Compression Performance Tuning in Systems Management Server (121555)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0
This article was previously published under Q121555

SUMMARY

The process of creating a data-compressed package (*.PKG) to be transmitted through a Systems Management Server sender involves intense use of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) for the data-compression algorithm. The frequency at which Systems Management Server will yield the CPU during compression can have a dramatic effect on performance; this article discusses this type of tuning. There are several Registry parameters for this purpose.

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  • During a package compression, a block of data is submitted to the compression algorithm and this call returns a compressed block. A large number of these calls can take a large amount of CPU time, so we have a timer that allows Systems Management Server to yield the processor for the specified amount of time. The default is 75 milliseconds. In addition, you can set a Registry entry under: 
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Compression\ 

      "Yield Time" (DWORD) [this is in milliseconds of yield time per
      compression block]
    If compression appears to monopolize your system, try setting this to 100 or 125. For systems with lots of RAM and CPU power, values of 1-20 might be usable, and this would speed up compression somewhat.
  • There are 7 levels of compression (1 through 7); a level of 1 (default) providing the least compression and greatest speed, and a level of 7 providing maximum compression and taking additional time. This value is located at: 
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Compression\ 

      "Compression Level" (DWORD)
    In addition to the degree of compression desired, compression can be disabled by setting the value below to "No". The default is "Yes". 
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Compression\ 

      "Enable Compression" (REG_SZ)
    Two-to-three megabytes (M) of memory resource can be saved by disabling compression; however, greater disk space will be required to store the package files because they will not be compressed.
  • Decompression Buffer size: 
          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Compression\ 

      "Decompression Buffer Size (Log2 Value)" (DWORD)
    This value specifies the number of buffers to be used when decompressing a package file. It defaults to 15 and can be set to a value of 1 through 31; however, for Systems Management Server version 1.0, values greater than 15 are ignored.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/14/2005
Keywords:kbConfig kbnetwork KB121555
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