Testing Disk I/O throughput on a volume where GroupWise is installed to check for slow performance issues

contributing to this ?

There is a utility called TSATEST that comes installed on a "SLES11 / OES11" or "SLES11 / OES2015" server, in the /opt/novell/sms/bin/ directory.  Normally in the Linux path.

Now if there is a customer server that is running SLES11 or SLES12 that does not have OES installed, then you will not have access to the TSATEST utility, in this case you can either do one of 2 things :

1.  OPTION # 1 : For SLES11 ONLY :  To install only the TSATEST utility and dependencies (not OES) :

Note:  If the url given are not valid, then just download the appropriate OES .iso patch level file at: 

If running SLES11 SP3 that is compatible with OES11 SP2  :   then downlolad this .iso at 

If running SLES11 SP4, that is compatible with OES11 SP3  :  then download this .iso at

If running SLES11 SP4 that is also compatible with OES2015 SP1  :  then downlolad this .iso at 

To install "tsatest" to a SLES11 box (no oes) :

  a.  Have the .iso file you downloaded above in /root/Downloads directory

  b.  Start YAST, select Software, Software Repositories, ADD , "Local ISO image", Next, 

  c.  Type a Repository Name like "oes", Browse to the path where you copied the .iso file, /root/Downloads, 

  d.  Highlight the file and click OPEN.  Click NEXT, then IMPORT.  Agree to the license and click NEXT.  

  e.  Click OK to exit the list of repositories.

  f.  Click on Software, Software Management, In the Search list box, type "sms" (no quotes), Click the SEARCH button.  

  g.  Click ONLY the check box "novell-sms", click Accept then Continue.  

  h.  When the install is complete.  Exit YAST.

  

To RUN "tsatest" on a SLES11 box :

  a.  When ever you run "tsatest" you must first make sure that the "novell-smdrd" daemon is running. 

      You can do this by doing "rcnovell-smdrd status", if it is not running then start it with

      "rcnovell-smdrd start".  Assume you will do this as the "root" linux user at a terminal.

      

  b.  Then run :  tsatest --path <path-To-GroupWise-Volume-Directory> -u root -p <rootPassword>

  

After several seconds you will see statistical information show up, among other things :

  "Effective MB/min:" , what  is the  value , DURING the problem , with the GroupWise POA running ?

  

  c.  Run the same above test with the GroupWise POA NOT running to see a comparison.  What is the value ?

  

  d.  For disk i/o we want to see approximately 1000 megabytes per minute throughput for GroupWise

  top have good performance.

  

  e.  If the "Effective MB/min" is below 1000, especially with the GroupWise POA shutdown,

  then you may have an issue on disk with regard to disk i/o that will need to be looked into,

  that is not related to GroupWise.

2.  OPTION # 2: ( SLES11 or SLES12 )

NOTE:  TSATEST is not compatible with SLES12, as an alternative, to check for disk i/o issues, 

refer to this Cool Solution.  This can also be used for a SLES11 server with no OES :

 https://www.novell.com/communities/coolsolutions/groupwise-io-bottleneck-check/

  

  or you can view a video on this top at : https://youtu.be/2W9oELboMe8

  

NOTE:  

If you find that your disk i/o throughput values are within the suggestions of this document

and if you still have GroupWise performance issues consider this GroupWise video on helpful hints on what

to check :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnVyj9GiugY , before opening a GroupWise Service Request with

Micro Focus GroupWise support 

To open a new Service Request you can go to : https://www.novell.com/customercenter/app/newSupportRequest?execution=e2s1

Or call the appropriate number at : https://support.microfocus.com/contact/novell.html