Hallo all! We have a performace problem with the following configuration: - Server 900 MHz, 1 GB RAM, 5 HD (1 System , 2/3 Raid 1, 4/5 Raid 1) Raidcontroller with 32 MB Ram on Board HD > 7200 RPM Navision (Cache 350MB), Commit Cache Yes, Native DB 40 Users → (10 of 40 using (Citrix)) normal Day 300 Ordes with aprox. 40 Positions hot Day 600 Orders with aprox 40-60 Positions Database Size 14 GB / 10 GB Used Split over 2 Parts - Problem: Posting of invoices stops all other clients (normal because lock table) DB - Info → HD Utilisation 100 % in Moment of Position Large Amount of Positings in Queue (70000) - Hardware Controlle can write 10 MB/ s (Check with copy 1 file from HD (2/3) to HD (4/5). → This is a goog value [:)] - Raidcountrolle Monitor gives an Information that the Navision Server uses only 1 MB / s of controller Speed [:(] Can anybody help me For Your Help, thanks a lot Best Regards Dirk Biwoll You can also write me directly dirk.biwoll@astongroup.ch
Hi. First of all I think You should have more disk. With 40 users You should at least have 4 disk pairs in RAID-1 for the database files. Maybe even more if theres a lot of posting going on. This will double Your write performance compared with today. Up to eight database parts on separate disk will give You a linear performance increase. Also make sure You have really good network cards on Your server and the Citrix server. Think of all the traffic that the network card will have to deal with on Your Citrix! If the above doesn’t help You should consider not to let the clients do the invoicing if possible. Maybe just let F11 update a field on the header and let application server (which can run on a fast server on Gigabit network) do the periodically. Maybe at nighttime. But then You will need to upgrade You executables. This You should do anyway. Version before 3.01B has a slight risk for database corruption when You have many users and big volumes. You will also gain performance with newer versions. With new executables You will also have access to new functionality as HotCopy and Application server. Both great products! //Lars
Hi Dirk, I totally agree with Lars here. From these numbers, it looks like you have 7Gb per drive, compared to the recommended 2 Gb. You really should look at 7 Raid 1 Drive arrays (14 drives), it probably makes more snse to go for 8, and split them over at least 2 controlers. But even though your hardware is not really up to spec, lets look at this… Navision runs pretty much OK with 20,000 sales lines per day, out of the box, no special hardware, so your 12,000 should not be any problem at all, even the 36,000 per “hot” day should not really cause that many problems. Also 2.60 does not have any dimensions or value entries to worry about, so even though performance should be expected to be below par, it should still be usable. Therefore, you do need to look further. You say that your disk array is not reaching full performance, but I am not sure if that indicates anything. You mention that the Navision DB reaches 100% utilization, is that reading or writing? The next thing you need to look at, is if there have been any modifications to the system. To me that seems like a more likely source of the poor performance. As a further point, I have worked with many clients to help with performance issues, and in all cases, there was never one single cause, or one single solution to speed up the system, it is normally a combination of a number of issues. Of course Harware is the fastest and simplest solution. And in any case, you do need more drives, and it will definitely make the system faster.
PS also as Lars says, upgrading the executables to 3.60 would be a good move.
quote:
Originally posted by Lars Westman
Hi. First of all I think You should have more disk. With 40 users You should at least have 4 disk pairs in RAID-1 for the database files. Maybe even more if theres a lot of posting going on. This will double Your write performance compared with today. Up to eight database parts on separate disk will give You a linear performance increase. Also make sure You have really good network cards on Your server and the Citrix server. Think of all the traffic that the network card will have to deal with on Your Citrix! If the above doesn’t help You should consider not to let the clients do the invoicing if possible. Maybe just let F11 update a field on the header and let application server (which can run on a fast server on Gigabit network) do the periodically. Maybe at nighttime. But then You will need to upgrade You executables. This You should do anyway. Version before 3.01B has a slight risk for database corruption when You have many users and big volumes. You will also gain performance with newer versions. With new executables You will also have access to new functionality as HotCopy and Application server. Both great products! //Lars
Thank You for your fast help. First we are working on new hardware. This is running in moment. We will upgrade to a new server with raid controller with 128 MB Hardware Cahce on Board. We also plan larger amount of harddisks. First step we setup to 5 harddisks. Later we can have more. We also plan a technical Setup to 3.6 beacause we will use navision in combination with application server (Internet Information Server). So i hope that I can look forward with a faster system. [:)] best regards Dirk Biwoll
Hi Dirk, I don’t think you need a better server, just more drives. Also the RAID cache is not going to help too much, my gut feeling, is that Commit speed is your issue, not read. Cache will not help that. ONLY extra drives will. Also you do need to check if there were any mods made that affect posting. These will have a much biger impact than hardware. Also make absolutely certain that Navision is the only thing running on the server.
Hi again. I agree with David (again [:)]). I haven’t seen controller cache do any good. Anyway it’s not recommended to use write cache even if You have battery backup on the controller! Just make sure You have many drives. Never go over 4Gb on one database file. Best to keep it on 2Gb. Use good network cards and make sure You have a fast network. /Lars
OK, thank you for your fast help, i think we can close this topic. best regards Dirk Biwoll [:)]