Sage Line 50 Running Slowly?
Sage Line 50 Performance Issues
Line 50 can run slowly for a wide variety of reasons and the
problem often appears when the network or machines are upgraded to what are in
theory are faster machines. Our experience gained through many installations of
our products and Sage Line 50 have identified a number of common configuration
problems. Some of the more obvious causes are listed below.
If you would like to try a free trial of our new, easy to use Sage
Performance Testing program click here.
We provide the information on this page as a courtesy for Sage
Line 50 users and to assist users of our Sage Integration
Products.
Please check with your Support team or supplier before making
any changes to your configuration. All information is supplied "As is" and we
accept no liability in any circumstances.
Most of the information presented here relates to systems with
"Servers"
I would recommend that you work through all the suggestions
even if they appear to be irrelevant and most importantly document
each change that you make.
Before you start, the Number 1 cause of slow performance is
Anti Virus Software. Check this first. Make sure the client and the server are
not scanning the Sage Data files or Folders. AV software can also cause problems
running Sage Reports. Feedback suggests that it is sometimes not enough to
simply disable the AV or exclude the Sage files form the scan and that the
AV software must be completely de-installed. This seems to be because some AV
vendors are now using mini filters.
"We had extreme Sage 2008
Performance problems on Vista, until we installed SP1.
After installing SP1 on one of
our Vista machines the access speed for Sage data was fast, but not on
another Vista PC.
After much messing around pausing
and disabling Anti-Virus (Kaspersky), I finally UNINSTALLED Kaspersky AV
and the performance was suddenly FAST. So re-configuring/disabling AV
wasn’t enough."
If your problem is suspected to be the
network, try setting up Sage to access a copy of the Sage data on the local
drive just to prove that this is in fact the case.
In addition, we found no differences in
performance between using XP Professional as a "Server" and Small Business
Server 2003 (SBS2003). Our tests were run on a dual boot machine with both
Operating systems installed so the hardware configuration was identical in both
cases. To eliminate other factors the client machine was directly connected to
the Server rather than via a switch or hub. So if you have moved to SBS and
performance has got worse it is almost certainly a configuration problem. We
also found that running and using Sage on the "Server" machine seriously
degraded network access performance for the other clients.. We trust none of you
are using a Windows Server as a workstation but this may be an issue in peer to
peer networks as well.
If you have SBS2003 or Windows Server 2003 also check
SMB Signing
Please note the newly announced Minimum
Specifications for Sage Line 50
Sage Line 50 2008
Important Update 12th October 2007 - There is a Hotfix that must
be applied to all systems that use the Sage Data Objects. This includes Third
Party Products as well as Sage Job Costing, Manufacturing and Sage Practise
Solution. The hotfix corrects a problem with Item lines on Invoices changing
after they have been saved. This Hotfix was reposted by
Sage in May 2008 so make sure this version is applied.
Sage Line 50 2007
There are some problems with the early versions of 2007. We strongly
recommend that you contact Sage Support or visit the Sage web site before upgrading
to this version. As of April 2007 most of the major problems appear to be fixed
but you must apply all the Updates even if you have installed from a recent CD.
Update 6 is the latest update as of 29th June 2007.
Click here to check the Sage Web site for Line 50 Updates
There are some reports of users other than administrator not
being able to run Sage at all. The solution to this appears to be to ensure that
each user has specific permissions to the Sage Folders. It is not sufficient for
the users to belong to a group that has permissions to the Sage Folders. We
haven't verified this but it is worth trying if you have this problem.
Windows Vista
If you are using Windows Vista as the file server check the
following Microsoft KB Article which describes a problem with the maximum number
of SMB connections to the server.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937082/en-us
Sage's official line is that only Sage version 2007 onwards
are compatible with Windows Vista.
You must ensure that you don't install to the
default location of Program Files since Vista doesn't allow files in this
location to be updated.
If you are having problems installing or running make
sure you run the Install and actual program "As Administrator". (Right Click on
the Items to select this option). We have successfully
installed Sage Version 13, 12 and Version 11.1 on Vista using the above method and
it appears to work but you are obviously on your own in terms of Sage support if
anything goes wrong.
To install Sage in a location other than the
default, choose the Custom Install option in the Sage setup.
There appears to be a problem with Sage versions prior to 2008
with displaying Customer and Supplier Accounts. When an account is selected from
the List displayed in the Customer or Supplier module the details are blank.
The workaround for this is to select the account from the drop
down list on the Details Tab. The Account information is then displayed.
Windows Vista SP1
We are in the process of installing SP1and will post any
relevant information as soon as possible. Tip : Sp1 won't appear in Windows
Update until you have installed all other earlier Windows Updates.
So far, Sage 2008 installed prior to the SP1 Update appears to
start and run OK.
Sage Data Paths in Version 2008.
The
default Data paths have changed at Sage 2008. These are now set depending on
the OS.
NB – In pre
Sage 2008 versions the Company file was in the Sage Program Folder. The actual
data would be in a subfolder of the Program Folder i.e. C:\Program Files\Sage
2007\Accounts
Windows Vista – Data is in ->
C:\Program Data\Sage\Accounts\2008
Windows
XP – Data is in ->
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Sage\Accounts\2008\
At Sage
2008 the Company file is also now in the above location.
Changing the Data File
Location
The path to
the Sage Data is held in the Company File (see above). You can edit this file in
Notepad to change the path to the Sage Data files as required. You must use
Drive Letters in the Company File, not UNC paths (e.g. \\Server\Data). If your
Sage Data is on the Network you must Map a Drive Letter to the Shared Folder
location. Make sure the Share has Read and Write Access (this is no longer the
default in Windows).
Sage Hanging or Crashing
We know of at least one site where Sage was hanging as a
result of Anti Virus software scanning the Sage Data Files. Ensure that the Sage
Files are excluded from local and Server based scans. Scanning of setup.dta can
cause Sage to hang on login. Symantec / Norton in particular often has adverse
effects when used with Sage.
Anti Virus Software
Some Anti Virus software dramatically slows Sage. This is most common
with Norton products. Excluding the Sage Data files from scanning should help.
You should also ensure that any Server based AV software is not scanning the
Sage Data Files.
Sage Data Path
You should use a "mapped" drive (e.g. F:\Sage) to access the Sage Data files
across a network. Using a UNC path (e.g. \\ServerName\ShareName) can degrade performance significantly (up to
50% slower than a mapped drive in some circumstances)
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Network Cards
Ensure that you have the latest drivers for your network
cards.
Network Performance
Try pinging the server and note the Time taken for the reply.
The higher the figure the worse performance will be. Also make sure that basic
functions like browsing the network work at a reasonable speed or work at all.
Opportunistic Locking (OpLocks)
Oplocks in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296264/en-us
This is a common cause of all sorts of network woes and is
nearly always disabled on Servers running commercial database applications. If
you are not absolutely sure what you are doing then "step away from the
registry, sir!" The Microsoft Knowledge base has a number of useful articles
about Oplocks. Essentially, Oplocks are a means to speed up the apparent
performance of a machine, but tend to cause problems with multi user
applications.
On Windows Servers and workstations, oplocks are normally
enabled by default. As stated above many database applications require
oplocks to be disabled to prevent data corruption in a multi user
environment. Applications that can be adversely affected include
Microsoft Access.
Disabling Oplocks can reduce Sage performance by 50% on a good
link. If the network connection is already slow, performance can really slow
down
If oplocks are disabled (achieved by a registry key), check why
they are disabled before re-enabling them. You may improve Sage performance to
the detriment of another application. It may be appropriate to just disable
oplocks on the PC allowing them to still be used by other machines that may need
them.
See the Microsoft KB Article
Configuring opportunistic locking in Windows for how to Enable and Disable
Oplocks on the client and Server.
For a Server the Reg_Dword value below enables (set to 1) or
disables (set to 0) Opportunistic locking.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\EnableOpLocks
The value does not exist by default. If it already exists, a
user or application has created it so you should check why before modifying the
value. If it doesn't exist Oplocks are enabled by default.
Important Note re Oplocks and preinstalled versions of
Windows
However there are some known issues with Windows installations
that were set up using the SysPrep tool which can result in Oplocks not
being enabled by default. See
KB 812599 and
KB 884054 for
details. This means that it is probable that any Windows system that was
preinstalled by the manufacturer may suffer from this problem.
In light of the above we would suggest you create the
EnableOpLocks value to ensure that it is set as you expect rather than relying
on the default which may not work.
Slow Reports and Slow scrolling through Invoice Lists
These problems are normally related to specific network
configuration parameters in Windows.
You should try disabling
SMB signing on the server via the Policy settings.
The Microsoft
Knowledge Base kb 887429 describes SMB Signing. At Windows Server 2003 / SBS
2003 this option was turned on by default and can severely impact performance
(it can also prevent older OS such as Windows 98 being able to connect to the
Server at all). Although you can use Regedit to change these settings they may
be overridden by Policy settings so you should change them via the Group Policy.
On SBS2003 use Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools ->
Domain Controller Security Policy . Locate the Security Settings -> Local
Policies -> Security Options.
Disable the following 2 options
Microsoft Network Server : Digitally sign Communications
(always)
Microsoft Network Server : Digitally sign Communications
(if client agrees)
These set the following 2 Registry Settings
EnableSecuritySignature = 0 (disabled)
RequireSecuritySignature = 0
(disabled)
in HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters.
It may be worth setting these manually rather than waiting for
the Policy to be applied. Alternatively type Gpupdate at the Command Prompt
to force the Policy to be applied.
Printer Drivers
One user has reported that the choice of Printer Driver had an
impact on performance. Changing from the default driver (which happened to be HP
in this instance) to another printer solved the problem. Another site
experienced performance problems accessing Sage data across the network when a
Dymo printer driver was installed on a client machine even though the printer
wasn't physically connected (access to local sage data was unaffected). Removing
the driver resolved the problem.
Slow Logon to Sage
If your Sage configuration specifies multiple companies and 1
or more of the paths is not available when Sage starts you will experience a
delay before the Select Company dialog is displayed.
Performance
Testing
If you would like to try our new Sage
Performance Test software please
drop us an email or if you have you have Sage 50 Version 11 to 2008 you can
download the program. This program checks key
registry settings and performs a speed test by reading the Sage Data files
providing a useful benchmark. Please mention the version of Sage you are using.
Other things to try
We
have also found that sometimes installing the Netbeui protocol can improve performance
significantly. If you have XP, Netbeui is not listed in the available protocols.
You must copy the required inf and sys files from the XP CD.
Server Side Reporting
You can also use the "Server Side
Reporting" option in Sage Line 50 to improve Report performance. Note that
this has changed at Sage 2007 onwards and must now be installed separately using
the Sage Product CD. You must ensure all Sage patches are applied, edit the
Company File to use UNC paths and make sure Port 5976 is not blocked prior to
setting up Server Side Reporting. The machines will also need to be set to use
Network Reports. The Sage Report Designer is then used to configure the client. Sage suggest you check
Ask Sage article (12635)
on
the Sage web site for information on how to configure Server Side reporting.
Access to this seems to requires you to have Sage Cover which seems a little
unfair. Installing Server Side Reporting on Sage 2007+ will create a Windows
Service on the Server machine. The machine used for Server Side Reporting
doesn't have to be a "real" server. We have had it running on an XP Home
machine. It will however need plenty of Ram.
We are working on a "How to" guide for Server Side Reporting.
If you are interested in this please drop us an
email or download the current version by
clicking
here
On Vista Server Side Reporting gave an error 080001 -
Cannot find all files in Data Path. This was resolved as a quick fix by giving
"Everyone" full permissions to the Program Data Sage Folder. However despite
running on new machine with 3gb of ram, Server Side Reporting is failing with
"Out of Memory" errors. Process Monitor shows a maximum usage of 2.2gb so it is
likely that is a problem with the Server Side Reporting code when dealing with
large amounts of data.
Also on Windows Vista at least, Server Side Reporting does not
seem to release memory after it has processed a Report.
Overall, it may work for your specific requirements but seems
to be unreliable on very large reports.
Directory Names
You should try to make sure that all the names for the Sage
folders conform to the 8.3 naming standard i.e. don't use long folder names and
try to avoid too long a path to the folder.
Service Packs
Make sure that XP and Windows 2000 machines have the latest
Service Packs applied. If you are using Windows Server 2003 or SBS make sure SP1
has been applied. See Microsoft KB Article
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 list of updates
If you have Windows Server 2003 or SBS also check this article
New registry entry for controlling the TCP Acknowledgment (ACK) behavior in
Windows XP and in Windows Server 2003
You should also make sure all Service Packs and Fixes have
been applied for your version of Sage. You can check the Sage Web Site by
clicking here.
Sage Line 50 Updates. Please note that the patches aren't cumulative. You
must install each patch in turn.
Data Maintenance
Clear out old transactions in Sage to reduce the size of the
data files and ensure the files are regularly data checked. Line 50 is not a
database or client/server application and performance will tend to decrease the
more transactions you have.
DNS
If you are running a Small Business Server 2003, your client
machines MUST be set to use the SBS Server as the DNS Server. If you don't know
why this is essential, you shouldn't be supporting SBS without the assistance of
someone who does know the answer. If you are the customer, ask your support guys
to explain. If they don't know the answer, get a new support company.
Hint: Windows now uses DNS for Name Resolution. If your client
machines are set to use the ISP DNS you will in effect be asking your ISP where
Resources are on your local network. The ISP of course won't know and this will
delay the process significantly. What should happen is that the clients are
configured to use the DNS on the SBS Server. This knows about local resources
and should be configured to forward non local requests (for web sites etc) to
the ISP. This concept is fundamental to the correct operation of an SBS network.
More Serious Stuff
If you have the experience, we would strongly recommend that
you consider installing a network monitoring tool. There are a number available
for free download. We would suggest
Ethereal as a very good
free option for this purpose. Don't forget that there is a Network Monitor built in
to Windows Servers as well.
Running a network trace will provide a good indication of
whether the problem is the network. This is particularly relevant if there are
significant performance differences when the Sage Data files are relocated
to a new location. Run a trace for each machine and see what the differences
are.
We would emphasize that you really do need to know what
you are doing to use these tools. You are going to need to be prepared to be
very methodical gathering data and spend a good deal of time in interpreting the
results.
Other Sage Problems
Can't Logon to Sage?
If you are unable to logon to Sage you can try deleting the
Queue.dta file. All users MUST be logged out of Sage and Sage should not be
running. Sage will recreate the queue.dta file when it is restarted. The
Queue.dta file can be found in the ACCDATA folder for the Sage Company Data that
is experiencing the problem.
Note that the "Username already in use" message from Sage can
occur if Sage wasn't shut down tidily for that users session. If you are sure
that the user is not actually logged in it's OK to allow Sage to clear the
session and log in.
Abnormal Termination Message starting Sage.
Try deleting or renaming the SGLCH32.USR and SGLCH16.USR
files. These are in the Windows\System32 folder.
If this doesn't work check the TaskOpt folder in the Sage
Program Folder. Delete any .XML files for the the user that is experiencing the
problem. i.e. Fred.xmlH32.
Sage 2008
Installation fails Error 1304 writing to file Sage.Expressions.Line50.dll
This is caused by the Dot Net
Framework not installing correctly. Try installing
Dot Net Framework 2 separately. This will highlight any problems with Dot
Net. Once this is installed, rerun the Sage setup.
Sage Reports Hanging or
Crashing
It may be worth trying the
following - Uninstall Sage and the Dot Net Framework 2. Reinstall both and
ensure all Sage Updates are applied. We have also heard of problems running
reports caused (again) by AV software. Try temporarily removing the AV to see if
it makes a difference.
Sage Slow over VPN
This will never work at an
acceptable rate unless you are using Remote Desktop over the VPN. Otherwise the
VPN is just a very very slow network connection. Don't go there.
File Permissions
If you suspect that Sage is
having problems accessing some files (e.g. it works when you are logged on as
Administrator but not when logged is a normal user) try using the
Process Monitor tool which will show you what
files are causing the error. For example, Sage Line 50 running on Terminal
Server apparently needs to access files in Windows\System32 which can be a
problem for non admin users.
Urban Myths
We often hear of all sorts of
poor advice so here we will try to dispel a few common misconceptions.
You don't need to upgrade from
XP Home to XP Professional to improve performance. It will make no difference.
You CAN access a Server from XP
Home even though XP Home can't be joined to a domain. Just make the XP Home
Workgroup Name the same as the Server Domain Name and create an account on the
server that matches the XP Home machine username and password. That's it.
Terminal Server - Sage Support
frequently wash their hands of running Sage on Terminal Server - just draw their
attention to
Sage knowledge base article 8578 which
clearly states that Sage Line 50 version 11 and above is fully tested and
compliant with Terminal Server.d the
SGLCH16.USR files.
How Fast should it be?
Our PhonixLT product provides a good indicator of how Sage is
performing because it scans all the Sage Accounts when it loads.
For a 11mbit Wireless Lan we would expect to read 1000 Sales
Accounts in around 30 seconds and on a 100 mbit Lan between 7 - 10 seconds.
The figures below are for an XP client connecting to SBS 2003
Server using tcp/ip
We found no significant performance differences between using
a "Server" and a PC for the Sage Data files. Obviously there are many other
reasons for using a real Server not least of which include security, resilience
and not depending on Fred's pc being turned on for the whole thing to work. A
Server is also designed for multi user access and won't be affected by Fred
playing Doom or deciding just to delete those pesky Sage files that are filling
up his hard drive.
A note for the non technical user, a Windows 2000, XP or Vista
machine is not a real "Server" no matter what your supplier tells you. It is a
PC that is sharing files. There is a difference.
