Performance Tuning for Content Manager

78 Performance Tuning for Content Manager

3.1 Introduction

To perform means to begin a task and to carry the task through to completion.

Performance refers to the way in which a system performs or functions given a

particular workload. In the Content Manager world, a Content Manager system

must run efficiently and effectively, and it must be able to perform the expected

workload within a business-required time frame. Designing, configuring, and

tuning a Content Manager system to achieve the desired results is essential for

your business to succeed.

Performance measurement

Performance is typically measured in terms of response time, throughput, and

availability.

Response time is the elapsed time between when a request is submitted and

when the response from that request is returned. Examples include how long a

database query takes and how long it takes to display a retrieved document.

Throughput

is a measure of the amount of work over a period of time. In other

words, it is the number of workload operations that can be accomplished per unit

of time. Examples include database transactions per minute, kilobytes of a file

transferred per second, and total number of legacy documents imported per hour.

Major performance bottlenecks

Four major performance bottlenecks are:

 CPU

 Memory

 Disks

 Network

Source of performance problems

System performance is affected by many factors, some of which include:

 The available hardware and software in the system

 The configuration of hardware and software in the system

 The number of users, the types of users, and the number of concurrent users

in the system

 The number of applications running in the system, the types of running

applications, and the application workload

Performance problems might be caused by poor application and system design,

inadequate system resources such as CPU, memory, disks, or non-optimal

tuning of system resources.

Chapter 3. Performance tuning basics 79

Performance tuning goals

Some of the goals we want to accomplish through performance tuning include:

 Remove a bottleneck.

 Increase existing throughput: Processing a larger or more demanding

workload without additional processing cost such as adding new hardware or

upgrade existing software.

 Increase response time: Obtaining faster system response times without

additional processing cost.

 Increase system availability: Extending the availability of a system, thereby

increasing productivity of the system.

 Reduce processing cost: Reducing the number of users or the length of their

working hours needed to process existing workload.

Performance tuning is a complex and iterative process. It involves establishing

quantitative objectives, constant system monitoring, and selective and careful

tuning to ensure that the objectives are met over time.

Publication references

Many publications have been written about performance tuning for Content

Manager, DB2, WebSphere, and AIX. These guides are well written and contain

very useful information. Most of the materials presented in this chapter are

extractions from and summaries of these publications. The publications are:

 Database Performance Tuning on AIX, SG24-5511

 IBM DB2 Universal Database Version 8.2 Administration Guide: Performance,

SC09-4821

 DB2 UDB/WebSphere Performance Tuning Guide, SG24-6417

 IBM Content Manager v8.3 Performance Tuning Guide

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006452

 CMv8.3 Performance Monitoring and Monitoring Guide

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006451

 CMv8.3 Performance Troubleshooting Guide

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006450

We include what we think is important for a quick overall view of the performance

tuning basics for the Content Manager system. If time allows, we recommend

that you read these publications because we found them extremely helpful.