slow execution on deployment machine

[chasgl1]

We have identical hardware configurations on our development machine and on our production machine in another state.  When we updated the test sequence from 2.0 to 3.1 the folks at the production machine reported much slower execution times.  I can make the sequence go slower here by altering UIMsgDelay either through the slide bar or directly in TestExec.ini.  But the production machine copy does not set the value.  On the development machine not setting the value seems to result in a delay of 0 or fastest execution.  I am trying explicitly setting the value to 0 for the production machine but I'm not that optimistic.  Can any of you think of other things to check to try to get better test speed please?
Thank you.
Chas

[Patrick_P.]

Hey Chas,

One thing you might want to check is the search directories you have configured.  In many cases a user interaction will cause TestStand to check the search directories for information such as step descriptions or code module location. If you have specified a network location to search, this will add even more delay. There are several ways to minimize delay associated with the search directories.

1. Specify File Extension Restrictions in the search directories options to limit the number of files that TestStand will search.

2. Minimize the number of directories that will be search by making your additional directories as specific as possible. If you know the folder that your files will be in on a network drive, there is no reason to specify the entire network drive as a search path. Also make sure that the "Search Subdirectories" option is only checked if necessary.

3. Move the lower priority search paths to the bottom of the search directories list. If you know that the item in your network directory will be used infrequently, move that search path to the bottom of the search directory list. TestStand will search in a top to bottom fashion the list of configured search directories.

If this doesn't seem to resolve the issue just reply back.

[chasgl1]

I re-arranged the search directories.  I am wondering a little if this case is one that leands itself to solution by re-arranging the search directories.  All of the directories are on the local machine not the network.  In the poriton of the program that is slow the entire program is in a single sequence file.   All the external programs are ActiveX modulas (which I assume are unaffected by the search directories?). 
Many of those calls use an object created in the call not a predefined object ,  some steps load dyamically some load when execution begins.  I don't know if being in a loop will affect the two execution modalities differently.

[Patrick_P.]

Hey Chas,

Another suggestion to help speed up your run time would be to disable tracing under the station options.  I was wondering about how much slowdown you were seeing on your production machine.  Some slowdown is expected when upgrading from an older version of TestStand to a newer version, but it should not be too significant.

[chasgl1]

What was a 3 hour test becomes a 5.5 hour to 7 hour test depending on the version of TestExec.ini used.  I'll have them try one without tracing.
thanks,
Chas

[Patrick_P.]

Hey Chas,

To be honest, we have done some internal benchmarking, and this is definitely not in line with what we have seen.  I had a few more questions.  Are you still seeing this slowdown with the same testexec.ini that you were using with the older version of TestStand?  I was also curious if you could post the specs (memory, processor, and OS) of the production machine that is running slowly?

[chasgl1]

Windows 2000 SP 4,  Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, 1,030,888 KB. Don't really have the option of putting the production system back to 2.0 to try the old .ini.

[Patrick_P.]

Hey Chas,

It definitely seems like your machine should be fast enough.  I was wondering if you could try and disable as much as possible (report generation, database querying, tracing, etc.) to see if it still runs slowly.  I was also curious about what kind of code modules you are calling and also what versions of the software?  For example, if you are calling into LabVIEW code what version of LabVIEW is being called?

[chasgl1]

Labview 7.0,  some COM objects that were created with Borland 5.0. I will try disabling stuff.
Thanks,
Chas

[chasgl1]

Disabling Report Generation, Tracing, and database querying did not seem to help.