High CPU usage with FM Pro 10

[BrentHedden]

One thing that I've noticed with FM Pro 10 (and advanced), is that when the program is running and has around 50 hosted files open, the idle CPU usage is about 25%. To clarify - the files are being hosted by FMServer 10 on a separate machine.

When running FM 9 with the same scenario, the CPU usage is around 8%.

This isn't really a problem with desktop computers, but we're also running a Citrix server for outside sales people. After three people log in and run FM10, the CPU usage is maxed out. Which is unacceptable, considering that on a normal day anywhere from 5-10 users will be on at a time.

The same scenario is present whether it's being run on XP, Vista, or Vista Business (64 bit). We aren't running Macs, so I can't test it in that environment.

Anyone else notice this and/or can provide any kind of assistance?

[BrentHedden]

May be helpful if anyone comes across this problem -

After speaking with FileMaker support, they mentioned that they have several reports of this happening. The common denominator is most of these are using custom menus. So they are looking into this now.

I tested this out partially, and sure enough - when I turn off the custom menu for a particular file, the CPU load drops from 25% to about 10%. Weird!

For anyone that is in a similar situation, please check the CPU usage. Don't want any angry clients on our hands.

[Daniel Farnan]

I have just tried upgrading a client's 40+ file system from v6 to v10. There are no custom menus in place, and the CPU use is at around 8% when the app is idle! When did this sort of level start happening?

This is within a Citrix environment; using v6 the system can accomodate up to 12 or so users on one server while still remaining generally responsive but using v10 the Citrix servers are brought to their knees! Try actually using FMP v10 and the problem gets very much worse: to the point where the switch back to v6 was made within hours after the v10 upgrade going live.

Does anyone know:

1. Why the app now idles at anywhere up to 10% CPU usage, whether on a standard workstation or under Citrix.

2. If the CPU resources required are a function of the number of files being accessed.

3. If the CPU power affects the percentage being used, ie will a new Citrix server with a faster set of processors be able to host more users than the current servers (4x Pentium4 2.4GHz on each server).

All servers are running Win2k3 Server SP2, the "workstation" I tested on was the 1 year old file server (after hours).

Thanks in advance.

[mr_vodka]

Have you patched your Pro 10 version to 10.0v2?

[Daniel Farnan]

Sorry, forgot to mention that. It was the first thing I did after installing v10.

[Daniel Farnan]

More testing has revealed the following:

1. Average CPU use is between 7% and 10% per user when the application is completely idle (as opposed to 0% for the v6 solution).

2. Peak usage is very similar to the v6 system, ~25% but each peak lasts a few seconds longer than with the older solution.

3. When another application receives the focus, FMP v10 rapidly drops to 2% CPU use (usually in less than a second).

I am really scratching my head on this one, especially item three in the list above - the last time I saw something like that was with MacOS prior to X.

Any help with this is much appreciated.

[mr_vodka]

I would report this to FMI. I have heard some people are still having issues with CPU usage being high even after they have patched up to 10.0v2. For most, that patch solved their CPU utilization issues.