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• 09-11-2009, 3:34 AM

  drgullen Joined on 09-11-2009, 3:10 AM Posts 5

  Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact I have a strange one here. All my Classic ASP applications worked error-free and performed brilliantly running them as localhost under Windows XP with IIS 5.1. Under Vista/IIS 7 however, the best way that I can describe it is that they are all "sluggish".  They run error-free, but I notice at times that form processing seems to have a "burp" effect.  By that I mean, in one instance, they'll respond immediately, while in the next instance, my browser will show the processing icon and the response will take 2 or 3 seconds. This is a problem in several applications, including a Pyramid game that I've created.  The app needs to display the next clue as soon as I click the CORRECT button for the previous clue.  In some instances, the next clue appears right away.  In others, the delay occurs. I'm sure I have something configured incorrectly somewhere, but the frustrating part is that I'm receiving no errors that I know of when this delay occurs, because the next page does eventually get served without errors. I've tried using the machine name instead of localhost as suggested in a post that I read on here, but that has made no difference.  The occasional delayed processing still exists. Has anyone heard of this and know what I can examine to try and solve this?  Is there a known performance problem using the combination of IIS7 with Vista SP1 and Access 2003?

• 09-11-2009, 5:04 AM

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  lextm Joined on 10-22-2008, 12:18 AM Shanghai, PRC Posts 1,347

  Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact Well, maybe you can separate them to test if one of them is the root cause. For example, use another database instead of Access. Access is not the database for web application, so please get rid of it as soon as possible. Lex Li Support Engineer at Microsoft --------------------------- This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

• 09-11-2009, 5:37 AM

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  drgullen Joined on 09-11-2009, 3:10 AM Posts 5

  Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact  lextm,  While I appreciate the quick reply, telling me to ditch Access isn't really helpful.  With all due respect, I've been programming ASP web applications with Access for years now and on XP and earlier versions of IIS, they work and perform fine.  I agree that, if you are talking about a large-scale application or one that will be receiving a tremendous amount of traffic, like an Amazon.com or the like, then of course, you need a much more powerful database like Oracle or SQL Server.  If, however, you're talking about small web applications with only a handful of tables and users and about 100 rows of data (which is the case for my Pyramid game), then Access should be more than sufficient. In fact, I am running this on a Sony VAIO laptop which I have dual-booted with both XP and Vista, with both systems having IIS installed.  If I reboot and startup XP and run this game exactly as is without a single change to anything (code, Access or otherwise), this game runs flawlessly and performs like a champ.  Boot up as Vista though and it chugs along like a 1958 Edsel. I may be completely off my rocker here, but it sure seems to me that Access itself isn't the problem.

• 09-11-2009, 8:32 AM

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  lextm Joined on 10-22-2008, 12:18 AM Shanghai, PRC Posts 1,347

  Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact Well, you just drawed a conclusion with little digging. Right? I am not blaming Access, though obviously you should get rid of it. I was saying "separating" and narrowing down the problem. There is no superman here who can see the root cause without taking a deep analysis. Lex Li Support Engineer at Microsoft --------------------------- This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

• 09-11-2009, 9:37 AM

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  drgullen Joined on 09-11-2009, 3:10 AM Posts 5

  Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact What conclusion did I draw?  I already knew before I started this thread that it wasn't Access causing the problem.  If that was the case, the app wouldn't run well on XP either. It seems logical to me that if it works 100% (error-free and fantastic performance) on XP with IIS 5.1 and only works maybe 60% (error-free but poor performance) on Vista with IIS 7 then the problem is either with Vista or IIS 7 or a combination of both of them. Why do you keep saying "obviously you should get rid of Access"?  I don't follow your logic there at all.  Access is a perfectly fine database platform for the task I'm trying to accomplish.  Don't just tell me to get rid of it.  Can you give me a solid reason why I should abandon Access and go with some other database platform, other than just because you're telling me to do so? Also, how do I go about separating the database from the application?  You're talking about patching the whole application to exclude all the embedded database calls just for a test?  I don't think so.  If the app was struggling on XP as well, then yes, I'd agree with you. I'm not looking for Superman.  I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this type of thing, that's all.

• 09-11-2009, 3:35 PM

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  drgullen Joined on 09-11-2009, 3:10 AM Posts 5

  Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact Well, after hours of searching today, I discovered that the problem appears to be McAfee Virus protection affecting the w3wp.exe IIS Worker process.  I read this link: http://dotnetfreak.co.uk/blog/archive/2005/02/15/asp-net-w3wp-exe-100-cpu-usage-and-mcafee-virusscan-enterprise.aspx This talks about Buffer Overflow Protection, but it appears at least in my version of McAfee (Security Center v9.3, VirusScan v13.3, Personal Firewall v10.3), there seems to be no way of excluding a specific file or process from being scanned.  I was able to turn off Buffer Overflow Protection, but the performance of the IIS worker processes remained poor. What I did next was temporarily disable McAfee completely by going into Services, stopping all McAfee services, changing their startup property to Disabled and then rebooting the computer.  This restarted Vista without McAfee present and my app performed fine on IIS 7. It seems McAfee monitors the w3wp.exe process beyond Buffer Overflow Protection.  I don't know how to exclude the IIS-related files from being monitored by McAfee because I don't see the option to do this.  Their GUI offers two choices: Monitor all files or monitor only program files and documents.  Mine was set to all files...I tried switching, but I think it considers w3wp.exe an IIS program file, because it continued to monitor it. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and how to resolve this, please chime in.  Thanks!

• 09-11-2009, 10:44 PM

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  lextm Joined on 10-22-2008, 12:18 AM Shanghai, PRC Posts 1,347	Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact Glad to hear that you isolated the guilty finally. Then you may go to McAfee forums to see if there is a way to resolve the conflicts. Lex Li Support Engineer at Microsoft --------------------------- This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

• 09-12-2009, 1:44 AM

  In reply to

  drgullen Joined on 09-11-2009, 3:10 AM Posts 5	Re: Performance Issues (ASP Classic/IIS 7/Vista/Access 2003) Reply Contact Yeah, I'll do that.  Thanks for all your really useful replies, lextm.  I sure couldn't have done it without all your remarkable wisdom.