Performance Tuning for PS Applications
It is a widely known fact that 80% of performance problems are a direct result of the poor
performance, such as server configuration, resource contention. Assuming you
have tuned your servers and followed the guidelines for your database server,
application server, and web server, most of your performance problems can be
addressed by tuning the PeopleSoft Application.
This article presents methodologies and techniques for optimizing the performance of
PeopleSoft applications. The methodologies that are discussed are intended to
provide useful tips that will help to better tune your PeopleSoft applications.
These tips focus on tuning several different aspects within a PeopleSoft
environment ranging from servers to indexes. You will find some of these tips
provide you with a significant improvement in performance while others may not
apply to your environment.
Server Performance
In general, the approach to application tuning starts by examining the consumption of resources.
The entire system needs to be monitored to analyze resource consumption on an
individual component basis and as a whole.
The key to tuning servers in a PeopleSoft environment is to implement a methodology to accurately
capture as much information as possible without utilizing critical resources needed to serve the end-users.
Traditional tools used to measure utilizations impact the system being measured and ultimately the
end-user experience. Commands like the following provide snapshot data but not
without an associated cost. These tools can consume a significant amount of
resources so care should be taken when executing them.
a) df size
b) iostat swapinfo
c) ipcs timex
d) netstat top
e) ps uptime
f) sar vmstat
g) swapinfo also
The goal of using these native commands is to identify, if and where, a bottleneck is in the
server. Is the problem in the CPU, I/O or memory? These native tools provide indicators, but at the
same time could skew the results because of the overhead associated with them. Typically,
additional third party tools are needed to complete the analysis.
The last hurdle being faced in tuning the server is making timing decisions on when to upgrade
the hardware itself. To do this, much more information needs to be collected and
stored in order to understand if an historical spike in resource utilization was
a one-time aberration or a regular occurrence building over time. The
recommendation is to look at third party vendors for solutions that can collect
key performance indicators while minimizing overhead on the system. The
collected data can then be put in a repository for detailed historical analysis.
Web Server Performance
The release of PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture™ introduces new components to PeopleSoft
architecture—the web server and application server. The application server is
where most shops struggle with appropriate sizing. Web servers are used for
handling the end-user requests from a web browser to eliminate the
administrative costs associated with loading software (fat clients) on
individual desktops.
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