Why is build time of local application affected by network?

Question

Build time of XPages application containing several JARs, Java sources and ~50 XP/CC elements takes about minute to build on server via WAN. I have replicated application to local, build time dropped to ~10s.

Since few days ago build of local application is extremely slow, about 2-5 minutes. After some experiments there is workaround: to disable TCP port in location document - it drops build times to just few seconds. Even tho it works, it does not help much - testing requires user to be authenticated, so I need to replicate design changes to remote or local server - and that means to change location (online/offline) every time.

UPDATE 2013-04-04: I have duplicated my current location document and removed home and directory servers. To my surprise, with this location build times went back to few seconds - with TCP port enabled so replication is possible. Bigger surprise was the fact, that returning home/directory servers back to new location did not reproduce the problem - in fact they do not affect performance. I know it because I have renamed current location document and everything went to normal. From my understanding, "something" in client configuration was connected to location name. Thanks to Simon's tips I will investigate further.

The question is still open: I am looking for some (eclipse) preference controlling this behavior - unintended communication with server during build of local application.

Answer 1

Solution: Teamstudio CIAO hooks into designer and checks for every update of design element. Seems to be lack of code optimization to me: it checks whether currently built design element (every single one, one by one) should be controlled in CIAO config database.

This explains why the problem was solved by renaming of location document. I was disappointed yesterday, when performance problems started again. Fortunately, I recalled CIAO setup to that location document about that time. CIAO uses teamstudio.ini file in DATA directory to configure what CIAO configuration database is used for every location document. Look for entry:

CIAOConfigDb[location name]=server name;CIAO\CIAOConfig.nsf

For development on local replicas with connection to server (for replication or local server), use location document with CIAO disabled.

This works only with property ForceConfigLocation=0.

Answer 2

Not a solution (yet!), but may help in the investigation. I'll update further if you post results later.

Debug instructions.

Add the following to the shortcut that launches the Designer client.

-RPARAMS -console -debug -separateSysLogFiles -consoleLog

Start the designer client. This will also open up the OSGi console.

Reproduce the issue. While it is still in progress in the OSGi console type the following:

dump threads

Do this three times, with a small amount of time between completion of each dump. Once done open the three heap dumps (in the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT folder) in the Heap Dump Analyser.

It will show you what threads are consistent through all three dumps. Take a look at those and look for package names/calls which may appear to be a functional area. Once you have that then you can try adding the debug for the related class.

For example: Let's say you notice "com.ibm.designer.domino.ui.commons." in the thread, then you would edit the rcpinstall.properties file. It will be in:

<Notes Install>\Data\workspace\.config\rcpinstall.properties

and you would add (start with FINE, then FINEST if nothing):

com.ibm.designer.domino.ui.commons.level=FINE

Now when you restart the designer client it will generate debug output in the workspace\logs folder for that package. You need to then go through the trace logs looking for the time when the delay occurred and see if it makes any references to related design elements.