Unify performance problem on Wednesday

FYI.
---------------------- Forwarded by Brenda F Herod/HOU/ECT on 05/05/2000
09:01 AM ---------------------------

Rita Wynne
05/05/2000 08:11 AM
To: Brenda F Herod/HOU/ECT@ECT
cc:
Subject: Unify performance problem on Wednesday

FYI.........
---------------------- Forwarded by Rita Wynne/HOU/ECT on 05/05/2000 08:10 AM
---------------------------

From: Dave Nommensen 05/04/2000 06:56 PM

To: George Smith/HOU/ECT@ECT, Edward Terry/HOU/ECT@ECT, Tricia
Bowen/HOU/ECT@ECT, Randall L Gay/HOU/ECT@ECT, Patti Sullivan/HOU/ECT@ECT, Pat
Clynes/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Carlos J Rodriguez/HOU/ECT@ECT, Robert
Superty/HOU/ECT@ECT, Bryce Baxter/HOU/ECT@ECT, Rita Wynne/HOU/ECT@ECT, Donna
Greif/HOU/ECT@ECT
cc: Jeff Johnson/Corp/Enron@Enron, Tommy J Yanowski/HOU/ECT@ECT, Beth
Perlman/HOU/ECT@ECT, Scott Williamson/HOU/ECT@ECT, Jim Ogg/HOU/ECT@ECT, Regan
M Smith/HOU/ECT@ECT, Kenneth M Harmon/HOU/ECT@ECT
Subject: Unify performance problem on Wednesday

As you are aware, the Unify system experienced significant performance
problems Wednesday from approx 9:30 am - 11:20 am. The duration of the
problem was due to a type of system behavior we had not experienced before.
The problem was exacerbated by a multitude of additional user logins thinking
that a fresh login might work better. Additional logins never improve
performance and generally degrade it, but that is another story. (There was
actually a single user with 21 sessions!) We had to "bounce" the server
twice to bring the system back to its normal level of performance.

The good news is that we found out what caused the problem. It was not a
particular user or a particular report or process. It was actually an
intentional change to a specific table that we have done numerous times in
the past, but this particular change had drastic side effects. We have
contacted Sybase with this problem to see if they can help determine if the
behavior is a "feature" or a bug. In the meanwhile, we will do these types
of changes at night during scheduled outages.

I apologize for the frustration, anxiety, and extra work brought on by this
problem and will take every precaution to see that it does not happen again.
If you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to give me a
call.

Dave N.