(ATS4-APP09) Tips and Tricks for Managing Accelrys ELN Server Performance

Mike Wilson

Advisory Product Manager

mike.wilson@accelrys.com

The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.

• Accelrys Vault Server 6.7 Overview

• Vault Server Management Best Practices

• Leverage Windows Server 2008 features to manage the Vault Server

• Resources and Q&A

Agenda

Accelrys Vault Server 6.7 Enhancements

• Client deployment

• Show document data in Notebook Explorer

• Vault monitoring documentation

• Indexing status tracking

• Security performance enhancements

Client Installation Comparison

Do

wn

load

• Sections

Inst

all • Black Ice print driver

• Accelrys Draw 4.0 SP1 • Notebook Application • Notebook Explorer • Experiment Editor • Property Set Editor • Form Editor

Do

wn

load

• Sections • Notebook Application • Notebook Explorer • Experiment Editor • Property Set Editor • Form Editor • Accelrys Draw • Notebook Adapters

Inst

all • Black Ice print driver

• Accelrys Draw 4.0 SP1 • Notebook Launcher

Accelrys ELN 6.6 Accelrys ELN 6.7

Document Data Available in Notebook Explorer

Display scientifically relevant information

Accelrys Electronic Lab Notebook Architecture

AEP Notebook Collection

Accelrys ELN Client

Experiment

Editor

Framework Platform

Notebook Browser

Reporting Search Sections

Notebook Platform

Pluggable Services

Material Registration

Material Lookup

Accelrys Draw

Renditor

OpenEye

Discovery Gate W-S

Registration

Vault

Services

Index

Workflow

Repository

Authentication

Au

tho

rization

Windows Communication Foundation

Query

Administration

Workflow Designer

Configuration Management

Query Service

IDS/ADS

Oracle Accelrys Direct Content Management

Data Warehouse

Overview: Important Vault Windows Services

• Symyx Vault Message Processing Service (VMPS)

• Symyx Vault Server 1.0 (SymyxVS10, SVS) • Security Token Service (STS)

• RAS

• Query Service

• Symyx Workflow Service (WFS)

• World Wide Web Publishing Service (IIS) • Vault Public Web Service

• Vault Private Web Service

Overview: Important Vault Processes

Vault Web Services and Application Pools

• Symyx Vault Workflow Service depends on the World Wide Web Publishing Service

• Requires the Symyx Vault Message Processing Service to enroll new documents in workflow

• Common reasons that the Symyx Workflow Service stops or will not start

– Dependent services not

running

– Configuration issue

– Port conflicts

– No database connection

Workflow Service Troubleshooting Tips

• Symyx Vault Message Processing Service depends on the following services – Symyx Vault Server 1.0

(RAS, STS, Query service) – World Wide Web

Publishing Service – Workflow service to enroll

new documents in workflow

• Common reasons that the Symyx Vault Message Processing Service stops or will not start

– Other dependent

services are not running

– Configuration issue

– No database connection

Vault Message Processing Service Troubleshooting Tips

Vault Server 1.0 Service Troubleshooting Tips

• Symyx Vault Server 1.0 Service is NOT dependent on another service

• Check status pages for RAS/STS to verify that services are running

STS

RAS

• Vault Public/Private Web Service are dependent on World Wide Web Publishing Service (IIS)

• Check status pages for public/private web service to make sure that these services are running

Vault Public/Private Web Service Troubleshooting Tips

Public

Private

• Multiple log files created with the same timestamp

• Memory consumption of a process staying at 800 MB to 1.2 GB or higher for any length of time

• Win32k memory error messages recorded in the log files

• Authentication issues after month of successful logins

• Message Queues message count grows consistently throughout the day

• Status pages for the different services show up with an error

• Windows Application Event log is full of Vault Message Processing Service restart messages

Detecting Common Vault Server Issues

Best Practices for Vault System Management

• Restart middle tier servers every 30 days or after each operating system update (per Microsoft) – Automate by using Windows scheduled tasks or your network management platform

• Archive Vault and Tomcat logs every 30 days – Automate by using Windows scheduled tasks or your network management platform

• Restart all Vault services weekly – Automate by using Windows scheduled tasks or your network management platform

• Check disk fragmentation once a month – If fragmentation levels are consistently higher than 30% when defragmented monthly reduce the time to weekly

• Review Windows application and system event logs every 60 days for errors and correct as needed

• Integrate with existing network management environment for advanced service monitoring

Microsoft Message Queues (MSMQ)

• Vault Message Processor manages asynchronous processing of Vault Objects via Microsoft Message Queues

Message Handlers

Message Handler Description

FullTextIndexer Adds any text provided by VO to the full text index

VaultObjectIndexMessageHandler Indexes any Property Set Definition (PSD) data (including structures and reactions)

PropertyIndexMessageHandler Indexes VO core properties to support Standard Search. These indexes are also used by Vault for internal querying (resolve assemblies, for example).

WorkflowActivator

Enrolls items in workflows based on the active workflow associations

WorkflowTransitionMessageHandler

Indexes workflow stage value after transitions

PropertyExtractionMessageHandler Extracts data from properties designated for display in Notebook Explorer (new in 6.7)

MessageHandlerStatus Table: Status Tracking

State Meaning

Queued Vault Object (VO) is currently queued for processing by the message handler

Processed VO was processed by the message handler

Failed VO could not be processed by the message handler

Requeued VO has been submitted to the handler by the RequeueVaultObjects utility

Ignore VO is not subject to status tracking

Unknown VO has not been processed by the index status tracking feature

Examples: • Re-queue failed VOs in the Site repository

RequeueVaultObjects -repository Site

• Re-queue queued VOs for full text indexing in the R&D repository RequeueVaultObjects -repository "R&D" –status Queued –queues FullTextIndexer

• Re-queue untracked VOs Process Chemistry repository RequeueVaultObjects -repository "Process Chemistry" –status Unknown

RequeueVaultObjects.exe Arguments

Argument Description Required Default

-Repository The repository that will be acted upon Yes N/A

-MessageLimit Maximum # of messages that will be created No 100000

-Status The message handling state to be queued No Failed

-Queues List of queues to populate No All

Automation Support with Windows Task Scheduler

Status tracking and RequeueVaultObjects utility enables automation of message handling management activities with the help of Windows scheduled tasks

• Large re-queuing Jobs can be split across several load-balanced servers

– Strategy 1: Schedule re-queuing jobs against a large set of messages during long periods of time with low system activity (nights and weekends)

– Strategy 2 (Recommended): Constantly “trickle” relatively small numbers of messages at regular intervals around the clock

• Example: 1 million Vault objects to reprocess with two load-balanced Vault Servers – Scheduled job on Server 1: Re-queue 5000 objects on each full hour – Scheduled job on Server 2: Re-queue 5000 objects 5 minutes after each full hour

• “Vault Monitoring Guidelines” – Recommended thresholds and

alert states – Includes example jobs that can

be installed on your Vault servers – Standalone monitoring – Network management

integration

• Part of 6.7 Administration Guide • Contact Accelrys Support to

obtain a copy for v6.6

Monitoring Thresholds

Leverage Windows Server 2008 Event Viewer

• Utilize the new feature to create a new scheduled tasks directly from within Event Viewer based off of specific events recorded in the logs

• Respond to events in

three ways:

– Start a Program

– Send an E-mail

– Display a Message

Leverage Windows 2008 Data Collector Sets

Data Collector Set: – New feature added in Windows Server 2008

– Organizes multiple data collection points into a single component

– Outputs HTML reports which can be sent to support for troubleshooting

– Can be configured to generate alerts when thresholds are reached

– Use out-of-the box System Diagnostics/Performance report or create your own customized reports

– Scheduled task can be set up to Run Data Collector Sets at regular intervals

– Caution: Collecting performance and system information can affect overall system performance!

Leverage Windows 2008 Data Collector Sets

Managing Vault from Single Directory (Symbolic Links)

• Manage your Vault configuration files from a single directory – Create folder junction links to Vault

and Tomcat logs – Create file hard links to all

configuration files

• Directory can be shared out and accessed from a single management machine – e.g. manage several load-balanced

Vault Server from one computer

Summary

• We reviewed Vault service monitoring points and examined monitoring solutions that can run standalone or be integrated into an enterprise management system

• Special thanks to the monitoring guidelines author: Chuck Collins, Advisory Software Test Engineer

• Resources – Notebook IT/Admin forum on the Accelrys Community

• Email support@accelrys.com to join

• How to contact Accelrys Support

– Email support@accelrys.com – Accelrys community (https://community.accelrys.com)