMapping C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll 10:59:17.8885363 AM jqs.exe 2400 9.0000994 CreateFileMapping C:\WINDOWS\system32\setupapi.dll 10:59:17.9400965 AM Dfssvc.exe 2056 8.9954370 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\activeds.tlb 10:59:21.5299719 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9994286 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.crt 10:59:26.9431476 AM jqs.exe 2400 8.9925425 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\setupapi.dll 10:59:26.9454082 AM Dfssvc.exe 2056 8.9902588 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\activeds.tlb 10:59:30.5297019 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9997620 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ActiveRC.crt 10:59:30.7017425 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 8.9995889 CreateFile C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS.chk 10:59:34.9204407 AM winlogon.exe 488 8.9996861 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll 10:59:35.0066013 AM LogMeInSystray.exe 9228 8.9916909 CreateFile C:\Program Files\LogMeIn\x86\LogMeIn.dll 10:59:35.1412695 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 8.9977144 FileSystemControl D: 10:59:35.9357473 AM jqs.exe 2400 9.0000552 CreateFileMapping C:\WINDOWS\system32\setupapi.dll 10:59:35.9476283 AM Dfssvc.exe 2056 8.9881695 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\activeds.tlb 10:59:39.5470190 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9981921 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ExpiringRC.crt 10:59:39.7072647 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 8.9944316 FileSystemControl C: 10:59:39.7073329 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 8.9944260 CloseFile C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS.chk 10:59:43.9201564 AM winlogon.exe 488 9.0001085 CreateFileMapping C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSCTF.dll 10:59:44.0000193 AM LogMeIn.exe 2600 8.9984169 CreateFile C:\Program Files\LogMeIn\x86\LogMeIn.dll 10:59:44.9387174 AM jqs.exe 2400 8.9972567 CreateFile C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\content-types.properties 10:59:44.9445664 AM Dfssvc.exe 2056 8.9914298 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\activeds.tlb 10:59:45.1395758 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 17.0016695 FileSystemControl D: 10:59:45.1403659 AM SearchIndexer.exe 6956 8.9986557 CreateFile C:\WINDOWS\system32\SearchProtocolHost.exe 10:59:45.6082622 AM explorer.exe 9756 8.9996254 CreateFile C:\Program Files\Windows Desktop Search\WindowsSearchRes.dll 10:59:45.6083579 AM Explorer.EXE 5240 8.9995154 CreateFile C:\Program Files\Windows Desktop Search\WindowsSearchRes.dll 10:59:48.5454475 AM beserver.exe 4156 8.9999515 CreateFile D:\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\Data\ExpiringRC.crt

Hello, does the server use SP2 and all latest Windows updates? What about the hardware, are all drivers up to date? Is BackupExec running during the hang time? Which additional server roles are installed, please list all of them?Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Hello, I would also try disable Symantec backup and check if it still hangs periodically. Please also disable all other non-Microsoft software by start the server in Clean Boot. 1. Type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER to start the System Configuration utility. 2. uncheck all non-Microsoft startup items and services. Thanks Zhang

Hello, I would also try disable Symantec backup and check if it still hangs periodically. Please also disable all other non-Microsoft software by start the server in Clean Boot. 1. Type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER to start the System Configuration utility. 2. uncheck all non-Microsoft startup items and services. Thanks Zhang