How to Cure SharePoint Headaches with GSX - Monitor, Measure, Manage - From Atidan

SharePoint Headaches ebook

January 2012

SHAREPOINT HEADACHES
GSX
SOLUTIONS

EBOOK

Project: Microsoft SharePoint Headaches
Targeted Product: GSX Monitor & Analyzer

[Adresse de la société]

Page 0

Content
Introduction .................................................................................................. 2

Headache 1: Load Testing your environment ........................................................... 2

Issue
.........................................................................................................................................................
2

The
GSX
cure
............................................................................................................................................
2

Headache 2: Anticipating capacity issues ............................................................... 5

Issue
.........................................................................................................................................................
5

The
GSX
cure
............................................................................................................................................
5

Headache3: Provide trusted data around the world ................................................... 8

Issue
.........................................................................................................................................................
8

The
GSX
cure
............................................................................................................................................
8

Headache 4: Enhancing your environment ............................................................. 10

Issue
.......................................................................................................................................................
10

The
GSX
cure
..........................................................................................................................................
10

Headache 5: Resources constraints...................................................................... 12

Issue
.......................................................................................................................................................
12

The
GSX
cure
..........................................................................................................................................
12

Headache 6: Managing user complaints ................................................................. 14

Issue
.......................................................................................................................................................
14

The
GSX
cure
..........................................................................................................................................
14

About GSX ................................................................................................... 15

GSX Headquarters Switzerland: +41.22.735.82.40
North America: +1.877.894.0961 / Europe: +33.4.93.81.17.98

1

Introduction
Many organizations are experiencing an uncontrolled proliferation of SharePoint servers and
custom applications to serve diverse business lines, leading to inefficient use of IT resources
and frequent calls to high-level engineers to resolve outages and other issues. They often find
that the more mission-critical SharePoint becomes, the more performance degrades and
administrative headaches escalate.
GSX Monitor is engineered to cure six common SharePoint headaches, to keep your system
running smoothly and bring administrative costs under control.

Headache 1: Load Testing your environment
Issue
While deploying SharePoint within your company, you have to load-test your environment
with multiple scenarios. Architects and administrators normally use a load-testing tool to see
how their environment reacts with 2,000 users, 10,000 users, and so on.
Analyzing the results, you’ll easily see that your System can support a certain amount of users
or and actions before breaking down. But a status of the system won’t give you any insight on
true performance experienced by users. For example, if no critical capacity is encountered,
systems are deployed and typically accept the load, but does this actually mean the user
experience is good?
To be able to truly test your environment and predict its performance you need to measure
the performance of the service delivered to your users before, during and after initial testing.

The GSX cure
By simulating actual end user activities and performance, GSX Monitor gives you the
information you need to see how the number of sites and users affects your environment’s
performance.

Figure 1 GSX Monitor: Mainview


2

After setting up your SharePoint monitoring interfaces in GSX, you can then choose the web
services and scenarios that you want to test on a regular basis.

Figure 2 SharePoint Web Services Setting

Web Services tests are true tests of end-to-end performance. Not only will they tell you which
services are up or down, but also the time it takes as a user to perform the actions. For
example, GSX will try to make a copy of a document, use a form, access document versioning,
and access the webparts.

The statistics view below shows you the response times for each of the tests you have
selected. You can then follow performance during load testing to see how your environment
actually delivers services to your users.

Figure 3 List of SharePoint Web Services


3

The scenario tests involve multiples actions in order to see how various scenarios play out in
your environment.
For example, you can create a blog post, create a meeting, create a site collection, test the
search services, test the Excel services, upload a document and List Item. Each test will show
the performance that your environment delivers to your users during load testing.
Together, the service and scenario tests allow you to see, adjust, and forecast actual enduser performance before and during your load tests.


4

Headache 2: Anticipating capacity issues
Issue
Your SharePoint environment constantly evolves, as users upload documents, create sites, and
update files. Storage and site administration become a nightmare when administrators do not
have a real-time view of their SharePoint environment and SQL back-end. Specifically, they
are unable to track trends and forecast the future.
Moreover, in most companies the SQL team is separate from the SharePoint team. This
division can really become a problem as SharePoint administrators desperately need to know
what is going on database-wise to anticipate capacity issues or resolve performance problems
on critical site collections.
SharePoint administrators need to have access to a real-time view of trending statistics in
order to predict the evolution of the SQL environment as it affects the performance of the
indexer, crawl and SharePoint frontend servers.

The GSX cure
GSX connects to your SQL server and tests its availability, giving you real-time insight into the
size of your environment.
To configure that in GSX Monitor, you simply click the server setting tab, click on SQL, and
then just enter the information for the SQL server (single or mirror).

Figure 4 SharePoint SQL Settings

5

Instantly, GSX will test the availability of the connection to your SQL server and you’ll be
alerted to any issues concerning email, popup, sound, snmp trap to SCOM, and so on.
To verify the connection is a first step, but what you need is data, figures that describe the
size of your environment. The SharePoint statistics view gives you all the real-time
information you need to manage the size and evolution of your environment, including the
number of site collections, the total size of sites, the number of documents, and the total
size of documents.

Figure 5 Content DB Information

The size of site collections is generally larger than the total size of all documents -- you’ll
also find valuable information on webparts, workflow configuration files, etc.
Just below this you will see the content database names, number of site collections per
database, the sizes of the sites, the number of documents and their size.
Hence, database-by-database and site-by-site you have the ability to easily understand the
storage needs for your SharePoint Infrastructure.

Figure 6 SharePoint Sites Information for WSS_Content
You can export all of these statistics to Excel, or consolidate all of the data in our GSX
Analyzer tool, to create reports or to trend specific periods.
The GSX Analyzer reporting section lets you to quickly trend the evolution of your SharePoint
environment


6

Figure 7 GSX Analyzer: Sharepoint Trend Graph

GSX will automatically send your trend at a defined date and time, in pdf or csv, with the
graphs you select. With this you can reliably forecast emerging prevent capacity issues.
In sum, GSX Monitor offers you a complete set of tools to spot emerging issues as your
environment evolves.


7

Headache3: Provide trusted data around the world
Issue
Many big companies have large SharePoint environments with multiple farms that require
specific tools to replicate across the globe. The Data replication is managed by these tools
but how beneficial is a replicated database that has not been crawled in a week and for which
you find 40 percent rate of unsuccessful crawl elements?
Replicated data must be trusted and indexed -- otherwise you are simply replicating errors.
Providing accurate and trusted data is not only a question of crawling, it is also a question of
the information attached to a document. For example, are you sure that the project manager
will find the right version of an important document if versioning is not functioning as it
should?

The GSX cure
GSX not only constantly checks the indexer, it alerts you on the last crawl and the percent of
unsuccessful elements, but also checks the performance and the availability of the web
services involved in the selection and the display of the documents.
The Indexer Alerts allow you to set two different alert thresholds according to your needs.
•

The “Elapsed time” threshold alerts you if the last crawl hasn’t taken place in the
specified time. If not, there could be an issue between the indexer and the SQL
server.

Figure 8 SharePoint Indexer Alerts
•

The “Unsuccessful crawl element” threshold alerts you to possible non-normalized
documents or damaged data in the SQL database.


8

The crawling index could also timeout for several reasons. GSX Monitor will alert you to
threshold issues so you can take action before a problem impacts the users.

Then, to ensure the accuracy of data, several webservices must be checked. GSX is not only
checking the basic status of the service, but in real time GSX checks the service providing the
response time, from a user perspective.

Several web services settings help assure the accuracy of the data delivered by the SharePoint
environment to the users;

Figure 9 SharePoint Web Services settings

Site Data: If it’s down, the search will be only able to find the site name and content, but not
the metadata. The user then will experience difficulties in finding the sites and information
they need.
WB Alert: Without this function, an administrator cannot guarantee the integrity of lists of
SharePoint documents. Administrators and users lose view and control over SharePoint
libraries.
Versions: If this web service is down, the user cannot access a previous version of a
document, with the possible loss of critical information.
Finally, GSX lets you check the Search Service itself. If the service is down, no one will be
able to find anything in SharePoint.
Thus, GSX offers you multiple ways to be sure that the data provided by SharePoint and your
SQL environment is the best accurate data for your users.


9

Headache 4: Enhancing your environment
Issue
How can you know if an action will improve the user experience if you can’t measure it?
In order to measure the benefit of any change in their environment, administrators have to be
able to measure the user experience before and after the change. For that, they desperately
need data.

The GSX cure
You can perform several performance tests alone before, during and after the change,
spending days and days, collecting data, or you can just let a tool doing that for you.
GSX constantly tests your environment as a user, performing actions, using web services,
checking the availability and the size of your SQL environment, and so on. When you make a
change, or undertake a major project, be sure to start collecting data before you begin.
GSX will inform you on the performance delivered to your users before and after any change
that you’ve made in your environment.
When you click the Performance Tab, for example, you will find a way to constantly measure
the time it takes for a user to access any SharePoint site you define. GSX will try to connect
to these sites exactly the same way a user would. Scan after scan, you can see the impact of
your changes from a user perspective.

Figure 10 SharePoint Performance Graph


10

Under the Main view, you can see various LEDs regarding your SharePoint environment. The
first one shows you the real-time availability of your SharePoint frontend server from a user
perspective.
When you click the Server Setting tab, you can define how often you want to perform user
simulation of your web services via scanning frequency and retry settings.

Figure 11 GSX Monitor: SharePoint Server Settings
Then you can select what types of web services you want to test. GSX will use them, as a
user, and display in the SharePoint statistics view the time it takes a user to use these
features. You will then be able to check the impact of any improvements to your
environment, before and after the changes you’ve made, again, from a user perspective.
Likewise, you can run various SharePoint scenarios from a user perspective, as previously
described.
You can also create trends on availability with GSX Analyzer reporting tool. Under the Trends
tab, you can create automatic reports on availability, including the use of the web services,
to see evolution over a defined period. You can configure and receive these reports
automatically, in PDF and CSV, according to the schedule you define.
Finally, if you have SLA’s or you want to track the performance of all your servers across
several Key Performance Indicators, GSX analyzer offers you a single view for all your servers,
comparing one with another to prioritize any potential actions.

Figure 12 GSX Analyzer: Environment Health
In sum, GSX gives you the tools you need to test your changes, and to easily see if your
actions to improve user experience are really worth the money.


11

Headache 5: Resources constraints
Issue
Skilled SharePoint architects and administrators are scarce commodities. You need whatever
experts you have to focus on user acceptance, SharePoint applications, business analysis,
upgrades, and new technologies in order to improve your company’s ROI. Unfortunately, they
often get bogged down by the routine tasks of monitoring and reporting.
How GSX can free up the time of your SharePoint expert by automating monitoring and
reporting of your SharePoint user experience and SQL environment.

The GSX cure
GSX is an out of the box solution that does not require any agent on your server. Just set it up
on any VM or workstation, configure the servers and SQL databases with our wizard, and let it
run. There are no scripts to write, and everything is configured for you.
In the Main view, the first LED shows the availability of your SharePoint frontend servers and
web services from a user perspective. The second LED shows the log scanning status, and last
shows the availability of the SQL database.

Figure 13 GSX Monitor : SharePoint Servers Mainview

To configure the LEDs, you can just use the wizard or go directly to server settings. Then,
click on the web services that you want to test, define the scanning frequency, retry and see
where the alert is going.
To check logs, just go to the log configuration and enter any string you want to look for.
To check the disk space, just define your threshold.
To check the performance of user scenarios, just click on those you want to perform.
Finally, to check the availability, from a user perspective, of your critical sites, just enter
their URL in the SharePoint performance section.

12

It’s done! GSX will perform the testing regularly, automatically. GSX will display the statistics
in the statistics view for you. You will have real time information on your systems and the size
of your environment.
This information is also available in GSX Analyzer to create automatic reports on the
availability and size of your environment over a determined period.
For example, to create a report forecasting the size of your environment, open GSX Analyzer
and go to the Trend section. Create a new trend, select the statistics of the size of your
environment, define the scheduling option, distribution option, and pdf customization. Then
just click on the Forecasting box and click on Generate.

Figure 14 GSX Analyzer: Customized Report

It’s done. You will receive a customized report including your brand guidelines, showing the
statistics and graphs you have defined.
With GSX, anyone can monitor and report on your SharePoint environment, freeing your
valuable experts to focus on value added tasks.


13

Headache 6: Managing user complaints

Issue
SharePoint
users
often
complain
that
the
service
is
slow,
that
it
doesn’t
work
right.

Sometimes
users
are
right,
even
when
you
think
they
are
wrong.
Why?

Because
users
access
SharePoint
from
the
outside,
not
from
inside
your
datacenter.

For
example,
when
it
takes
a
user
five
minutes
to
upload
a
document,
your
system
management
tool

may
still
tell
you
that
everything
is
fine.

Not
only
do
you
need
data
to
make
your
user
experience
better,
you
also
need
to
anticipate
their

complaints
and
work
on
problems
before
you
receive
a
call.

The GSX cure
GSX
acts
as
a
user,
accessing
web Lotus Domino, Microsoft
services
and
critical
sites,
to
provide
you

with
response
times
from
a
user
perspective.

In
the
main
view,
the
first
LED
shows
a
user’s
ability
to
connect
to
the
SharePoint
server
and
use
web

services.
If
there
is
any
problem,
GSX
will
alert
you
based
on
your
profiles.
Hence,
you
will
be
able
to

take
action
usually
before
users
notice
that
there
is
a
problem.

Figure 15 SharePoint Alerts Configuration


14

Under
the
server
setting
tab,
you
can
choose
the
web
services
you
want
GSX
to
use.
Each
of
them
is
very

important
because
it
represents
the
common
SharePoint
features.
GSX
will
test
them
as
a
user,
so
you

can
see
how
long
it
takes
for
a
user
to
display
an
image,
access
versioning,
access
a
webpart,
use
a
form,

copy
a
document,
and
so
on.

In
testing
SharePoint
site
performance,
GSX
again
acts
as
a
user,
trying
to
access
your
critical
sites
and

giving
in
real
time
how
long
it
takes
to
access.

In
sum,
GSX
lets
you
constantly
track
performance
from
your
users’
point
of
view,
to
head
off
their

complaints,
and
justify
system
enhancements.

About GSX
GSX Solutions is the global leader in proactive, consolidated monitoring, analysis, and
management of enterprise collaboration and messaging environments, including Microsoft
Exchange, SharePoint, Blackberry Enterprise Server, Lotus Domino, as well as LDAP and SMTP
ports, and any URL.
Monitoring millions of mailboxes for over 600 global enterprises, GSX is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland, with R&D in Nice, France, and offices in the UK and the US. For more
information, please visit www.gsx.com.


15

GSX Solutions
36 Boulevard Helvétique
1207 Genève
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 735 82 40
Fax: +41 22 735 82 45
sales@gsx.com


16

How to Cure SharePoint Headaches with GSX - Monitor, Measure, Manage - From Atidan

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