Measuring resource requirements for a search

[EVSpinner]

Hi all, I've been working with a customer who was experiencing sporadic results when trying to run large scale searches against the journal using search.asp

The box is Virtual, 4 core 8gb (now 12gb), Ev10, Windows Server 2008 r2 Standard

I've resolved the problem to be the stored procs on SQL timing out because of the scale of the searches, the inefficiency of search.asp to perform the objective they seek (it's a legal search - they need DA)

I solved the problem in the short term by removing FederatedResults and advising them to do the search in smaller chunks - which is working

My question: is there a way of calculating what resources would be necessary to perform a search, so I can help them scale properly for their current and future needs? I need to advise them to up the resources on there VM - like add another core and bump the RAM up to 16gb, but without being able to specify why I think that, it's a bit like hit and hope

Any ideas?

[Ben_Watts · Accepted solution]

Hi bluesteel,

This is going to sound facetious, it isnt meant to be, but if they are doing 'DA style' searches then they really need DA for it to be reliably successful. Search.asp has many limitations built into it to stop overly large searches being carried out due to the excess strain it places on the EV server/IIS etc.

Trying to plan for the resources needed to use Search.asp for a DA Style search is a bit like trying to use a car to do the same job as a bus, it simply is not going to happen.

DA was designed for mass searches, as you know, therefore is the best option for them. I think they are opening themselves up for a bit of a fail if they want EV to do the job of DA without having DA unfortunately.

If you wanted to monitor resources anyway, I would use good old perfmon to monitor mem, virtual mem, disk IO etc (just think about what is happening at the backend of the search, dont forget IIS) to see where they are falling short.

Just a thought, as they are on EV10, are all the indexes 64bit? If not get them upgraded as this will help with the performance.

[EVSpinner]

Thanks Ben, I didn't take your post as facetious at all - 8 months in on this product and i'm only just now feeling like I'm not a greenhorn supporting it, so these questions sometimes seem obvious but I need to say them out loud to rationalise my first thought

I appreciate you and the community being a sounding board. It's very helpful

cheers

[Ben_Watts]

Not a problem at all, I have been at it for 3+ years and still have PLENTY to learn, just when you think you have the hang of it it throws something else at you.

Good luck with it and look forward to helping further.