Revelation Windows 2000 Service 1.5 (NT Service) Performance Tuning Tips (General)
Created at 27 APR 2000 04:50PM
Introduction
Following the installation of the Revelation Windows 2000 1.5 (formerly called NT Service 1.5) , it is common to accompany the installation with some performance tuning.
The following procedures enhance performance in most instances, including reports of Windows 2000/NT Server slowdowns. When implementing these procedures, the server should be up when the workstations reboot, and the workstations are not logged into the server at the time of reboot.
Please note that applications previously running on a Novell Server that have been migrated to Windows 2000/NT Server will likely notice a slow down in performance. Even under optimum conditions, the Revelation Windows 2000 1.5 Service running on Windows 2000/NT Server will perform slower than the Revelation NLM on Novell Netware. This is not true if you run the 2000/NT Service 2.1. Please refer to the Benchmarktesting document for comparable times.
The Seven Windows 2000 Service Speedup Steps
1. Edit the system Config file to increase the file handlers to a value greater than 100, but less than 254 (the maximum file handlers). For DOS FAT formatted hard drives, the config file is called C:\config.sys. For Windows 2000/NT NTFS formatted hard drives, the config file is called C:\config.nt. Open up your config file with notepad, and insert the line:
Files=200
2. Log out all users and stop, remove and recreate the linear hash service. This step must be performed physically on the server. From a command line, change directories to the Windows 2000 Service directory (usually Revsoft/W2000Service). Then, stop, remove, and recreate the linear hash service by typing:
lhsrvc stop
lhsrvc remove
lhsrvc create
3. Unmap all of the workstations from the server. From within Explorer menu, choose Tools, then Disconnect network drive, and select the appropriate drive letter.
4. Reboot the server.
5. Reboot the workstations.
6. Remap the workstations to the server. From within Explorer menu, choose Tools, then Map network drive, and select the server from the dropdown list.
7. Launch your application.
Please note: Slowdown may be the result of loss of Trusted Status between client and server following Revelation Windows 2000 Service install. In general, logging out the client user, then logging back in will restore this Trusted Status and increase performance. Steps 3 6 of this procedure accomplish this task.
Setting Network Protocol Order
Excessive Network protocols can slow down the Windows 2000 Service. Therefore, all unused protocols should be deleted. To remove unnecessary protocols, bring up Control Panel (from Settings on Start menu), and then double click on Network. Under the Configurations tab, select the protocol you wish to delete, and click on the remove button.
Advanced Revelation Specific Settings
To run Advanced Revelation applications under DOS, you must verify memory is set properly on the application DOS shortcut property. To accomplish this, right click on the Advanced Revelation shortcut, select Properties, then choose the Memory tab. From the appropriate dropdown menu, set extended (XMS) memory to none , and set EMS to 4096.
Background processes
Background processes such as anti-virus software and backup software may cause slowdowns during application execution. Performance improvements may be obtained by shutting these applications down during execution of your application. For anti-virus software, we suggest you specify that the .ov linear hash files not be examined for viruses. The anti-virus software frequently confuses .ov files with .ovi files, which are frequently a source of viruses. Power Management may also be turned off.
REVPARAM Settings
The only necessary setting used in REVPARAM files is ServerOnly=TRUE. There are, however, a number of other parameters that can be set in these files for specialized circumstances (refer to the Revelation NT Service Installation Guide). The user should be aware that modification of some of these parameters might adversely affect performance. If the REVPARAM file contains the following settings, slowdowns may occur:
1. FlushFileSizeUpdates=TRUE or FlushAllUpdates=TRUE
The default for these parameters (FALSE) should only be changed if there is a serious concern about possible power loss and corresponding data corruption. Otherwise, changing these parameters will slow down performance.
2. CacheFlushLocks= TRUE
This is the default (no entry in REVPARAM). If the operating system does not cache network drives on workstations, set CacheFlushLocks=FALSE in REVPARAM file. This should improve performance in local mode of the NPP driver.
3. SelectCache=FALSE
This parameter is sometimes set when a workstation is running low on memory. The user should be aware, however, that setting this parameter will degrade performance, particularly on ReadNext and ReadOnly operations.
Updated 06/03