The cache is a temporary storage area that holds frequently accessed data or instructions for faster retrieval. The cache can improve the read times for accessing files by reducing the need to access the hard drive, which is slower than the cache memory1. Therefore, the first step the technician should take is to check if the cache is turned on for the new file server. If the cache is turned off, the technician should enable it and see if the read times improve. The other options are incorrect because they are not the first steps to take.
Adding more memory, installing faster hard drives, or enabling link aggregation are possible ways to improve the performance of the file server, but they are more costly and time-consuming than checking the cache.
Moreover, they may not address the root cause of the problem if the cache is turned off.