Discussion:
Groupwise 6.5sp6 on Netware 6.5sp6 slows down
(too old to reply)
Tim Ashman
2007-05-26 16:23:50 UTC
Permalink
I've got this problem and I'm not sure if it is solved or if I'm even on the
right track, if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I recently upgraded my groupwise 6.56 from running on a netware 5.1 box to
running on a netware 6.5sp6 box. I used the premigration method and the
groupwise is functioning but after about two weeks of server uptime the
groupwise gets extremely slow.

To give you an idea the following details what happens

My Trash folder with 4000 items : Fast - takes 5 seconds to display in the
client, Slow this takes 30 seconds to a minute.

I started reading about the differences between 5.1 and 6.5 and the new box
is indeed a much faster box so I am puzzled why this is happening, the
groupwise has ran for years with very quick speed on the old box, no new
users, etc. Nothing changed but the box and netware 6.5. So I looked and
noticed that on the new box the file system is NSS with SATA Drives, where
the old 5.1 box was traditional netware with SCSI Drives. The new box also
has 2G of ram where the old box only had 1G.

Looking further it appears that there has been issues in the past with NSS
and it being slower than traditional. I've also wondered about the
difference between my 15k SCSI drive and the slower 7200 SATA. But the
server starts out fast... Currently I have turned off every option thru
iManager except for the Backup flag for the volume. It did have
salvageable and one other option turned on. I did this change late this
week and of course since I rebooted it the server is once again fast.
However I will not know if it will last for another couple of weeks.

Does anyone have any exprience with this. I have tried the gwtune.ncf file
before changing the salvageable, etc flags this week and those tweaks did
nothing, two weeks later slow again.

Thank you for any help.

tim
Michael Bell
2007-05-26 17:31:53 UTC
Permalink
The obvious question is RAM. And RAM allocation varies dramatically in NW
6.5. Might want to pop by the NW 6.5 forums and ask for help diagnosing
memory issues.
Post by Tim Ashman
I've got this problem and I'm not sure if it is solved or if I'm even on the
right track, if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.
I recently upgraded my groupwise 6.56 from running on a netware 5.1 box to
running on a netware 6.5sp6 box. I used the premigration method and the
groupwise is functioning but after about two weeks of server uptime the
groupwise gets extremely slow.
To give you an idea the following details what happens
My Trash folder with 4000 items : Fast - takes 5 seconds to display in the
client, Slow this takes 30 seconds to a minute.
I started reading about the differences between 5.1 and 6.5 and the new box
is indeed a much faster box so I am puzzled why this is happening, the
groupwise has ran for years with very quick speed on the old box, no new
users, etc. Nothing changed but the box and netware 6.5. So I looked and
noticed that on the new box the file system is NSS with SATA Drives, where
the old 5.1 box was traditional netware with SCSI Drives. The new box also
has 2G of ram where the old box only had 1G.
Looking further it appears that there has been issues in the past with NSS
and it being slower than traditional. I've also wondered about the
difference between my 15k SCSI drive and the slower 7200 SATA. But the
server starts out fast... Currently I have turned off every option thru
iManager except for the Backup flag for the volume. It did have
salvageable and one other option turned on. I did this change late this
week and of course since I rebooted it the server is once again fast.
However I will not know if it will last for another couple of weeks.
Does anyone have any exprience with this. I have tried the gwtune.ncf file
before changing the salvageable, etc flags this week and those tweaks did
nothing, two weeks later slow again.
Thank you for any help.
tim
Tim Ashman
2007-05-27 16:22:40 UTC
Permalink
Thank you. This appears to be what everyone suggests. Is there a
recommendation or should I just max out the motherboard and hope that is
enough. I haven't looked but I assume it maxes out at 4G. Seems like I
read somewhere on novell's site that memory above 4G wasn't used for NSS...
Can you confirm this?

tim
Post by Michael Bell
The obvious question is RAM. And RAM allocation varies dramatically in NW
6.5. Might want to pop by the NW 6.5 forums and ask for help diagnosing
memory issues.
Post by Tim Ashman
I've got this problem and I'm not sure if it is solved or if I'm even on the
right track, if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.
I recently upgraded my groupwise 6.56 from running on a netware 5.1 box to
running on a netware 6.5sp6 box. I used the premigration method and the
groupwise is functioning but after about two weeks of server uptime the
groupwise gets extremely slow.
To give you an idea the following details what happens
My Trash folder with 4000 items : Fast - takes 5 seconds to display in the
client, Slow this takes 30 seconds to a minute.
I started reading about the differences between 5.1 and 6.5 and the new box
is indeed a much faster box so I am puzzled why this is happening, the
groupwise has ran for years with very quick speed on the old box, no new
users, etc. Nothing changed but the box and netware 6.5. So I looked
and noticed that on the new box the file system is NSS with SATA Drives,
where
the old 5.1 box was traditional netware with SCSI Drives. The new box also
has 2G of ram where the old box only had 1G.
Looking further it appears that there has been issues in the past with NSS
and it being slower than traditional. I've also wondered about the
difference between my 15k SCSI drive and the slower 7200 SATA. But the
server starts out fast... Currently I have turned off every option thru
iManager except for the Backup flag for the volume. It did have
salvageable and one other option turned on. I did this change late this
week and of course since I rebooted it the server is once again fast.
However I will not know if it will last for another couple of weeks.
Does anyone have any exprience with this. I have tried the gwtune.ncf file
before changing the salvageable, etc flags this week and those tweaks did
nothing, two weeks later slow again.
Thank you for any help.
tim
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-28 22:16:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
memory above 4G wasn't used for NSS
I think it is used, but it is slower than memory below 4G
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-05-30 02:24:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
memory above 4G wasn't used for NSS
I think it is used, but it is slower than memory below 4G
Ok, I don't think this box supports higher than 4g anyway
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-26 22:55:21 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
between my 15k SCSI drive and the slower 7200 SATA.
well, as Michael said, get RAM - the SATA drive is half the speed of the
SCSI drive and will need more memory for caching to be able to deliver
performance.
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-05-27 16:20:53 UTC
Permalink
Ok, I didn't find any docs on how much ram I should use, but I can certainly
give this a try. I originally thought of creating multiple PO's and
staying with the SCSI but thought that with the newer machines speed it
would make up for the slower drives.
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
between my 15k SCSI drive and the slower 7200 SATA.
well, as Michael said, get RAM - the SATA drive is half the speed of the
SCSI drive and will need more memory for caching to be able to deliver
performance.
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-28 22:16:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
newer machines speed
netware and pretty much everything that runs on it is I/O bound, not
processor - so you could put 4 dual core processors on the box and if you
have a slow disk channel, it is gonna be a slow box without lots of RAM
for caching
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-05-30 02:25:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
newer machines speed
netware and pretty much everything that runs on it is I/O bound, not
processor - so you could put 4 dual core processors on the box and if you
have a slow disk channel, it is gonna be a slow box without lots of RAM
for caching
Ya I was worried when I chose to go with SATA but I needed larger drives
than the scsi has available, If the memory doesn't work I may have to go
back to the scsi and then split up the PO onto different boxes.
Tommy Mikkelsen
2007-05-26 23:10:41 UTC
Permalink
To add to Mike and Joe, this could also be a comm. issue...

Try and download this little file, and then run it at the server console.
After doing so, restart the GW client


http://www.nds8.co.uk/brainshare/gwtune.ncf
--
Best Regards

Tommy Mikkelsen

IT Quality A/S
Denmark

Novell Support Forums SYSOP

Please Report back any success or failure, That way we all learn

Sorry, but no support through email

"I hate bugs".......Tommy Lee Jones, MIB

Be a GroupWiseR, go http://www.groupwiser.net
Michael Bell
2007-05-27 00:05:34 UTC
Permalink
tommy - he SAID he uses gwtune :)
Post by Tommy Mikkelsen
To add to Mike and Joe, this could also be a comm. issue...
Try and download this little file, and then run it at the server console.
After doing so, restart the GW client
http://www.nds8.co.uk/brainshare/gwtune.ncf
--
Best Regards
Tommy Mikkelsen
IT Quality A/S
Denmark
Novell Support Forums SYSOP
Please Report back any success or failure, That way we all learn
Sorry, but no support through email
"I hate bugs".......Tommy Lee Jones, MIB
Be a GroupWiseR, go http://www.groupwiser.net
Tommy Mikkelsen
2007-05-27 00:47:17 UTC
Permalink
Ups...And I now stand down ;-)
--
Best Regards

Tommy Mikkelsen

IT Quality A/S
Denmark

Novell Support Forums SYSOP

Please Report back any success or failure, That way we all learn

Sorry, but no support through email

"I hate bugs".......Tommy Lee Jones, MIB

Be a GroupWiseR, go http://www.groupwiser.net
Tim Ashman
2007-05-27 16:23:37 UTC
Permalink
Thank you, I have tried this without success. I will try the memory
suggestions and see what happens.

I will add that it is like a switch, one minute it is fast, the next slow as
molasses.

tim
Post by Tommy Mikkelsen
To add to Mike and Joe, this could also be a comm. issue...
Try and download this little file, and then run it at the server console.
After doing so, restart the GW client
http://www.nds8.co.uk/brainshare/gwtune.ncf
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-28 22:16:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
one minute it is fast, the next slow as
molasses.
we had that problem, and it turned out to be an issue with the raid group
on the SAN that GW was using - we moved it to a different one and speed
has stayed constant. given the slower drives you are using, hopefully
this box is only doing gw and nothing else
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-05-30 02:26:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
one minute it is fast, the next slow as
molasses.
we had that problem, and it turned out to be an issue with the raid group
on the SAN that GW was using - we moved it to a different one and speed
has stayed constant. given the slower drives you are using, hopefully
this box is only doing gw and nothing else
Hmm, ok I'm using discrete drives but I'm also thinking about a fiber SAN.
This box is only doing POA, MTA and GWIA. Once I upgrade to GW 7.x I will
install the messenging and webclient on a second box.
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-30 17:25:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
but I'm also thinking about a fiber SAN.
that will get you going better :)
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-05-31 03:56:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
but I'm also thinking about a fiber SAN.
that will get you going better :)
Really, I know many people love SAN's but I'm still struggling with the fact
that a directly attached drive would have to be faster, how could it not
be, otherwise we would be attaching our harddrives with fiber inside the
computer. So maybe you can help me understand better why it is faster. I
realize that it must be.. but I just don't see how yet.

tim
Joseph Moore [SysOp]
2007-05-31 18:14:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim Ashman
but I just don't see how yet.
me either - it is black magic in my eyes
--
Joe Moore
Novell Support Forums SysOp
Tim Ashman
2007-06-01 05:30:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Joseph Moore [SysOp]
Post by Tim Ashman
but I just don't see how yet.
me either - it is black magic in my eyes
Whew! I feel smarter knowing I'm not alone! <grin>

tim

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