Importance of Tempfile disk speed

pdj

We have a Citrix server with about 50 concurrenent users. We are currently improving the disk speed to get better DB performance, but then we considered the Tempfiles. They are all located one physical disk without any raid, since there is no reason to protect the data. But should we consider the performace of these files as well?

I only know the Tempfiles are used for Temporary records when they can't be in memory. But the Citrix server has never peaked using all of it memory, so what are they then used for?

We are running Native DB - is there any difference in the usage of Tempfiles if we were using SQL?

Waldo

I don't know what tempfile you are talking about ... afaik there is no tempfile for native databases. Can it be some temp files from citrix or another database running on your system?

Marije_Brummel

I don't know much of citrix but when you statup Navision on a normal windows XP computer a tempfile is created in C:\Documents and Settings\userid\Local Settings\Temp

I don't exacty know what the temfile is used for.

The temprorary tables in navision only exist at the workstation, not at the server. As far as I know this counts for native as wel as SQL databases.

Please do not be to hasty to change to SQL. It has a lot on hands before it runs smoothly.

Regards,

Mark.

pdj

I can see my post could be a bit confusing - sorry.
I mean the tempfiles that the client (fin.exe /finsql.exe) creates normally in C:\Documents and Settings\userid\Local Settings\Temp as you mention. But for a Citrix installation are all the clients started on the same server (the Citrix server) and the tempfiles for all 50 users are therefore on the same physical disc. One solution could be to have the tempfiles stored on the client pc, but since it then would require network traffic is this normally a very bad move accourding to MS. So the speed of the temp files does mean something, but "how much"?

bbrown

These tempfiles are generaly only a couple of MB per user. Even with 50 users you are not talking about a lot of data. I don't think this is a major factor in system performance. Are users complaining?

Marije_Brummel

Peter,

Normaly the client is not of much importance to the performance. It is more a server issue.

But if 50 users are on the same machine it could be somewhat different.

I hope for you someone has the experience you need, or try to contact a citrix specialist.

I hope that my posings were helpfull.

Regards,

Mark

bbrown

CPU and memory will have much more of a performance impact than the disk. With 50 users you could consider additional servers or a load-balancing cluster.

pdj

The CPU is hardly in use on the Citrix server, so that should be ok. The memory has never been "full", but we are going to increase the object cache so we will watch it closely. The Navision server is also getting a "checkup", but just before we close the case in relation to the Citrix server would we like to hear others experiences with the temp files.

So thanks for all your great and quick replies, however; I still miss the "We had a simular situation and did/didn't get any difference in tuning the tempfiles" post

bbrown

I have built and supported networks with over 100 remote users including one site with 300 remote users. I have never used anything more than a single RAID 1 drive set in the terminal servers.

Unless you are seeing very high disk utilization on your Citrix box, I doubt tempfile tuning would make any difference unless this Citrix box is supporting other application (besides Navision) that make extensive use of tempfiles. Microsoft Office is an example.