Administration Guide

A Less Formal Approach

If you do not have enough time to set performance objectives and to monitor and tune in a comprehensive manner, you can address performance by listening to your users. Find out if they are having performance-releated problems. You can usually locate the problem, or determine where to start looking for the problem, by asking a few simple questions. For example, you can ask your users:

• What do you mean by "slow response"? Is it ten percent slower than you expect it to be, or tens of times slower?
• When did you notice the problems? Is it recent or has it always been there?
• Do you know of other users who are complaining of the same problem? Are those complaining one or two individuals or a whole group?
• (If a whole group of users are experiencing difficulties, are they connected to the same terminal controller?)
• Are the problems you are experiencing related to a specific transaction or application program?
• Do your problems appear during regular periods such as at lunch hour, or are they continuous?