I want to speed up my Route Manager program operations. What can I do?

Symptoms:

My RM program is not operating as fast as anticipated.

Cause:

There are many causes and methods of correction. See below.

Resolution:

Go through the following checklist. This will help you speed up your software.

1. Rebuild your data set. Go to File->Rebuild Data – Do note, this is a “Single User” process that requires all users out of the system and this could take several minutes to an hour+ depending on the size of your company, resources of computer/server that’s running it, etc.
2. Defrag your server hard drives often. A defrag will re-align the data stored on the hard drive. This will make information retrieval faster. – Upgrading to SSD Drives will be a huge performance gain, and do not need to be defragged.
3. Make sure any Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware is NOT scanning Route Manager tables. Some AV software will scan all modified files every time they are touched, which means if multiple users are using RM and that data is shared, not only could the server be scanning the data, each workstation could also be scanning it. We recommend setting rules in your A/V software to Ignore the entire RM folder if possible or at least *.DBF, *.CDX and *.FPT files. As those are the 3 database files within RM.
4. Make sure you are up to date with your Operating System and all Windows Updates. Another solution is to switch to Remote Desktop Server. To know more about Remote Desktop Server, please check Microsoft’s website or talk to our marketing department. Remote Desktop Server is recommended if more than 3 users are connected to Route Manager.
5. Make sure all network interface cards (NICs), switches, and routers are 1 Gbps and you are using the latest drivers. This is the #1 issue with network slowdowns. This change can increase your network / RM performance considerably!! However, even with 1 Gbps data throughput, more than 3 users running RM across a Mapped Drive will significantly decrease performance.
6. Do NOT use hubs. Hubs are very slow as they broadcast any packet received to every computer in your office. It better to use a 1 Gpbs “switch” instead of a hub. A switch will route a packet to the intended destination and not broadcast it. Less traffic means less lag and more bandwidth.
7. Upgrade your server’s NIC (Network Interface Card) to something other than a plain NIC. A high end server NIC on the server with the latest drivers installed will increase your performance and stability.
8. Make sure you are using CAT 5/6 wiring everywhere.
9. Make sure your network drivers are up-to-date and setup to use 1 Gpbs.
10. Upgrade your servers hard drive. Hard drives are a big bottleneck for most networks, the faster the hard drive the better. There are also server grade SCSI cards that will optimize hard drive performance and Solid State Drives to consider. High Speed Solid State Drives are one of the best bang for buck upgrades for speed.
11. There are ways to optimize your server hard drives for maximum output. Microsoft suggests having the OS and swap file on separate partitions and drives. There are MS white papers explaining the process.
12. More memory. If you’re using RM on a file server, we would recommend a minimum of 1/2 Gb of RAM, if the computer is not used for anything else. If you’re using a Remote Desktop Server / Citrix Server then we would recommend a minimum of 2 GB, but this varies based on the number of users you have concurrently connecting.
13. Most of the time it is better to have a faster processor as opposed to more processors. With price vs. performance in mind, we would recommend getting a faster processor as opposed to a second processor. If you have the budget, 2 to 4 fast processors will make a huge difference.
14. There are many ways to speed up your network which will in turn speed up RM. If you are not using Remote Desktop Server already, I would recommend looking into it. Using Mapped Drives to pull data across the network for EACH USER uses a considerable amount of bandwidth, and is generally one of the leading causes of low performance. Remote Desktop Server with the OS on one physical drive, swap on another physical drive, and RM on a 3rd physical drive with high-speed SSD drives would be the best for performance.

More Information:

If buying, setting up, and mainting a new Remote Desktop Server (best option) sounds too expensive, or too time consuming, consider our Cloud Hosting options. For a nominal monthly fee, you can have your own server accessible from anywhere you have an internet connection with the latest technology. For more information, review this website, or contact our sales team.