Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Data Management:
Database Administration

Introduction to performance managment

The OpenEdge RDBMS relies on the following system resources to perform its work:

CPU — Manipulates data and executes programs.
Disks and controllers — Read and write data from database.
Memory — Stores data so it can be accessed quickly while performing operations.
Operating system mechanisms — Allocate and use system resources.
Network — Exchanges data between client and server systems.

Performance is diminished if the database cannot use these resources efficiently. Performance bottlenecks occur when a resource performs inadequately (or is overloaded) and prevents other resources from accomplishing work. The key to improving performance is determining which resource is creating a bottleneck. Once you understand your resource limitations, you can take steps to eliminate bottlenecks.

Performance management is a continual process of measuring and adjusting resource use. Because system resources depend on each other in complex relationships, you might fix one problem only to create another. You should measure resource use regularly and adjust as required.

To effectively manage performance, you must have solid knowledge of your system, users, and applications. A system that is properly tuned has sufficient capacity to perform its workload. Applications running on your system should not compete with the database for system resources. Because system and application performance can vary greatly depending on the configuration, use the information in this chapter as a guideline and make adjustments as required for your configuration.