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A5V10 with Vista

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    #1

    A5V10 with Vista

    I'm not sure what to expect when developing an application to run with Vista computers. This being the first time I developed a new (revised from the previous) application then employed on a network of new Vista computers with excellent specs, the performance was surprisingly slow -- too slow to go live. There are only 3 or 4 workstations active at a time, with high transaction activity (order entry).

    The first encounter with this when testing going live was using these Vista computers with their Snap Server as the data server. It worked fine when all computers were XP under the old application. With the Snap Server and all Vista computers, there was a lot of freezing and slowness, so I factored out the Snap Server thinking maybe it doesn't coexist well with Vista.

    I then set up one of the Vista workstations (they're all Vista Business) as a test data server. This time there was no freezing, but the performance was dreadfully slow.

    Now to my questions. First, is Vista really this bad? Everyone I've always worked with has been reluctant to switch from XP to Vista, me included, but this time with all new Vista computers, it was my first journey into Vista.

    Second, if Vista IS the issue, will an upgrade to Windows 7 Business solve the problem. You may not have experience with this since Windows 7 is so new, but I'm wondering, if you have experience with Vista, whether you can confirm the problems with Vista and can confirm that Windows 7 will be a major step forward?

    Third, Windows 7 has an XP emulation mode that is supposed to work. I wonder if you have tried this with an Alpha Five network, and whether it makes a difference with speed or stability.

    Thank you.

    Jeff
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: A5V10 with Vista

    There are so many factors involved with network performance it may take you a while to figure out where the bottleneck is. Try turning off stuff (AV, Firewalls, UAC , one system at a time) to see if you get any improvement. We have a mixed environment, mostly XP but some visata, some Win7 and don't really notice any difference in performance. Sometimes a very tough thing to find.
    Bill Griffin
    Parkell, Inc

    Comment

      #3
      Re: A5V10 with Vista

      Originally posted by Bill Griffin View Post
      There are so many factors involved with network performance it may take you a while to figure out where the bottleneck is. Try turning off stuff (AV, Firewalls, UAC , one system at a time) to see if you get any improvement. We have a mixed environment, mostly XP but some visata, some Win7 and don't really notice any difference in performance. Sometimes a very tough thing to find.
      Good suggestions. I'll keep digging.

      Comment

        #4
        Re: A5V10 with Vista

        Originally posted by Bill Griffin View Post
        There are so many factors involved with network performance it may take you a while to figure out where the bottleneck is. Try turning off stuff (AV, Firewalls, UAC , one system at a time) to see if you get any improvement. We have a mixed environment, mostly XP but some visata, some Win7 and don't really notice any difference in performance. Sometimes a very tough thing to find.
        UAC was off from the beginning. Tried disabling AV -- no difference. Need to address firewall.

        However, question if you know something about this. The switch they have is a low-end Netgear FS116, less than $100. I've more often dealt with switches around $1,000 and up, typcially Intel. Do you know if this makes a big difference in throughput even though the specs are essentially similar for rated speed?

        Jeff

        Comment

          #5
          Re: A5V10 with Vista

          I would doubt the switch is the problem, especially if your Xp's worked ok. I have had a bad network card kill performance on a network. Is your Alpha setup esentially like it used to be before the Vista upgrade?
          Bill Griffin
          Parkell, Inc

          Comment

            #6
            Re: A5V10 with Vista

            Originally posted by Bill Griffin View Post
            I would doubt the switch is the problem, especially if your Xp's worked ok. I have had a bad network card kill performance on a network. Is your Alpha setup esentially like it used to be before the Vista upgrade?
            You raise an interesting point about the network card. They are all new computers, so the network cards are unproven. The old system used older, less powerful computers, all with XP. They shared data off a low-end Snap Server (NAS device). They ran under Alpha Five V7.

            The new system uses the new computers with plenty of memory and processing power. They are all Vista, working off the same switch as before, had a problem when working off the Snap so I switched them to one of the work stations as the file server. Performance is fine when working off one computer. Once another computer is in Alpha, one of the two computers crawls. I'll test the theory of the network card by using a different second test workstation.

            Jeff

            Comment

              #7
              Re: A5V10 with Vista

              Jeff,

              Are you using a shadow setup?
              Bill Griffin
              Parkell, Inc

              Comment

                #8
                Re: A5V10 with Vista

                Originally posted by Bill Griffin View Post
                Jeff,

                Are you using a shadow setup?
                I am not using a shadow setup. I tried it long ago and went away from it, never feeling it added much performance. If you use it, and have tested without it, do you find a large performance gain? If so, it's worth a try.

                Thanks.

                Jeff

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: A5V10 with Vista

                  I have always used Shadow, so I can;t really tell you if there is any performace gain from it. But I am sure others can let you know ig there is any performace gain....
                  Bill Griffin
                  Parkell, Inc

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: A5V10 with Vista

                    Originally posted by Bill Griffin View Post
                    I have always used Shadow, so I can;t really tell you if there is any performace gain from it. But I am sure others can let you know ig there is any performace gain....
                    In theory there will be performance gain. It's just a matter of degree. I was under the impression that it comes along with routine maintenance and extra steps when updating support files. Is this true?

                    Jeff

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: A5V10 with Vista

                      I have found that if you use decent (not necessarily expensive) Gig cards, a gig switch, cat 6 or better wire and wall plates that A5 runs pretty well without shadowing. I used to shadow but with a lot of updates it was just easier to go without it. I am not currently using A5 with a heavy network load so the shadow may prove its worth if more people are hitting the server. This is probably not related to the problem but fast hard drives and interface also help.
                      I've found that sometimes the reason for a slow computer just can't be pinned down. Got one now and I have no idea why so the user is stuck with it for now.

                      Russ

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: A5V10 with Vista

                        Originally posted by russ Boehle View Post
                        I have found that if you use decent (not necessarily expensive) Gig cards, a gig switch, cat 6 or better wire and wall plates that A5 runs pretty well without shadowing. I used to shadow but with a lot of updates it was just easier to go without it. I am not currently using A5 with a heavy network load so the shadow may prove its worth if more people are hitting the server. This is probably not related to the problem but fast hard drives and interface also help.
                        I've found that sometimes the reason for a slow computer just can't be pinned down. Got one now and I have no idea why so the user is stuck with it for now.

                        Russ
                        So many variables, so little time.

                        These are certainly worth checking out. They are a remote client, so I haven't looked at their hardware, but I'll check to see if they have gig cards and switch. I'm sure they don't have cat6 wire, so maybe that's worth updating. Hard drives are large SATA 7200, so they should not be a problem.

                        Thanks.

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: A5V10 with Vista

                          Jeff,

                          I just find the maintenance fairly simple by using the shadow, but I am in the process of moving most of my stuff to the app server.

                          Bill
                          Bill Griffin
                          Parkell, Inc

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: A5V10 with Vista

                            I don't know if this was mentioned earlier, but I would experiment with turning off any virus protection you have and seeing if that's a factor.
                            John

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: A5V10 with Vista

                              Just so you can rule out the network as an issue, you can do a speed test from the application server to the workstation. I'd test one of the other workstations that are responding well as a benchmark. I use a program from Raccoonworks (free, works well) called speedtest. You can pick it up at http://www.raccoonworks.com/index.html. At least you'll be able to see if there's a problem on the network quickly.

                              Bill

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