Jim Dettman
jimdettman at verizon.net
Thu Aug 31 18:28:32 CDT 2006
Steve, <<We (our development team) are scratching our heads. This is normal for Access. It grabs as much resources as it can get to perform data access requests. And I've never heard of a server blowing up from too many simultaneous requests. Windows is designed to handle process threading reasonably well, putting things in order, assigning priorities, reserving some CPU for critical processes, etc.>> Yup that's normal and as you said, it yields to other processes. As long as there is nothing else, it will take what it can get. In fact, to back this up, there is a MSKB article out there because so many thought is was "abnormal" to see Access use 100% of the CPU. <<....they note that most of the MS Access item in this view are showing large numbers in the "# of Locks" column. Ranging from 15 to 42 each. This is something I can't explain. It's a standard FE/BE deployment, so an ldb gets generated at both the FE and BE levels. But what is this huge number of locks? Stranded ldbs? Some calculus involving the number of simultaneous users? I told them I'd explore what this meant..>> Large numbers? 15 to 42 is nothing; it's a database product, it's supposed to lock things (and lots of them). Jim. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Steve Capistrant Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 4:41 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: [AccessD] CPU and locks Dear List, We have an Access 2000 app that has been running for years at a customer's site, provided to 100 users via Citrix profiles. In daily practice, there are usually 5 to 15 people logged in at any given time. The techies running the server are belly-aching about resource utilization. They note that CPU utlization per user zips up to 25% or 30% of server capacity when they perform routine actions (like applying filter rules to search on a form). It drops down to zero after a second or two. But they say "do the math" -- just 4 users doing stuff is going to completely max out our servers. We (our development team) are scratching our heads. This is normal for Access. It grabs as much resources as it can get to perform data access requests. And I've never heard of a server blowing up from too many simultaneous requests. Windows is designed to handle process threading reasonably well, putting things in order, assigning priorities, reserving some CPU for critical processes, etc. Nothing's really changed over the years. Is it just their awareness that has changed? Are these techies just freaking out because they have a new Performance Monitoring tool? The other observation they make that might cause overuse of CPU is something new to me: When you look at START > Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Computer Management > Shared Folders > Open Files.... ....they note that most of the MS Access item in this view are showing large numbers in the "# of Locks" column. Ranging from 15 to 42 each. This is something I can't explain. It's a standard FE/BE deployment, so an ldb gets generated at both the FE and BE levels. But what is this huge number of locks? Stranded ldbs? Some calculus involving the number of simultaneous users? I told them I'd explore what this meant.. Thank you ! Steve Capistrant Symphony Information Services scapistrant at symphonyinfo.com www.symphonyinfo.com Main: 763-391-7400 ext 801 Toll Free: 888-357-1373 ext 801 Direct: 612-237-0075