Network Performance

The following are some general comments and suggestions for increasing CrimeStar performance by establishing a faster network environment.

The limiting performance factor in almost any network are the parts of the network that are shared resources. The physical network (wiring) is used for all workstations to communicate and the 'server' is used to access the data files from the CrimeStar database. So speeding up these two components will give you the greatest benefit. Consider, using a 100 Mbs or Gigabit network infrastructure vs. 10 Mbs network. This alone will provide 10-100 times more speed in the delivery of data from the server to your workstation computer as compared to a traditional 10Mbs system.

Likewise, when all the workstations are getting their data from the same file server, the speed of that server (specifically the disk drive) is critical. Consider using a hard drive on the server with a faster access speed, or using a faster drive controller card with more cache memory, or increasing the memory on the server.

The total realized speed of the system is only as faster as its slowest component. What you should do in your particular case depends on where the performance 'bottleneck' exists. You should use run a performance analysis monitor on the machine you are using as your server to see if it is memory, disk or CPU that is the limiting performance factor then react accordingly.

See Also: Network Basics on discussion about different type of network wiring schemes