MetaData Server slows down and becomes unresponsive

[Patrick21]

Hi together,

I am wondering if there is any correlation between running requests to the meta-data-server to retrieve the meta-data itself (meta-data programming) ending in exceptions and the unresponsiveness of the meta-data-server ? We experienced an unresponsiveness of the meta-data-server (reported by the users) but I am not able to see anything in the logs which could indicate such problem. As I am new to the SAS world any suggestion / hint which could lead me in the right way is appreciated. For information, we do use SAS 9.4.

Thank you very much,

Patrick

[LinusH]

It could be, but it's hard to tell given the information at hand.

If not already done so, run the Analyze & repair metadata task.

When users report problem document when, what objects they were working with, and using which client.

Depending on the client, there might be local logs that can give you additional information.

[Sajid01]

 With the information you have given we cannot say anything.  
Best approach in this scenario is to create a ticket to SAS Tech Support.

[AMSAS]

I recommend you open a TS track for this question.

Please include the following:
- SAS Version you are running (the following code will report SAS version information)
%put &sysvlong ;
%put &sysscpl ;
%put &syssite ;
- Registry Report (*.txt files) for each server, please clearly name the report files to reflect the server it was executed on

- Detailed description of the issue
- Any logs that contain helpful information 

[gwootton]

I would agree technical support would be your best path forward. This could be the result of a query against Metadata using all the available resources to the Metadata Server, or an infrastructure issue, like a VM being paused for backup or migration. You may want to check in the logs for gaps in the timestamps of the log lines, and any messages in the system log occurring around the time of the failure.

[SASKiwi]

What does SAS Environment Manager report for the SAS Metadata server? SEM would most likely be generating alerts if performance metrics exceed normal limits and could indicate bottlenecks like excess memory usage.

[Sajid01]

In my experience retrieving metadata from the metadata server neither slowed it down nor made it unresponsive.
Their could be other reasons,

[Patrick21]

Hi together,

after some more analysis it seems that at the time of the problem we had a high load on the system itself caused by people checking in changes and performing exports via the ExportPackage script at the same time.

It seems that calling the ExportPackage script a couple of times (30 to 40 times) in a row does put quite some load onto the system as it reads each time the whole meta-data (can this be ?). Is there a way to call the ExportPackage script in such a way that it does export multiple objects at once but each object in a different defined .spk file and not into one ?

Thanks,

Patrick

[huntdoug]

There is  no way to read once and export to different spks.

SAS Help Center: Using the Batch Export Tool

An Analyze/Repair and Backup/REORG would be helpful.

See if you can tell if there is a particular export that is slow.

Also

Note: Avoid creating circular or reciprocal group memberships (for example, GroupA is in GroupB, GroupB is in GroupC, and GroupC is in GroupA). 

Such relationships introduce unnecessary complexity and can negatively impact performance.

When you define nested group memberships (interactively or through importing identity information), the best practice is to use as simple and non-redundant a structure as possible.  

SAS(R) 9.4 Intelligence Platform: Security Administration Guide, Second Edition

SAS Help Center: Add a Custom Group

Circular Metadata-Group Membership Can Make You Dizzy!

http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings17/SAS0381-2017.pdf