[sims] Sims Server Performance Benchmarks - 2016 Edition

[Sam_Brown]

Hi All,

 

There was a great thread a few years back where people posted some SIMS Performance Benchmarks. We've had reports of SIMS running slowly so wanted to compare our experiences with the rest of the world to see how we fare.

 

School Info

1,500 student school (SQL 2012, Solus 2, Discover)

 

Sims server

Virtual VMWare 5.5, 16GB RAM, 4 Cores on Xeon "X5650" @ 2.67ghz,

 

Sims Benchmarks

13 Seconds Client Login Time (from entering password to front page)

21 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

05 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

N\A Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 10.6 GB

Sims.ldf - 1.6 GB

Simsdiscover_Primary.mdf - 924 MB

Simsdiscover_Primary.ldf - 2.3 GB

Edited February 26, 2016 by Sam_Brown

[psydii]

We have similar figures, except that the "search for smith" returns pretty much instantly.

[Sam_Brown]

We have similar figures, except that the "search for smith" returns pretty much instantly.

 

Thanks!

[bossman]

School Info

800 student school (SQL 2014, Solus3, Discover)

 

Sims server

Virtual Hyper-V, 10GB RAM, 4 Cores on Xeon "X5649" @ 2.53ghz dual processors,

 

Sims Benchmarks

8 Seconds Client Login Time (from entering password to front page)

15 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

01 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

4 Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 4.3 GB

Sims.ldf - 56 MB

Simsdiscover_Primary.mdf - 498 MB

Simsdiscover_Primary.ldf - 1.3 GB

[ITGURU]

School Info

1,100 student school (SQL 2012, Solus 3,)

 

Sims server

Physical Server, 24GB RAM, Dual 6 Core CPU E5645 @ 2.40ghz,

 

Sims Benchmarks

5 Seconds Client Login Time - SSDs (from entering password to front page)

1 Seconds Clicking next to go through each students full record

2Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

9 seconds sims login time on server.

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 8.5 GB

Sims.ldf - 757 MB

[vikpaw]

LDF files shouldn't really be in GB for SIMS.

They seem very high for Discover too - is this normal for typical usage?

 

It would be good if we could gauge feelings of slowness in the school. Even just the techs' point of view based on user feedback. You might have similar stats and no complaints or better stats and a lot of complaints.

[bossman]

@vikpaw:

 

Typo:

Simsdiscover_Primary.mdf - 1.3 GB

Simsdiscover_Primary.ldf - 498 MB

 

There that looks better

[mrbios]

School Info

1,200 student school (SQL 2012, Solus 3, Discover)

 

Sims server

VMWare 6, 24GB RAM, 4 Cores on Xeon E5-2620v3

 

Sims Benchmarks

4.5 Seconds Client Login Time (from entering password to front page)

12 seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

2 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

4 Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 9.68 GB

Sims.ldf - 230mb

Simsdiscover_Primary.mdf - 2.1 GB

Simsdiscover_Primary.ldf - 1 GB

Edited February 29, 2016 by mrbios

[synaesthesia]

School Info

1200 student school (SQL 2012, Solus3, Discover)

 

Sims server

Physical, 48GB RAM, Dual Xeon L5520 @ 2.27GHz on Server 2012

 

Sims Benchmarks

6 Seconds Client Login Time (from entering password to front page)

135 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group (!!!!!)

Instant Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

9 Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 8.8 GB

Sims.ldf - 1.2GB

Simsdiscover.mdf - 864 MB

Simsdiscover.ldf - 4.2 GB

 

 

Ouch

[mrbios]

135 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group (!!!!!)

 

Ouch

 

Unless your reg groups have hundreds of kids, something's definitely not right there!

 

What sort of storage if that server running on?

[synaesthesia]

Nearline SAS. It's possible someone else is running a large report or something, but when they do that (data manager or SIMS manager) it tends to make SIMS near unusable for the majority of users. Disk usage isn't particularly high when running those reports either. Edited February 29, 2016 by synaesthesia

[SimonCygnetIT]

Nearline SAS. It's possible someone else is running a large report or something, but when they do that (data manager or SIMS manager) it tends to make SIMS near unusable for the majority of users. Disk usage isn't particularly high when running those reports either.

 

When the report is run is the CPU usage on the server going up in to the high 90's / 100 percent?

[mrbios]

Nearline SAS. It's possible someone else is running a large report or something, but when they do that (data manager or SIMS manager) it tends to make SIMS near unusable for the majority of users. Disk usage isn't particularly high when running those reports either.

 

I used to get that very same problem, right up until i replaced the SAN my VMs were running on (which was a pretty cheap and naff infortrend thing) with a Nimble. Data manager used to be able to basically bring down the sims server for up to 20 minutes doing various tasks.

[synaesthesia]

Oddly it's just managed it in about 10 seconds. No high CPU usage when it's running, doesn't go above 10%. A tiny bit concerned that cystaldiskmark is showing the RAID10 data array as slower than the RAID1 system drives.

[splattthecat]

LDF files shouldn't really be in GB for SIMS.

They seem very high for Discover too - is this normal for typical usage?

 

It would be good if we could gauge feelings of slowness in the school. Even just the techs' point of view based on user feedback. You might have similar stats and no complaints or better stats and a lot of complaints.

 

The Discover overnight transfer can cause the SIMS ldf file to grow significantly in a school where Discover Aspects are used extensively. Up to 12Gb in size at one of our schools, where the MDF is just over 8Gb. Hopefully this will be addressed in the Autumn upgrade, along with a couple of other major headaches the Discover transfer is causing us!

[ajg]

School Info

1260 student school (SQL 2014, Solus3)

 

Sims server

Virtual, 36GB RAM, 4 Cores on Xeon X5650 @ 2.67ghz dual processors,

 

Sims Benchmarks

10 Seconds Client Login Time (from launching Sims to front page using trusted logon)

145 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

5 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

6 Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 14 GB

Sims.ldf - 501 MB

 

We've been having major problems when someone runs even simple reports it takes a long time to complete and effectively locks out everyone from Sims while it is running. Have tried various fixes via our Council support team and have even sent a copy of the database to Capita to look at but apparently there is nothing wrong with it. As a last resort we rebuilt the VM from scratch with a clean install of SQL 2014 (the original server was an upgrade) and allocated more RAM but still have problems running simple reports. We used to be fine but I think the sudden drop in performance happened around the Summer Sims upgrade.

[SpaceInvader83]

If you preview the report as oppose to running it do you find it much quicker?

[SimonCygnetIT]

If you have the capacity try setting up a new VM with SIMS on SQL 2012 and try the same reports. See if it makes a difference.

[jinnantonnixx]

School Info

1260 student school (SQL 2014, Solus3)

 

Sims server

Virtual, 36GB RAM, 4 Cores on Xeon X5650 @ 2.67ghz dual processors,

 

Sims Benchmarks

10 Seconds Client Login Time (from launching Sims to front page using trusted logon)

145 Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

5 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

6 Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

Sims Database

Sims.mdf - 14 GB

Sims.ldf - 501 MB

 

We've been having major problems when someone runs even simple reports it takes a long time to complete and effectively locks out everyone from Sims while it is running. Have tried various fixes via our Council support team and have even sent a copy of the database to Capita to look at but apparently there is nothing wrong with it. As a last resort we rebuilt the VM from scratch with a clean install of SQL 2014 (the original server was an upgrade) and allocated more RAM but still have problems running simple reports. We used to be fine but I think the sudden drop in performance happened around the Summer Sims upgrade.

 

Have you switched compatibility to 2012? There's a known problem with SIMS and native SQL 2014, discovered by aaron here:

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/147490-sims-slow-after-upgrade-sql-2014-a.html

[jinnantonnixx]

How are you guys partitioning your systems? Ideally, you should have the OS, data drive, log drive and temp drive on their own LUNs or at least separate physical disks. If everything is stuck on a single drive, you're generating your own I/O bottleneck.

 

https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/02/when-should-you-put-data-and-logs-on-the-same-drive/

[zebulunn]

I was told the ldf is only supposed to be a under a few MB.

If you backup your database daily, it should clean up the older stuff afterwards.

[SpaceInvader83]

School Info

1186 student school (SQL 2012, Solus2)

 

Sims server

VMware, 24GB RAM, 6 Cores on Xeon E5-2640 @ 2.49ghz , HP Lefthand SAN

 

 

 

Sims Benchmarks

5 Seconds Client Login Time (from launching Sims to front page using trusted logon)

160 (16seconds if no one else is running reports, I can see blocking when querying the sims db while running the report) Seconds Reports >> Students >> addresses >> Year 7 >> 1 Reg Group

8 Seconds Search "Smith" student name in main screen search box

1 Second Search "Smith" student name in main students screen search box

1 Second Find Student Page

N/A Seconds Solus 3 launch on server

 

ldf - 203MB

mdf - 8.1GB

 

I seem to suffer from similar issues to others here, mine is evident as when I look at when the slowness occurs I can see blocking on the SQL server, so someone running a large report can bring Sims.net to a grinding halt, soon as this blocking clears it all goes back to normal. This is probably a config issue at my end but I've never really been able to nail it down to anything, admittedly my mdf and ldf are on my OS drive but my initial reading led me to believe as we run on a SAN this shouldn't be any issue, this may not be the case.

[ajg]

Yes we are in SQL 2012 compatibility mode and have tried numerous patches from Capita but alas have made no difference.

 

General use of Sims seems as normal, it's just when any reports are being run it all grinds to a halt, seems to make no difference if running a preview report or an actual report.

 

We currently have all the log files, database files etc on one SAN but tried a little while ago separating the database onto our SAN fibre tray so was on different physical disks but that didn't make any difference either.

[mrbios]

I used to get the exact issues you're all encountering and it was entirely down to storage performance for me, i changed nothing but the storage and the problem was resolved. Have you checked what the performance results are like of your SAN when running the reports?

 

Not surprising for me personally though, i was using a horrible old iSCSI SAN that was about as useful as a chocolate teapot compared to more expensive/modern SANs.

[splattthecat]

Yes we are in SQL 2012 compatibility mode and have tried numerous patches from Capita but alas have made no difference.

 

General use of Sims seems as normal, it's just when any reports are being run it all grinds to a halt, seems to make no difference if running a preview report or an actual report.

 

We currently have all the log files, database files etc on one SAN but tried a little while ago separating the database onto our SAN fibre tray so was on different physical disks but that didn't make any difference either.

 

Are you using http or tcp for your SIMS Document Management Server? We use tcp as we found performance better in a few schools. In Tools | Setups | Document Management Server how long does it take Test server connection to respond?