How to Optimise the Q-Pulse Application Server

  Who is this article for?  

  IT personnel responsible for managing Q-Pulse.

 IT access will be required.

Q-Pulse can be optimised to improve your overall system performance. Optimisation can be made on the database, the application server or the client depending on your environment.

This article outlines how to optimise the Q-Pulse application server and is split into the following sections:

1. Set/Increase the SQL Command Timeout
2. Switch Off Authenticode Verification
3. Set Chunk Size When Uploading and Downloading Attachments
4. Further Reading

Important Note: It is recommended that you backup any files before editing them. If you experience any issues then you can restore the original unedited file.

Looking for details on the Q-Pulse architecture? Visit Q-Pulse System Architecture for more details.

1. Set/Increase the SQL Command Timeout

All of the Q-Pulse data is held in a SQL database. When the information displayed in Q-Pulse is changed, the application will automatically perform SQL operations to update the data on the SQL server. The default SQL timeout options will determine how long these operations will run for.  

Increasing the timeout is recommended if:

• There is a large geographical distance between the application server and database server which may result in a delay carrying out tasks
• The SQL server hosts various other databases which may result in slower performance
• The user will be carrying out actions that require complex calculations to be performed (e.g. restructuring large managed lists)

The benefits of this change are outlined below:

To set the SQL command timeout for Q-Pulse 6.5 and above

1. On the application server, browse to the Q-Pulse web site folder.  By default, this will be C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulseDataPortal
2. Locate and open web.config with Notepad
3. Add a new entry to the <appSettings> section:

   <add key="SqlCommandTimeout" value="120"/>

4. Save the web.config.

To set the SQL command timeout for Q-Pulse 6.0 to 6.2

1. On the application server, browse to the Q-Pulse web site folder.  By default, this will be C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulse
2. Locate and open web.config with Notepad
3. Add a new entry to the <appSettings> section:

   <add key="SqlCommandTimeout" value="120"/>

4. Save the web.config.

To set the SQL command timeout for Q-Pulse 6.0 and below

1. On the application server, browse to the Q-Pulse web site folder.  By default, this will be C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulse5
2. Locate and open web.config with Notepad
3. Add a new entry to the <appSettings> section:

   <add key="SqlCommandTimeout" value="120"/>

4. Save the web.config.

2. Switch Off Authenticode Verification

In older versions of Q-Pulse (versions 5.51 to 5.90), the start-up process required authenticode verification.  In order to do this, the application server will connect to the internet so that various file assemblies can be verified. This verification process can have a negative impact on the product in environments where network performance may be an issue and may prolong the log on process.

The verification process can be skipped in .NET 3.5 by updating your aspnet.config file. 

The benefits of this change are outlined below:

1. Browse to %systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 and open the aspnet.config file in notepad.
2. Add the line below within the <runtime> element:

   <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/>

3. The contents of the file should look similar to the following:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
   
   <configuration>
     <runtime>
       <legacyUnhandledExceptionPolicy enabled="false" />
       <legacyImpersonationPolicy enabled="true"/>
       <alwaysFlowImpersonationPolicy enabled="false"/>
       <SymbolReadingPolicy enabled="1" />
       <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/>
     </runtime>
   </configuration>

If any issues are identified by applying this configuration you can roll back the change by removing thegeneratePublisherEvidence line from the aspnet.config file.

3. Set Chunk Size When Uploading and Downloading Attachments

Important Note: This section can only be implemented in Q-Pulse version 6.2 or later.

Some customers may experience issues when downloading and uploading attachments from Q-Pulse. Especially over the internet or slow networks. Currently in Q-Pulse the default chunk size is 128KB, however this can be increased by adding the tags found below to the web.config file for the Q-Pulse Dataportal. 

The benefits of this change are outlined below:

1. Browse to the Q-Pulse Dataportal web.config file. By default, this config file is stored in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulseDataPortal.
2. Within the <appSettings></appSettings> tags, add following keys to increase the upload and download chunk size to 2MB.     

   <add key="DownloadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>
   <add key="UploadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>

 Increasing the chunk size for Q-Pulse 6.0 to 6.2

1.  Browse to the Q-Pulse Dataportal web.config file. By default, this config file is stored in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulse.
2. Within the <appSettings></appSettings> tags, add following keys to increase the upload and download chunk size to 2MB.     

   <add key="DownloadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>
   <add key="UploadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>

Increasing the chunk size for Q-Pulse 6.0 and below

1. Browse to the Q-Pulse Dataportal web.config file. By default, this config file is stored in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\QPulse5.
2. Within the <appSettings></appSettings> tags, add following keys to increase the upload and download chunk size to 2MB.     

   <add key="DownloadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>
   <add key="UploadChunkSize" value="2097152"/>

4. Further Reading

• How to Optimise the Q-Pulse Client
• How to Optimise Microsoft SQL Server for Q-Pulse
• System Architecture