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SQL Server Forum / General / Other SQL Server Topics / August 2008Optimizing Application Purformance
Hi, First post here and let me say up front that I am completely and utterly ignorant about SQL servers. I don't know what one is and I didn't even know that I had one until I was browsing around in my Microsoft Office Accounting 08 Application. So if you can be helpful then also be gentle. For the last week or so the OA application has been brutally slow. It is slow to load and slow in performing the different processes (e.g., invoicing, bill paying, etc.) Beginning yesteday it would sometimes complete hang up and report "Not responding." With the exception of have intermittent bouts of slow internet service, I am not have similiar performance issues with other applications. I posted my symptoms on the MS Small Business Accounting group but got no responses so I started digging around and stumbled on this thing called SQL Server. I am wondering if this beast could be the cause of my problem and how I might troubleshoot and fix it. Thank you.  SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org In all candour, you should look for a local SQL Server DBA who can come in and troubleshoot this. It will take quite a few iterations to narrow things down via this forum. A trained DBA should be able to define localize the problem in short order. SignatureTom ---------------------------------------------------- Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA, MCITP, MCTS SQL Server MVP Toronto, ON Canada https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Tom.Moreau Hi, First post here and let me say up front that I am completely and utterly ignorant about SQL servers. I don't know what one is and I didn't even know that I had one until I was browsing around in my Microsoft Office Accounting 08 Application. So if you can be helpful then also be gentle. For the last week or so the OA application has been brutally slow. It is slow to load and slow in performing the different processes (e.g., invoicing, bill paying, etc.) Beginning yesteday it would sometimes complete hang up and report "Not responding." With the exception of have intermittent bouts of slow internet service, I am not have similiar performance issues with other applications. I posted my symptoms on the MS Small Business Accounting group but got no responses so I started digging around and stumbled on this thing called SQL Server. I am wondering if this beast could be the cause of my problem and how I might troubleshoot and fix it. Thank you. SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Tom, Thanks for your candor. I live in a very remote part of western North Carolina and I would wager that there isn't a trained SQL DBA with 75 miles of here ;-). If you or anyone else is game for the iterations then so am I. SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org > In all candour, you should look for a local SQL Server DBA who can come > in [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Thank you. Ouch! Well, if you can't contract someone to look at it via remote access, then it will take some time here. Some thoughts: 1) You may have disk problems, e.g. a failed disk in a RAID 5 array. 2) Indexes need rebuilding 3) Store proc needs recompiling 4) Badly written app 5) etc. What happens when you start and stop SQL Server? Does the problem co away? SignatureTom ---------------------------------------------------- Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA, MCITP, MCTS SQL Server MVP Toronto, ON Canada https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Tom.Moreau Tom, Thanks for your candor. I live in a very remote part of western North Carolina and I would wager that there isn't a trained SQL DBA with 75 miles of here ;-). If you or anyone else is game for the iterations then so am I. SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org > In all candour, you should look for a local SQL Server DBA who can come > in [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Thank you. Tom, I am with you (as we both can be) for the long haul but the haul has to start at the very, very beginning. 1. I don't know how to check for a disk problem. I did Disk Defragment with no problems reportd. 2. Don't know what an indes is or how to rebuild it. 3. Don't know what Store proc is or how to recompile it. 4. The application was written by Microsoft if that helps. I do not know how to start and stop the SQL Server. I can say that the issues are most pronounced when I first start the appliationn. Very slow to load and slow to respond. Seems to get better the more I use it. Thanks for what time and effort you are willing to spend with me on this. I am sure that you are like me and can't spend all day sitting at a PC so there could be long breaks between replies. I understand. Greg > Ouch! Well, if you can't contract someone to look at it via remote > access, then it will take some time here. Some thoughts: [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] >> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org OK, if it is slow at first, but improves over time, this is normal. SQL Server uses memory as data cache. SQL never reads data from disk directly. Rather, it pulls the data from disk and places it into data cache. It reads it from there. If it is already there, it does not need to get it from disk. When SQL Server is started, data cache is purged. Therefore, it has to go to disk to get it - and that takes time. Once the data cache has data in it, you should start to see improved performance. SQL Server loves memory. The more memory it has, the more data it can put into cache. If it runs out of cache, it purges data from cache based on which was least recently used. As for the application, it is possible that the app does something similar when you fire it up. For example, it could fire off a bunch of queries and once they have completed, it refers to the data in memory instead of having to go back to SQL Server to get it. As for disk, although defragging helps, it does not fix a problem with a RAID array. If you are not a techie, you may need to open a support call with Microsoft and have them look over your shoulder with Easy Assist. SignatureTom ---------------------------------------------------- Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA, MCITP, MCTS SQL Server MVP Toronto, ON Canada https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Tom.Moreau Tom, I am with you (as we both can be) for the long haul but the haul has to start at the very, very beginning. 1. I don't know how to check for a disk problem. I did Disk Defragment with no problems reportd. 2. Don't know what an indes is or how to rebuild it. 3. Don't know what Store proc is or how to recompile it. 4. The application was written by Microsoft if that helps. I do not know how to start and stop the SQL Server. I can say that the issues are most pronounced when I first start the appliationn. Very slow to load and slow to respond. Seems to get better the more I use it. Thanks for what time and effort you are willing to spend with me on this. I am sure that you are like me and can't spend all day sitting at a PC so there could be long breaks between replies. I understand. Greg Tom Moreau wrote: > Ouch! Well, if you can't contract someone to look at it via remote > access, then it will take some time here. Some thoughts: [quoted text clipped - 78 lines] >> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Tom, Thanks. I suppose this will be a summary reply to everyone nice enough to offer their assistance. The company is very small. So small that it certainly can't afford database managers or consultants on an hourly basis. I certainly don't have time try to get someone from Microsoft on the line. I therefore understand that none of you have time to try to walk me through a process that you would normally be paid to do. I was hoping that it might be something simple. It isn't so I will live with it until it quits working altogether and then do somthing else. Thanks again. SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org > OK, if it is slow at first, but improves over time, this is normal. SQL > Server uses memory as data cache. SQL never reads data from disk [quoted text clipped - 130 lines] >>> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >>> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org I would check to see how much memory SQL Server is using. Chances are you are not using more than 2GB for SQL Server so you can do a quick and dirty way of looking at task manager. You might need to set the MAX Memory to allow room for other apps running on that server. SignatureAndrew J. Kelly SQL MVP Solid Quality Mentors > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Thank you. Andrew, Thanks. You are way over my head. I am willing to try what you suggest but I don't know where to begin. > I would check to see how much memory SQL Server is using. Chances are > you are not using more than 2GB for SQL Server so you can do a quick [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Are you saying Task Manager is over your head? Hopefully not and if you look in Task Manager for the SQLServer exe you will see how much memory it is currently consuming. How much memory does it show and how much memory does the server have in total? What about all the other apps on that server? They all need x amount of memory to work properly and if you don't have enough things can get slow while the memory is swapped around. SignatureAndrew J. Kelly SQL MVP Solid Quality Mentors > Andrew, > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >>> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >>> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Andrew, Ok you mean Windows Task Manager. No not over my head I don't suppose, but I have really never had need to use it. SQL Server is using 395.712K of Mem usage. That is an order of magnitude + more than any other procceses. The next being explorer.exe using 31,612. The part that is over my head is "Set Max memory." Where, how? and, "or other apps running on that server." I don't know what other apps are running on that server. Like I said in the being, I didn't even know the server existed until I was poking around and noticed that it was tied with Office Accounting 2008. Thanks. > Are you saying Task Manager is over your head? Hopefully not and if > you look in Task Manager for the SQLServer exe you will see how much [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > properly and if you don't have enough things can get slow while the > memory is swapped around. >> Andrew, >> [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Well if it is only using 400K of memory that is probably not an issue but it is hard to say without knowing much more about your setup and usage. I wouldn't worry about the Max Memory at this point. SignatureAndrew J. Kelly SQL MVP Solid Quality Mentors > Andrew, > [quoted text clipped - 66 lines] >>> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >>> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Thanks Andrew. > Well if it is only using 400K of memory that is probably not an issue > but it is hard to say without knowing much more about your setup and [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] >> My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org >> Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org SignatureGreg Maxey - Word MVP My web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org 1) Get the Microsoft Office Accounting tech support people on the phone and describe your situation and have the purveyors of the package help you. 2) Whether or not you do 1 above, you simply MUST get a dedicated resource to help you. Remote is doable only if you have someone there that can set up a VPN so a person can connect into your network and do stuff directly on your server. I would venture a guess that your accounting package is pretty critical to the running of the company and not only must it perform adequately but it must also be secured and backed up properly as well. Someone must do this and it can't be you due to lack of skills/training therefore it must be someone from outside the company. I don't know your company's size or revenue but you may want to consider an arrangement with one of the remote database management companies. Or just engage a consultant on a part-time hourly basis to get things under control and set up backup/maintenance stuff and then simply respond as needed. SignatureKevin G. Boles Indicium Resources, Inc. SQL Server MVP kgboles a earthlink dt net > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Thank you. |
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