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Exchange 2010 | Virtualisation | Windows 7 | 64-Bit Issues | Slow Performance

August 2010

SalesLogix v7.5.3 (Service Pack 3)

This has now been released! Check out this page for more information and to learn about what's contained in this release.

June 2010

Exchange 2010 & Outlook 2003

Recently, we were setting up a new environment for a customer whereby they are using Exchange 2010 on Windows 2008R2 (64bit) but using Outlook 2003 SP3 as the client. Ordinarily, this shouldn't have been an issue but we experienced some latency issues with mail handling. After checking out the normal network side and discovering nothing amiss we researched the issues (also more commonly known as Google!) and discovered this is a known but unsolvable issue. Apparently Microsoft have removed the UDP notifications which means that Outlook reverts to polling to discover changes made the mailbox. More information can be found here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2009942 but the result is still not a good experience for users. Upgrading to Outlook 2007/10 would solve the issue but was obviously not budgeted for in this particular case - so beware! Also, you should be aware that, by default, Exchange 2010 requires encryption between the client and the server - see more here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2006508. So, all in all, some very important changes to be aware of if you are considering the upgrade.

Update: 24th June 2010. Thankfully, installing Outlook 2010 does solve the issue noted above. However, if you are planning on using this with SalesLogix (any version) be aware that you should only install the 32bit version of Office 2010 - even if you are working on a 64bit platform. Currently, no version of SalesLogix will work with any of the 64bit Office applications - such as Word mail-merge or Outlook integration. There are other known issues with office add-ins or extensions and Microsoft recommend that 64bit versions of Office be restricted to environments that do not require integration or add-ins. You can find more information here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ee681792.aspx

May 2010

Virtualisation + Windows 2008R2/SQL2008R2

Having implemented several new sites with Windows 2008R2 and SQL2008R2 we can confidently assist any customers/prospects who are unsure of whether these platforms are supported and worth moving to. Backed up with full VMWare Virtualisation support, we continue to set trends in these areas with customers reporting an overall decrease in issues and an increase in overall uptime of their systems providing rock solid reliability and performance in excess of those provided in Windows 2003. We fully believe that this is due to the 64-bit kernel support [we only implement on 64bit] that ensures (a) lack of access to the OS at "super admin" level and (b) drivers have to pass stringent controls to ensure interoperability with Windows 2008R2. This ensures that poorly written drivers are kept away from the OS and cannot be installed. Whilst this may result in [currently] lower device support than prior versions - we still believe this to be a good result overall.

SAS/SATA or SCSI

For anyone considering this question - without a doubt and after careful research we can confirm that SAS will give the best performance disk sub-system compared with SATA. However, the current downside is cost. Presently, you can purchase vast quantity of disk (1TB single disks are available for under £100) but disk throughput at 1.5Gbps and speed will restrict the overall performance. Conversely, a 600Gb SAS disk is over £400 per unit. Considering you need a minimum of 3 to make a RAID5 volume it quickly works out expensive ! However, you will not regret the decision - with throughput at 6.0Gbps and 15k RPM drives the quantity of data shifted easily outperforms the SATA/SCSI configurations that were once the norm! So, if you are in the market for new server and disk sub-system - be sure to understand that quantity does not equal performance. A combination of performant disks for operational data and a NAS device for quantity strikes an excellent balance with cost. Talk to us for more information!

February 2010

Accessing 1:M data items from a 1:1 entity

On several occasions you may need to get data from the account/contact or opportunity level that relates to data held in a one-many relationship. Ordinarily, this would result in duplicates within the group builder. By following the instructions enclosed within this document you can easily get to that information - without having to resort to nightly updates.

November 2009

Issue with Slow Performance and Index Usage

After inheriting several new customers and analysing their databases, users complained of poor performance. We also noticed that the database appeared larger than necessary. In this new bulletin we describe how to get the best performance from your SalesLogix system and SQL Server. Updated: Sage have released new indexes for 7.5.2 and you can obtain this script to alter your current indexes. Read more

October 2009

Windows 7 - Released on October 22nd 2009

As we are sure you are aware, Windows 7 is released on October 22nd - with launch parties occuring throughout the world! We've been running this in-house (x64 only) since its release to Microsoft Partners and are happy to report that, along with most of the media - Microsoft seems to have cracked this release! Great driver support, less resource requirements, faster performance and exceptionally stable - we believe this will be the version that most businesses will upgrade to, from Windows XP. SalesLogix will be certified for Windows 7 with the imminent release of v7.5.2 but, please note, earlier versions such as 6.2 & 7.0 will not be natively supported on this platform. Whilst Microsoft offers "Windows XP Mode" it's important to note that this is a virtual PC (Microsoft Virtual PC in fact) albeit a "lighter" version and not really a "mode". You can access applications from the Win7 Start menu (applications that are installed within the VPC are automatically published from within the VPC and then appear on your local Start menu) and the application acts as if it were part of the core OS - but it's reliant upon a virtual environment in order to operate. This does mean, however, that the machine requires adequate resources in order to perform optimally. Whilst we have tried this mode, we found an important issue in that it "hooks" to the virtualisation mode of the physical CPU - which is fine, provided you are not planning on using any other virtualisation software such as VMWare. Once latched, Microsoft VPC will not relenquish control of virtualisation until the service (vpc.exe) is stopped/killed - which is unfortunate if you want to use both VPC and VMWare (as we do on a daily basis !). By stopping the service - the entire virtual PC has to then be loaded again. We find this a real shame/show-stopper for multiple virtualisation environments and hope that changes in the future. Update: Microsoft listened, on Thursday Mar 18th 2010 - this restriction was removed and Intel VT support is no longer required. .

Also, if you are running Win7 with nVidia drivers and use a laptop with docking station - you may find that Aero is stopped when docked/undocked (quick tip - right click the desktop, change resolution and then revert/cancel the change restores Aero). Update: As of the fixes released on Tuesday 20th Oct 2009 (KB974431) - this problem has been resolved.

Let us know your thoughts and experiences !

Operating in a Virtual Environment

Many customers have asked us about operating SalesLogix in a virtual environment. Virtualisation technology, such as those offered by VMWare Inc. and Microsoft, offer many business benefits such as reducing power requirements, optimising usage of existing servers and reducing management overhead of physical servers. However, it can have downsides as well and, prior to implementing, should be combined with a well designed infrastructure and constructed plan of action.

Installing SalesLogix on a virtual server is exactly the same as a physical environment. There are no special requirements and no configurations that you need to be aware of. However, by its nature a virtual environment (simply by being virtualised) has the ability to constrain performance as resources are dynamically added to and removed. Careful consideration should be given to the amount of virtual servers installed on one physical server – along with the amount of memory/disk/processors allocated to the SalesLogix virtual server. It’s most likely you will see a drastic improvement in performance initially – as you will have been allocated virtual resources beyond what you have already in a physical environment. Issues can occur after this point when more and more virtual servers are added – this leads to resource bottlenecks and performance drops below what you had physically – with frequent user complaints based on performance that is exhibited by SalesLogix, but is a direct relation to the use of virtualisation without effective management of those virtualised resources. Microsoft also fully embrace virtualisation, a situation that has changed since the released of Windows 2008 R2 and their own hypervisor. Whilst it is totally possible to also virtualise Microsoft SQL Server (no special setup required) – we, as a company, can only recommend that you do this should your server have the requisite processing power/memory requirements to ensure each server is not "starved" of virtual resources, otherwise performance will suffer as a result.

We have many customers using virtualisation and can fully support you – but you should be aware that Sage have still not certified any products with any virtualisation servers at this time but, as is always the case, this is not the same as it not working at all. Prior to making the switch, please liaise with us of the potential setup of your virtual environment and resource planning so that we can advise further.

August 2009

Issue with SalesLogix 64-bit

Update: 06-08-09 - This issue is now corrected with SLX 7.5.1 Hot-Fix 17. Find out more.
We are aware of an issue with SalesLogix operating within a 64-bit environment. This results in poor rendering of certain views, scrollbar error messages and other cosmetic issues. This issue has absolutely no bearing upon data integrity and is limited to purely to a cosmetic/UI issue.

Windows 7 Release Candidate

We completed some early testing of SalesLogix and Windows 7 and the results so far are encouraging - the issues found in January have now been resolved. We installed the RC (.7100) release of Windows 7 Ultimate and then installed SQL/Express 2005. We then installed the SalesLogix 7.5.1 LAN Admin, Architect Sync and Remote Client. All ran smoothly and worked perfectly afterward. However, you may find it prompts to reboot during the upgrade to SP1. Ensure you press OK at this point - but it does not reboot. We suggest you reboot after the installation of Service Pack 1 for SalesLogix anyway.

March 2009

SalesLogix 7.5 Service Pack 1

This was released to manufacturing and more information can be found here.

January 2009

Windows 7

Having gained a lot of traction over the last few months, Windows 7 entered the public beta phase earlier this month. However, as you could expect, no version of SalesLogix is ready for this release and it is most certainly not certified at this stage! If you do wish to trial, which we have, and found several issues, be sure to use a virtualised environment!

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