[sims] SIMS Server performance query

[timbo343]

Moving the SIMS server to SSD storage made a big difference for us. The queries which took an age to run and locked the DB now take a fraction of the time to run which then mostly stopped the complaints.... if your not that familiar with SIMS definitely worth getting the support provider to check the patches, and that the housekeeping stuff is being run.

 

We are on SQL 2014 and have had no issues since the CTF patch dramas.

 

SSD storage will be a big boost in performance however we haven't got the funds to replace our SAN with SSD drives .

[kennysarmy]

SSD storage will be a big boost in performance however we haven't got the funds to replace our SAN with SSD drives .

 

Neither do we

[kernits]

SSD storage will be a big boost in performance however we haven't got the funds to replace our SAN with SSD drives .

 

We have local storage rather than a SAN with one server having a mix of SSD storage and mechanical. All VMS that run SQL are on the SSD array. Our budget is tiny for a secondary so a SAN would never be possible. It is the best I can do at present.

[matt40k]

SSD storage will be a big boost in performance however we haven't got the funds to replace our SAN with SSD drives .

2x SSD locally attached is what, £300...

[psydii]

Do you have all of those on the same instance? Our world got noticeably better when sims is on an instance separate from other databases.

 

Also I did read that some configuration of the Teacher home page in pulsar can cause very high CPU loads.

[timbo343]

I think i might have found the issue.

 

Still not heard anything back from our support guys at the LEA however i ran the Validate Memberships early this morning. It took just shy of 3 hours to complete.

 

One of our Admin users was complaining about it yesterday so i went to them today. It was taking near on 40 seconds to save changes against a new medical record. I tested with my SIMS login and it was taking about 9 seconds to save.

 

I've had to remove all the roles from the user's user account and re-add them. Now on testing, the account is saving records in around 10 seconds.

[kennysarmy]

That's very interesting.

 

I've planned some downtime next week to apply the performance patches and archive attendance marks, but perhaps I'll also give this a try!

 

Our data manager stated this week " I took a 1 pupil off roll today and it is still taking between 45-60 seconds per pupil"

[timbo343]

Are the performance patches the ones that havr been mentioned in this thread?

 

I will update this thread later today with what i find but in an office of 5 ladies, 2 of them reported slowness on saving. All machines are the same spec, all have 1gb network feed to them and all running SSDs.

[kennysarmy]

Are the performance patches the ones that havr been mentioned in this thread?

 

I will update this thread later today with what i find but in an office of 5 ladies, 2 of them reported slowness on saving. All machines are the same spec, all have 1gb network feed to them and all running SSDs.

 

These ones: patches 22573 and 20647.

[timbo343]

So it would seem my theory was wrong. The user in question had logged on to their machine and performed a save test for me. This took 40 seconds to save the record.

 

I logged them out of SIMS only, not out of the network and logged in with my login of SIMS on their network session. My account saves the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

So i created a new SIMS user and tried with that. This too saved the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

It would seem to me that some accounts are either broken or corrupt.

 

Is there a way to fix this?

[kennysarmy]

So it would seem my theory was wrong. The user in question had logged on to their machine and performed a save test for me. This took 40 seconds to save the record.

 

I logged them out of SIMS only, not out of the network and logged in with my login of SIMS on their network session. My account saves the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

So i created a new SIMS user and tried with that. This too saved the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

It would seem to me that some accounts are either broken or corrupt.

 

Is there a way to fix this?

 

Would it not just be quicker to create them a new login with the rights they had and delete the (possible) corrupt ones?

[psydii]

So it would seem my theory was wrong. The user in question had logged on to their machine and performed a save test for me. This took 40 seconds to save the record.

 

I logged them out of SIMS only, not out of the network and logged in with my login of SIMS on their network session. My account saves the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

So i created a new SIMS user and tried with that. This too saved the changes of the same record in 11 seconds.

 

It would seem to me that some accounts are either broken or corrupt.

 

Is there a way to fix this?

 

That is definitely worth kicking up to Capita. Something has come unglued.

[timbo343]

Would it not just be quicker to create them a new login with the rights they had and delete the (possible) corrupt ones?

 

It would but said members of staff are also contacts. I'm not sure how it all links if we remove the user.

 

That is definitely worth kicking up to Capita. Something has come unglued.

 

I would contact them directly however i think we have to go through our support channel who are most unhelpful at the moment.

[psydii]

Your LA team should escalate it to Capita. Ask them nicely. If they aren't helpful feed that back to the Data Manager's and the Data Manager's line manager.

 

You could do it in one move: ask them nicely by email, cc'ing the DM and the DM's LM.

[timbo343]

To be honest, the DM will look at me for answers, that's usually how it works here. I was supposed to have a call back but it seems that i'm put to the bottom of the pile on this one!

[psydii]

LA teams tend to move more quickly if they know that the Head teacher is aware you are waiting on them to fix a problem.

 

Basically when people start to see you covering your arse they realise that they might need to do the same. In this case their next move would be to do something about your problem.

[timbo343]

I've had a reply back form our LEA.

 

They have found this document which might help. It's help 2 out of 3 users here.. which ain't bad.

 

KB402470 User-specific performance issues within SIMS .net when saving records

 

KBA-465462-C2N4J2

 

Problem

 

Saving Data in SIMS is slow

Saving Records in SIMS is slow

Save times in SIMS is slow

Takes a long time to save data or records in SIMS.

 

When trying to save a record for (for example) a staff member or student, it takes a very long time to save.

 

If you login as another SIMS user on the same workstation, you do not encounter the same issue.

 

If the affected user logs into SIMS .net on another machine, they do not encounter the same issue - Assuming that they are not using roaming profiles and their My Documents etc... are all stored locally on each machine.

 

Solution

 

This has been found to be caused by the user's My SIMS Documents directory and the following can be done to resolve this issue:

 

1. Login to SIMS .net as the affected SIMS user.

 

2. Go to: Tools > Setups > User Options.

 

3. Under panel 3 - Visual Settings, check the option 'Clear My SIMS Documents on Log Off' and click Save at the top.

 

4. Go to: Focus > Exit

 

Please bear in mind that the SIMS client can 'hang' and take longer than it usually does to close down. Please do not force the application to close and leave it until it has finished.

 

Once it has been closed down, if you then log back into SIMS .net and try saving the record or data again (that previously took a long time to save), then this should be noticeably quicker.

[GeneralDreedle]

Thanks for posting this timbo, didn't work for us :-(

 

We have massive performance problems this term. Reported to SIMS 3 weeks ago and still no response. Every user finding the system really slow. So something clearly broke in one of their million "patches" at the end of summer...

 

If there are other "patches" that clear the log file and reindex their tables I'd love to have them, but how do I get them?

(When I logged the error I specifically asked about Patch 20647 and KB104766 which were referenced yonks ago in the ironically named "knowledge" base.)

[Banjo]

You can log onto the MIS server and open up Managment Studio and click on full backup on the SIMS database. Once this has happened you can then (Tasks) 'Shrink' the log files. This has helped in a couple of our schools that were running slow with big .ldf files.