Really SLOW sorting...?

[beju0506]

Hey everyone,

 

We've got a table with log records that has one record for each entry (for sorting/report purposes)...

We have a script to navigate to the log layout, then show all records and sort by timestamp, then originating table, then user. The largest field is the field holding the actual log information which is at most one line of text because each record is only one log entry.

Our issue lies in the fact that when the sorting is done, it takes quite a long time (1 min+) just to sort the records. The server the DB is located on has 3GB of RAM and is not usually a problem with other things... is there something I'm doing wrong with the setup that is making this go so slowly?

 

Thanks!

 

Justin

[Ender]

How many records? What's the speed of the network?

[mackekind]

Try to fix the Index of indexed fields, maybe this will help you to fix your problem.

[beju0506]

Ender -

I don't know the exact speed of the network... Its a university-level webserver so its got plenty of power... (and there doesn't seem to be any slowdown with other programs)

 

The number of records is 19,872... (but like I said, they're pretty small records, only about the length of a sentence)

 

I'll check on the index thing and see if that makes a difference...

 

-Justin

[beju0506]

Mackekind-

 

What do you mean by "fix" the indexing? What should I do to it?

 

-Justin

[Ender]

Well, sorting is still one of the slowest operations in FileMaker, even if the fields are stored and indexed. The trouble is that sorting requires information from every record to be passed from the host to the client over the network. For this reason, network performance plays a big factor in the speed of the sort. If the network between your computer and the host is as slow as (or slower than) 10Mb, then I'm not surprized that it would take over a minute to sort 20K records. If you have 100MB or gigabit network, then that sort speed is a little slow (though a slow client workstation or very busy server could also account for it).

 

The good news is, FM7 and later are very good about caching sort information, meaning that subsequent sorts should be pretty quick.

 

If it makes you feel better, just imagine how long it would take you to manually sort 20,000 note cards, then that 1 minute won't seem so bad.

[LaRetta]

What version are you running? Are you using any mixed versions? How about FM Server? The 8.0v3 Updater resolved many sorting issues.

[beju0506]

LaRetta -

 

We've updated the server to 8.0v4 and all of the FM versions to 8.5.. so we should be on the latest versions... but its always done this... maybe Ender is right, maybe its just a lot of records lol... :-P

 

I dunno... we can survive... its just a minor annoyance.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone!

[qmrs]

Probably sounds a bit "novice like" but I agree, because we run server 7 and had the same problem (well I did because I connect remotely via vpn) and when I had a good look at the design, there were a heck of a lot of fields that were indexed (default stuff methinks) and so when I made sure that not every field (well the ones that shouldn't be) were indexed, the sorting process did become alot speedier.

I am a bit of an amateur, but it did work

Cheers

[beju0506]

Hmmm... interesting point. You may be right on this... when the other fellow earlier mentioned to check the indexing, I noticed that a lot of the fields were indexed. Maybe I'll shut that off and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip, you may very well be right on that!

 

-Justin

[beju0506]

hmm, no luck, same as before... thanks for trying though!

[beju0506]

Actually, after using for a bit, it DOES seem quite a bit faster... I think you were right!

[qmrs]

I've never been "right" in my life but oh gosh I've have alot of experience with finds and sorts. I work at home remotely through vpn and servers and get the same slow going - however the staff that use the dbase day to love it working with the server real time. I guess it just boils down to trial and error eh?

take care

[qmrs]

ps I learnt it all from people like Ender and LaRetta