Navision 2.6 running very slow

LosJ

Hi all. Sorry this will be a long post, but I have some questions. We currently are using v2.6 and it seems to be running very slow. The first person to log into Navision in the morning will typically have a 10 - 15 minute wait before the login prompt appears. After the first person logs in, everyone else seems fine. I made sure my virus scanner is not set to scan the folder with my database. Navision seems to run slower and slower throughout the day. My server specs are 2.6GHZ, 1gig RAM, Small Business Server 2003, 2x 36gig Raid 1. I have noticed that the Navision server file (server.exe) is taking up 650 -800MB RAM. Is this normal? Unfortunatley my local Navision dealer is of no use. When we purchased the new server hardware they provided me no support in installing Navision server onto it. I basically figured it out on my own. I have had no training on Navision and would like to understand how to optimize it better. Currently upgrading to version 3.7 is not feesible for our company.

Another thing I noticed is the database information. These are the entries:
Database Used (KB): 781848 (93%)
Database Size (KB): 839680
Licensed Size (KB): 288768000
DBMS Cache (KB): 682496
Commit Cache: Not checked
Object Cache (KB): 8000

I don't like the 93% value. Do I need to expand the database? By how much? Can users be logged in while I do this? We are currently licensed for 7 users.


I'm sorry for all the questions, but any help or pointing in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Tommy_Schou

LosJ wrote:

Hi all. Sorry this will be a long post, but I have some questions. We currently are using v2.6 and it seems to be running very slow. The first person to log into Navision in the morning will typically have a 10 - 15 minute wait before the login prompt appears. After the first person logs in, everyone else seems fine. I made sure my virus scanner is not set to scan the folder with my database. Navision seems to run slower and slower throughout the day. My server specs are 2.6GHZ, 1gig RAM, Small Business Server 2003, 2x 36gig Raid 1. I have noticed that the Navision server file (server.exe) is taking up 650 -800MB RAM. Is this normal? Unfortunatley my local Navision dealer is of no use. When we purchased the new server hardware they provided me no support in installing Navision server onto it. I basically figured it out on my own. I have had no training on Navision and would like to understand how to optimize it better. Currently upgrading to version 3.7 is not feesible for our company.

Another thing I noticed is the database information. These are the entries:
Database Used (KB): 781848 (93%)
Database Size (KB): 839680
Licensed Size (KB): 288768000
DBMS Cache (KB): 682496
Commit Cache: Not checked
Object Cache (KB): 8000

I don't like the 93% value. Do I need to expand the database? By how much? Can users be logged in while I do this? We are currently licensed for 7 users.


I'm sorry for all the questions, but any help or pointing in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hmm.. on first look there is only one thing that springs to mind. That is the option for commit cache. That really should be enabled. I don't remember the exact paramter for it but it's something like server.exe commitcache=true or somesuch. Another thing you might want to try is to lower the cache size. Whether this is necessary or not should be something you can check on your server. If it's swapping memory then lower the cache size until it doesn't. The 93% issue is also something you should do something about.. Expand the database so that you have a usage percentage of lets say 75%. That should work better performace-wise.. You may even expand it even more. The size of your database is in no way "big" so it shouldn't be a problem.

You might also want to look into your hard-drives.. are they working probably? Do you have a faulty drive? The fact that it takes a long time for the first user to log on suggests that Navision is running a check on the database upon first user logon. I have experienced this on a few occations and the couple of times I have seen it, it had something to do with a server crash that left the database in an "unchecked" state which the server.exe found out upon first client logon and then proceded to "recover the list of free blocks" or whatever it it's called!

LosJ

Tommy Schou wrote:

Hmm.. on first look there is only one thing that springs to mind. That is the option for commit cache. That really should be enabled. I don't remember the exact paramter for it but it's something like server.exe commitcache=true or somesuch. Another thing you might want to try is to lower the cache size. Whether this is necessary or not should be something you can check on your server. If it's swapping memory then lower the cache size until it doesn't. The 93% issue is also something you should do something about.. Expand the database so that you have a usage percentage of lets say 75%. That should work better performace-wise.. You may even expand it even more. The size of your database is in no way "big" so it shouldn't be a problem.

You might also want to look into your hard-drives.. are they working probably? Do you have a faulty drive? The fact that it takes a long time for the first user to log on suggests that Navision is running a check on the database upon first user logon. I have experienced this on a few occations and the couple of times I have seen it, it had something to do with a server crash that left the database in an "unchecked" state which the server.exe found out upon first client logon and then proceded to "recover the list of free blocks" or whatever it it's called!

Thank you for the suggestions. I will give some of these a try. I appreciate it!

nelson

The first client will take a long time to connect because the server is filling up it's cache memory. When the last client disconnects, the server process will start to slowly release the memory back to the operating system. Therefore, when the server is idle for some minutes, it will need to reclaim the memory back from the operating system.

There are a few simple fixes for this:
- Keep a client connected to the server at all times. Due to security reasons, it is a good idea for this client to be running on the server machine itself (because servers are not usually accessible by everyone). This will require one extra session license.
- Reduce the size of your cache. Depending on how heavy your usage of the system is, this may not be the best option. However, with regards to your database size and number of users, there should be no performance issues. To do this, it is easier to follow the instructions in the "Installation and System Management" PDF manual (w1w1ism.pdf).

And since you seem to be desperate for information, I believe you will find reading the w1w1ism.pdf very useful anyway.
This manual is located on the Doc folder of your Product CD.
If you don't know where your Product CD is, please download the copy of the Doc folder for 3.70 found here: http://www.mibuso.com/dlinfo.asp?FileID=267
Since this will contain an "Installation and System Management" manual for the latest version, some information will not apply to your version.

Good luck!

LosJ

Thank you for all your help. The Commit Cache setting seems to have worked. I expanded my DB, set the commit cache statement and played with the Cache size and now everything seems to be running a lot faster. Users can log in right away in the morning, and on my server the Page File size is only 600MB, and the Navision Server.EXE is only taking up 10 - 15MB of RAM. Thanks for all your help!

GoMaD

Hi,

Did you check the Windows 'virtual memory' setting of your server?

See if the current setting corresponds with the recommended setting.

In regard to you cache size: there is a simple way to find the correct cache size for your server.
First open your task manager, go to the performance tab and check the available 'Physical Memory' when the Navision service is running. You must have, at least 200000 K free when the service is running. So that the server can 'breath' (work). To calculate the exact cache size shut down the Navision service and subtract 200000 from the mentioned value in your task manager. Use this value as a paramter for your service.

Hope this helps!

Greetings,