More then 100.000 folders in one folder

Hello,

we have an performance issue, sometimes our server has a lack of
performance.
Operating System Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 (both give the performance
problemens)
When opening the Explorer and only the drive which contains the files (not
the folder) the explorer is using 50 - 90 % of the CPU and the memory is
fluctuating between 60 and 110 kb, it fluctuates continouisly.

I think that the problem is caused by this :
We've an application which uses in ONE single folder more then 105.000
folders, each folder contains ONE single file.

I told it to our programmers but they don't see any problems with it. I've
some questions :
** 1 ** Has Microsoft a recommendation about the maximum number of files in
one folder?
** 2 ** Which performance counters are the best to use to monitor if this is
a problem?

thank you in advance,

Marco J.L.
com

Marco,

You might want to think about posting to a newsgroup supporting the
operating systems that you are using. For example this is a newsgroup
supporting those using the Windows Millennium (Win Me) operating system
which amongst other things does not support the NTFS filing system but
instead uses the FAT32 (or even FAT16) system which doesn't allow more
than 64,000 thousand entries in a folder. Win Me is an operating system
that was targeted at the home user.

Personally I feel that like yourself the folder structure you describe is
quite unnecessary and is almost bound to give problems and that those
responsible should look to introduce some more sensible folder hierarchy.
You might also want to have a look on the various MSDN and TechNet support
sites for a white paper that specifically addresses the question.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Marco J.L. wrote:
Hello,

we have an performance issue, sometimes our server has a lack of
performance.
Operating System Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 (both give the
performance problemens)
When opening the Explorer and only the drive which contains the files
(not the folder) the explorer is using 50 - 90 % of the CPU and the
memory is fluctuating between 60 and 110 kb, it fluctuates
continouisly.

I think that the problem is caused by this :
We've an application which uses in ONE single folder more then 105.000
folders, each folder contains ONE single file.

I told it to our programmers but they don't see any problems with it.
I've some questions :
** 1 ** Has Microsoft a recommendation about the maximum number of
files in one folder?
** 2 ** Which performance counters are the best to use to monitor if
this is a problem?