CPU Performance Bottleneck
Server Specification
Dell PowerEdge T610
Processor Intel Quad Core Xeon COU, 2.8 GHz
Memory 16GB 4x4GB
Operating System: MS Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 Ed.
Database: MS Sql Server 2008 x64
Summary
Initially the Server T610 was running on single instance
IDBSVR\INS_ICARE to manage ICARE database. The hardware setup on CPU and Memory was based on default
setting. We only reconfigure the current RAID setup from RAID 5 to RAID 10. The
ICARE database was replicated continously to another Windows 2003 Server I.e
DBSVR.
We used Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise to monitor the
database performance and track any significant errors.
Symptom
On April ~ May 2011, we started to install Boss.Net
application and create another instance IDBSVR\BOSS_NET_DB. This database also
was replicated to DBSVR on scheduled basis.
However, the Spotlight monitoring software started to view
alarming indicator which shows bottleneck on CPU performance.
Benchmark
Processor Queue Length (CPUs x 2) = 32 (Logical CPU)
=
16 (Physical CPU)
Preliminary
Trial Setup = 16
Context Switches/Sec =
8000
Message Alarms
The IDBSVR started to broadcast Low level alarm indicating
high number of Processor Queue Length which is exceeding 16 for more than 10 minutes
and Context Switching level has started to reach 2 million counters.
The symptoms started to appear after 48 hours of restarting
the server.
Solution and Action
1.
Set Maximum Worker Threads = 704 in Server Properties under Processors Tab
on IDBSVR\INS_ICARE*
2.
Restart the server.
3.
After 48 hours, the problem still happened.
4.
Set Maximum Worker Threads = 704 in Server Properties under Processors Tab
on IDBSVR\IBOSS_NET_DB*
5.
Restart the server.
