SAP Performance Issues - CPU Usage & Citrix

[Former Member]

Our current environment is as follows

SAP Business One 2007

Windows 2003 R2 SP1

Single Quad-Core Xeon 2ghz

2gb RAM (not enough I know)

Citrix Server

Windows 2003 R2 SP2

Single Dual Core Pentium D 2.8ghz

4gb Ram

That said. Whenever an instance of SAP business one is opened either on the Server directly or in Citrix, the processor usage shoots to 25% +, no matter whether its on the Quad core box or the dual core box or a workstation. Once open, any function within SAP shoots the processor utilization to anywhere from 25% - 75%.

So far I have done the following to attempt to resolve the issue

- Disable Add-On's in the Add-On administrator

- Check the server itself for slowness, it actually runs at <5% CPU usage all the time (no matter how many users are connected).

- Attempt to close any applications such as anti-virus and any other non-system related processes.

No progress. Currently we have 5 users who use Citrix over a full T/1 (both sides) and they experience extreme slowness due to the Citrix server running into processing bottlenecks.

I will continue my search of the forums but any help will be appreciated 😃

Thanks!

[Former Member]

Hi Sally

Just a note about the release versions. The version installed by your partner would have been from the CD that SAP shipped upon your order confirmation. SAP does not release a CD installation for every patch level as this would be very costly and time consuming. The current CD ships with PL30, although PL42 has already been posted on the portal. It remains the responsibility of the implementation partner to check for any new patches and keep abreast of fixes, bugs, known issues, expected release dates, new features, etc. at the time of implementation. Thereafter you may elect to control the process yourself, though I would not advise this. This is why you pay a maintenance % on licenses annually!

Kind regards

Peter Juby

[former_member459477]

What does the annual maintenance % actually cover? eg installation of patches and new releases or do you pay extra to the partner for the work involved in installing these?

Thanks for any advice on what's included and what needs paying extra for eg. training

[Former Member]

hi sally

if you are using 2 diffrent server, one for sap and for citrix. make it one, install citrix on sap server and check it may work.

regards

Hariprasad

[Former Member]

Hi Sally

I think the point that Gordon is making, and I need to make it too, is that SAP is an SME product and as such the expectation of SAP in terms of SQL utilization is for relatively small databases. This said, the trade off between a full recovery system and huge transaction log versus system performance, depends on your requirements and preferences. In light of the issues you highlighted, it was merely a suggestion to follow the SAP guideline. However, you may use a full recovery. In fact I have full recovery at a few of my sites with little effect on performance, due to massive hardware availability. However I have at times had to trim a log file of 25Gigs or so to recover lost hard drive space and of course sort out performance issues. The point is that there is a price to pay either way.

Kind regards

Peter Juby

[Former Member]

I believe this performance issue would be noticed on the SQL Server. The problems I describe above don't seem to be apparent as the SQL Servers CPU Usage is less than 5% all day long and memory usage is minimal.

I will switch it over to Simple restore but i don't believe this is the issue I am running into as the CPU devastation I am describing is always at the client and not on the server.

While just opening SAP Business one the clients CPU spikes to 40-75% and the SQL Server is at 2-5%.

Thanks.

[Former Member]

Please let us know if this solves your issue.

[Former Member]

No, unfortunately it did not.

So far I have stopped the aforementioned services and Altered the database to the simple restore method.

I believe I would have more luck a different client version. Is it possible to gain access to different client version(s) and/or patches?

It is possible the performance issues I speak of are related to the client version I am running or the current patch level.

Thanks!

[Former Member]

You haven't mentioned which Patch Levels are you in. It is a good idea to update yours to the latest.

[Former Member]

SAP Client

SAP Business One.exe

File version : 8.0.159.0

File Size : 59,453,440 bytes

I'm not certain what the server version is or how to check. In the

C:\Program Files\SAP\SAP Business One Server\B1iServer

Folder all i found was Tomcat and some JDK related files. If there is a server version that I can give you please point me to where to look.

Thanks !

[Former Member]

You can find your version info from B1 menu: help - about

[Former Member]

That would be the obvious place to look 😃

SAP Business One 2007 A (8.00.159) SP:00 PL:00

[Former Member]

You have to upgrade your PL because the first official supported PL is 30 for 2007 A. It is >=41 now.

Thanks,

Gordon

[Former Member]

Awesome, where can i download that from?

And to correct my previous statement, our PL is 08, not 00

Thanks

[Former Member]

I have located Patch level 42 on the SAP Support page

(https://websmp107.sap-ag.de/support)

I'd love to fire this bad boy up and upgrade but clearly there should be some forethought put into this. My first thought is frustration with our SAP Partner who installed a version that is 34 versions behind, should I task them with this upgrade to shift the responsibility if something goes wrong as they have more support resources (access to SAP directly) or am I being overcautious?

Our SAP install is dog slow which is very bad, but having it not work at all after a failed upgrade would be much worse.

Comments?

[Former Member]

You are not overcautious at all. To install this upgrade by yourself has too much risks now. I would suggest you find help from SAP directly if your partner failed in helping you out. Your frastration should be compensated somehow.

Thanks,

Gordon

[Former Member]

HI,

Maybe you need to upgrade a higher version from patch or you create log into SAP about ths issue. Why did you not use a thin client?Thin client is a solution as a remote desktop but it is simple.

Cheers,

Agung

[Former Member]

Hey Agung, I'd love to use a thin client, i repeat... I would LOVE to use a thin client instead of the client we are currently using. Can you provide more information on this and where I might gain access to such a client?

Thanks !

[Former Member]

Hi Sally

There is another service called event sender which you should also stop. Did you set your database recovery to Simple? If not, please follow the SAP guidelines in the PDF on the installation CD. If I recall its under the documentation folder. Try reboot the server and make sure the 2 services for integration are not running when the server is online again.

Kind regards

Peter Juby

[Former Member]

Hey Peter,

I have reviewed the SAP Services and the only one running is the SAP Business One License Manager 2007 Service.

Our Database is not set to simple recovery per the following :

"Simple recovery is not an appropriate choice for production systems where loss of recent changes is unacceptable. "

You can find this in the help files for SQL Server 2005, here is the direct link you can input in SQL help for your review :

ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v9/MS.SQLSVR.v9.en/udb9/html/606e0487-0c76-4875-af44-ef763cc5a73a.htm

Thanks !

[Former Member]

Hi Sally,

You may misunderstand the qoute a little bit. To balance the risk and performance, you have to prioritize them. For something may not happen in once a year event, do you need to sacrify your system's performance?

In most of the SME business, daily backup is efficient. Simple recovery mode is good enough too. Unless, even one minute lost of your transaction might cost you couple of thousands, you may not have enough resources to reach you goal to get both.

Thanks,

Gordon

[Former Member]

Hi Sally

Go to Task manager on the server where Server Tools is installed and look at the processes running. Check if TOMCAT5 is running. If so, turn off the B1 integration service if you are not using integration to R/3. This service is automatically installed unless you specifically unticked it when installing Server Tools.

Kind regards

Peter Juby

[Former Member]

Yes the tomcat5.exe was a running process. I stopped the service you mentioned and set the startup type to "Manual".

I see no change in performance, are there additional steps needed or was this just a best practice?

Thanks

[Former Member]

Hi Sally,

Have your tried Terminal Server adn Remote Desktop? That might be better to fit your need.

Thanks,

Gordon

[Former Member]

Yes, in fact if you terminal service directly to the SAP Server and run SAP you encounter the same issue.

Its not an issue of the Remote access method used (RDP, ICA or sitting in front of the server using kb and mouse), its an issue of SAP performance.

Thanks.