SharePoint TechCon 2009 - 907

dynaTrace

907: BUILDING SCALABLE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SHAREPOINT APPLICATIONS

SPTechCon2009-06-24, dynaTrace software IncAndreas Grabner, [email protected] Strategist

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About me

• Andreas Grabner

• Technology Strategist

• dynaTrace Software (http://www.dynaTrace.com)

• Blog: http://blog.dynaTrace.com

• Why Performance is such a big topic for me?

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Agenda

• While the development of SharePoint-based services is relatively easy, making them perform and scale can be a real challenge. This class will show you code in the SharePoint Component Model, so you can learn about what the framework is doing under the hood when it is used by a WebPart or an external application. This insight is vital in order to build high-performing and scalable applications based on SharePoint

• LOTS OF DEMOS!!

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Agenda

• SharePoint Object Model

• Considerations when working with lists

• Different ways to access list content

• Batch updating lists

• Memory Considerations & Native Resources

• WebParts

• Design Guidelines

• Performance Considerations

• How to debug/analyze/profile

• Tips & Tricks

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Working with SharePoint Lists (1)

• Do not treat SharePoint Lists as database tables

• Use database tables for transient or transactional data.

• The 2000 Items per List Myth• What you read on blogs/articles/...

• Consider the restriction of a maximum of 2000 items per list container in document libraries and lists

• Create containers (folders) in your list to overcome the 2000 item limit

• What I think

• > 2000 is not a problem at all

• If you only request those items in a list that the user needs in the particular use case

• Use Row Limits, Paging, queries, ... to selectively retrieve list items

• Maximum number of items supported in a list with recursive containers (folders) is 5 million items

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Working with SharePoint Lists (2)

• Consider caching the contents of a list to a DataTable or DataSet if the list will be queried multiple times in your application

• Consider using PortalSiteMapProvider which implements a result cache based on SPQuery‘s

• Use Views to limit the number of columns that are retrieved

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Analyze List Usage Behavior

• Do not do pre-mature optimization• Analyze Usage Patterns of Lists and Views• Define Index Columns and modify views to improve query performance

Analyze usage and performance of all lists in SharePoint Analyze usage and performance of all views in SharePoint

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Item Count is kept redundant in the AllUserData table and also kept in memory

ALL List Items are retrieved from the Database

Access SharePoint Lists from Code (1)

• Getting Item Count of a List

DO NOT

int noOfItems = SPContext.Current.List.Items.Count;

DO

int noOfItems = SPContext.Current.List.ItemCount;

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• Iterating through List Items – THE WRONG WAY

DO NOT

for (int itemIx=0;itemIx< SPContext.Current.List.Items.Count;itemIx++) {

SPListItem listItem = SPContext.Current.List.Items[itemIx];

// do something ...

}

Every access to Count and Items Property queries the whole SharePoint list

We end up with 202 SQL Executions with a total exec time of > 1s

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• Iterating through List Items – THE RIGHT WAY

DO

SPListItemCollection items = SPContext.Current.List.Items;

foreach (SPListItem listItem in items) {

// do something ...

}

Only first access to the collection queries the data

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• Limit Rows by using SPQuery• Accessing the SPList object always requests ALL items in the list• Use SPQuery and the RowLimit property to only query a certain amount of

elements

DO

SPQuery query = new SPQuery();

query.RowLimit = 100;

SPListItemCollection items = SPContext.Current.List.GetItems(query);

for (int itemIx=0;itemIx<items.Count;itemIx++) {

SPListItem listItem = items[itemIx];

// do something ...

}

SPQuery properties are taken into the generated SQL Statment. Only the first X rows are selected

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• Limit Columns by using a View or SPQuery.ViewFields

• Accessing SPList always returns ALL Fields

• ONLY request the columns that you really need

DO

SPQuery query = new SPQuery(SPContext.Current.ViewContext.View);

or DO

SPQuery query = new SPQuery();

query.ViewFields = "<FieldRef Name='ID'/><FieldRef Name=‘Text Field'/><FieldRef Name=‘XYZ'/>";

SELECT clause when accessing SPList

SELECT clause when using a View or ViewFields

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ListItemCollectionPosition is used in WHERE clause


• Pagine through SPQuery Results• Process query results in batches or• Use this feature when implementing custom paging

DO

SPQuery query = new SPQuery();query.RowLimit = 10; // Thats our page size

do{

SPListItemCollection items = SPContext.Current.List.GetItems(query);

// do something with the first batch of items...query.ListItemCollectionPosition = items.ListItemCollectionPosition;

} while (query.ListItemCollectionPosition != null)

Individual SQL Statements are executed for each page of data

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Updating Data in SharePoint Lists (1)

• Use Batch Updates when updating multiple items at once

DO NOT

for (int itemIx=0;itemIx<newItems;itemIx++) {SPListItem newItem = items.Add();// fill the individual fields newItem.Update();

}

Every Update is done separately and requires a roundtrip to the DB

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Without Batch


• Construct a CAML Update Query and Execute it via SPWeb

DO

StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder();for (int itemIx=0;itemIx<newItems;itemIx++) {query.AppendFormat("<Method ID=\”{0}\”>" +

"<SetList>{1}</SetList>" +"<SetVar Name=\“ID\”>New</SetVar>" +"<SetVar Name=\”Cmd\”>Save</SetVar>" + "<SetVar Name=\”{3}Title\”>{2}</SetVar>" +

"</Method>“, itemIx, listGuid, someValue, "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#");}

SPContext.Current.Web.ProcessBatchData("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +"<ows:Batch OnError=\"Return\">{0}</ows:Batch>", query.ToString())

CAML Query is processed in Batch by ProcessBatchData

Almost 2 seconds difference for inserting 100 items

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• Use the Web Service API as an alternative

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/lists.lists.updatelistitems.aspx

DO

StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder();for (int itemIx=0;itemIx<newItems;itemIx++) {query.AppendFormat("<Method ID=\”{0}\”>" +

"<SetList>{1}</SetList>" +"<SetVar Name=\“ID\”>New</SetVar>" +"<SetVar Name=\”Cmd\”>Save</SetVar>" + "<SetVar Name=\”{3}Title\”>{2}</SetVar>" +

"</Method>“, i, listGuid, someValue, "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#");}System.Xml.XmlDocument xmlDoc = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();System.Xml.XmlElement elBatch = xmlDoc.CreateElement("Batch");elBatch.SetAttribute("OnError", "Return");elBatch.InnerXml = methods.ToString();localhost.Lists listService = new SPConsole.localhost.Lists();listService.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;listService.UpdateListItems(listname, elBatch);

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Summary on SharePoint Object Model

• Count List Items• SPList.ItemCount instead of SPListItemCollection.Count

• Iterating through SPList• Store SPListItemCollection in variable instead of accessing List property in loop• Limit the number of Items retrieved by using SPQuery and RowLimit

• Limit Columns• Use a View or SPQuery to limit the number of columns and rows that will be retrieved

• Paging through data• Make use of SPQuery ListItemCollectionPosition feature to page through data• Use an appropriate RowLimit value to define the page size

• List Updates• Do batch updates via WebService Lists.UpdateListItems or SPWeb.ProcessBatchData

• List Item Collections• Store myList.Items in a SPListItemCollection variable when accessed multiple times

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Interesting Links on SharePoint Lists

• SharePoint List Performance

• http://blog.solanite.com/keith/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=15

• http://blog.thekid.me.uk/archive/2007/02/24/deleting-a-considerable-number-of-items-from-a-list-in-sharepoint.aspx

• http://blog.solanite.com/keith/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=15

• Link Collection about Performance

• http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/07/09/capacity-planning-key-links-and-info.aspx

• Information about Row Limit and Paging

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc404818.aspx

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SharePoint Object Model

• Whats going on „under the hood“ when using the SharePoint Object Model?

• How to improve SharePoint Data Access?

DEMO

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INEFFICIENT use of RESOURCES

• SharePoint Object Model• SPSite and SPWeb hold references to native COM objects

• Release SPSite & SPWeb in order to free native resources

• Querying too much data results in high memory usage

• Reference• SPDisposeCheck tool

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/11/12/announcing-spdisposecheck-tool-for-sharepoint-developers.aspx

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687949.aspx

• http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973248.aspx#sharepointobjmodel_otherobjectsthatrequire-disposal

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INEFFICIENT use of RESOURCES

• Monitor resources

• Monitor Memory

• Monitor Database connections

• Monitor „critical“ SharePoint objects (SPSite, SPWeb)

• Identify leaking responsible WebParts

Monitor SharePoint Memory -> Growing Heap?Identify „leaking“ object instances

Identify who allocates those objects

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Data is REQUESTED in an INEFFICIENT way

• How to identify a SPSite/SPWeb Resource Leak?

• How to identify resource intensive WebParts?

• How to monitor SharePoint Memory Issues down to the Object Model‘s Data Access classes?

DEMO

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Web Parts Design Guidelines

• Design Web Parts to perform only a single function in order to improve reuse

• Design Web Parts to be configurable or customizable by users

• Include a Web Part Manager in custom master pages that will be used by Web Part pages

• Consider using Web Part verbs to allow users to perform discrete actions

• Consider categorizing your properties to distinguish them from Web Part properties

• Dispose properly of any SharePoint objects and unmanaged resources that you create in your Web Parts

• Many SharePoint Objects hold references to unmanaged objects

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WebPart Troubleshooting

• Attach to w3wp.exe process• Use Process Explorer to find correct w3wp (-ap parameter)

• Understand ASP.NET Page Execution LifeCycle• ASP.NET is the underlying technology

• Understand where your custom code fits in

• Be careful with VIEWSTATE• Easy to use but comes with many side-effects

• http://www.sitepoint.com/article/aspnet-performance-tips/2/

• Memory Management• Be careful with allocating too many small short living objects

• Make sure to free references

• Resource Management• Dispose/Release objects

• Hold on to resources only as long as you need it

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Tips & Tricks

• Use RenderContents or CreateChildControl vs. Render• http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2008/02/18/Understanding-how-Web-

Parts-are-rendered-why-to-never-use.aspx

• Turn on IIS-Compression• http://planetmoss.blogspot.com/2007/06/dont-forget-iis-compression-

colleague.html

• http://www.sitepoint.com/article/aspnet-performance-tips/3/

• BLOB Caching• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101762841033.aspx

• Delay loading core.js• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933823

• General ASP.NET Performance Tuning• http://www.sitepoint.com/article/aspnet-performance-tips/

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Tips & Tricks

• Pre-Create Personal Site

• UserProfile.CreatePersonalSite()

• Can take several seconds per user

• Do it up-front to avoid heavy load when releasing new SharePoint installation

using (SPSite spSite = new SPSite(@“http://server“))

{

ServerContext siteContext = ServerContext.GetContext(spSite);

UserProfileManager pmManager = new UserProfileManager(siteContext);

UserProfile spUser = pmManager.GetUserProfile(„domain\\username“);

spUser.CreatePersonalSite();

}

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References & Contact

• MS SharePoint Team Blog

• http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/default.aspx

• http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2006/02/27/539689.aspx

• Contact me for follow up

• Andreas Grabner

• Mail: [email protected]

• Blog: http://blog.dynatrace.com

• Web: http://www.dynatrace.com