SAS Enterprise Guide 8.1 is Lagging

[sacred]

We are facing  a severe LAG in SAS Ent. Guide 8.1. The Server where it is deployed has around 34 GB RAM.

The issue is not with Processing time but with lagging of the Application as a whole. For example – it takes time to start, it takes time to run a code even if the log shows the processing time is very less.

I ran the same code in SAS Studio and in SAS EG. The processing time for both of them is same (as it is shown in the log) But SAS EG takes more than 5 minutes to run the whole code and generate the result even if it is showing 6.84 secs in the log. Where As SAS Studio generates the results in just 6 secs.

SAS STUDIO LOG

NOTE: The data set WORK.ABC has 88414 observations and 69 variables.

NOTE: Compressing data set WORK.ABC decreased size by 98.69 percent.

Compressed is 145 pages; un-compressed would require 11052 pages.

NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):

real time 6.86 seconds

cpu time 6.81 seconds

SAS EG LOG

NOTE: The data set WORK.ABC has 88414 observations and 69 variables.
NOTE: Compressing data set WORK.ABC decreased size by 98.69 percent.
Compressed is 145 pages; un-compressed would require 11052 pages.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 6.84 seconds
cpu time 6.86 seconds

Along with this, we never faced so much lag in SAS EG in our previous versions, Even the Query Builders, are showing "Preparing Server….".

[TomKari]

If you're generating a lot of "report" output (to a destination like PDF, HTML ...) it can take a very long time for EG to get this output back from the server. Double check that you're not creating a huge report that you don't realize.

Tom

[SASKiwi]

This isn't normal behaviour. We use EG 8.1/8.2 a lot and it performs at least as well as EG 7.*. My suspicion is that you have network performance problems. My best advice is to open a Tech Support track so your problem can be diagnosed further.

[kevin_stanford]

Did you ever get a useful response to this? Same problems here--we avoided upgrading to v8 for those reasons--and our network people are showing me that it's not a network problem. 

That makes sense to me since v7 runs without any of the same lagging issues.

Latest hotfixes of v8.3 continue to lag.

[MarkAllemang]

Hi @kevin_stanford - I understand you are frustrated with the lags you are experiencing with EG 8.  Did you open a tech support track? If you do that, and provide tech support with logs for an EG session that shows the lag, I will be able to analyze the log to see if I can determine the cause of the delays.

It is best if a matching set of an EG log and the corresponding Workspace Server log are included.

After the track is opened, I will take a look at the logs.

Mark Allemang

[kevin_stanford]

Thanks for responding, @MarkAllemang . I/we did open a tech support track only to have it closed...

CS0053899

I don't believe the tech involved gave me his proper attention...and that may be because I didn't fully understand the problem. The problem appears to be that the EG Client disconnects from the Linux Server and then, when prompted to perform a task (e.g., open a small dataset from SASHELP), reconnects to the server, but takes 10-20 seconds to do so.

Any help you can provide would greatly appreciated. Also, if you can tell me to pull Workspace Server logs I will happily do that.

Thank you!

[MarkAllemang]

I will need to let someone else direct you to the workspace server logs - I am focused on the client side. I'm looking for the track to try to find an EG log from it. When I find one, I should be able to determine where the time is being spent during the server connection.

[kevin_stanford]

Thanks, @MarkAllemang . I've attached my go-to reference file to this message. I clicked to open a recently used dataset (SASHELP.CITIMON) as follows:

2024-04-12 09:44:01,729 [1] DEBUG SAS.EG.Framework.Main.MainWindowVM [(null)] - BEGIN_10044:OpenRecent:MainWindowVM.cs@4919: Open recent item "CITIMON"

And the request was fulfilled about 30 seconds later:

2024-04-12 09:44:31,483 [12] DEBUG SAS.EG.DataAccess.DataModel.DataAccessor [(null)] - Successfully opened data set "CITIMON".

Cheers--

Kevin

[MarkAllemang]

That is a great help, @kevin_stanford . I will investigate and let you know what I think the next step needs to be. I will do my best to do that today, as I will be at SAS/Innovate for the rest of the week.

[Sajid01]

Hello @kevin_stanford 
There is one thing that I would like to point SAS EG is a desktop application. If it is taking time to start, then one needs to a have a look at the desktop- its resources and the number of applications that are running.
Just to for a test, save and stop all applications. Restart your desktop and start EG and see how much time it takes. The issue may be at the desktop/network level.

[MarkAllemang]

Apologies for not responding - I was at the SAS Innovate conference and then was out of the office last week. I intend to look at this more in the next day or two. Mark.

[kevin_stanford]

Hi Mark--

So a funny thing happened last week...

The problem abruptly disappeared, and I haven't been able to figure out why.

There's still a lag of a few seconds when an idling EG reconnects with SAS on our Linux server, but I can't reproduce the 10- to 20-second lags that I had been seeing for the past four(?) years. We had assembled a team to monitor network traffic while we recreated the problem--and then couldn't recreate the problem.

It's the darnedest thing. I've been testing this sucker monthly for over four years, and suddenly it's a non-issue. I'm certain that someone must have changed something, but nobody is admitting anything.

I've put out an appeal to other users who were complaining about EG8 performance to see what they've noticed but haven't heard anything back yet.

Shrug?

[MarkAllemang]

Figures.

Interestingly, I had never seen the behavior and then it happened to me one afternoon at the SAS Innovate conference. So, I think all that does suggest something in the environment. (Or the gremlin moved from your box to mine!) As best I could tell, the delays I was seeing were simply delays on each network call to the workspace server from EG. There are many calls as connections are made and as code is submitted. So "small" delays on each one do add up. In my case, I was connected using Wi-Fi via VPN cross-country to our servers.

When those types of delays occur, it is exceedingly frustrating, both when using EG and when trying to diagnose the cause. I have collected all the logs I have on this issue and am going to continue to look at it as I'm able.

My recommendation is that if the problem doesn't return for you, then great.

But if it does return, please open a Tech Support ticket and provide them with an EG log and the corresponding workspace server log for a session where the delays occur. Also tell them I requested you do that and to please get me involved in the ticket. Then we can pick it up with less delay.

Regards,
Mark