Messages

1

General Board / Re-sync status w/ VC provider for *ALL* pckgs ?

« on: November 13, 2010, 02:46:46 am »

On occasion EA client applications loose a connection to the version control system.  Packages show that they are check-in, when they are really checked-in to the user.  

One way to fix this is by right clicking on a package and selecting "package control->re-sync status w/ VC provider"  However, this only re-synchs one package at a time.  What if you have 100 (of 1000 total) packages that need to be re-synched?   re-synching 1 by 1 would be very cumbersome.  

• Is there a way to re-synch ALL packages w/ the VC?
  
• Would this be the equivalent to running a "Get All  Latest" ?

2

General Board / Re: Exporting to HTML drops graphics in linked doc

« on: November 18, 2010, 08:21:37 am »

we found that one work around is linking documents to the EA artifacts using a relative link,  exporting the project to HTML, and then adding a new folder to the exported data called "documents"

The problem with this solution is that document folder is not visible through EA, and users can't interact with it ( they have to manage files in that folder using tools that are external to EA).   Also, EA doesn't allow you to track & commit linked documents with its version control system natively.  (this can be done by using tortoise or another svn client, external to the tool).

3

General Board / Exporting to HTML drops graphics in linked docs

« on: November 18, 2010, 08:17:26 am »

We would like to associate a data matrix (excel/.csv file) with our sparx ea project (DoDAF project) to maintain the pedigree of the architecture.  We have not found a way to import a .csv file into a "matrix" style sparx EA object.  If someone knows of a way, please let me know.

Short of this, we are pasting .jpgs (matrix rendered as an image) into the sparx EA "linked documents" to include it in the project.   The problem we are facing is that when we export this project to HTML, the images are not rendered.

How can we export a sparx EA project file to HTML with either our matrix of data, or an image representation of the data matrix?

4

General Board / Re: what is the true impact of using "Strip GUID"?

« on: November 02, 2010, 11:56:31 pm »

The key question is "how are GUID's used before they are stripped?"  This will lead to a better understanding of the impact when they are removed or overwritten.

Does anyone know exactly?

5

General Board / what is the true impact of using "Strip GUID"?

« on: November 02, 2010, 03:00:18 am »

In the "Import" dialog there is an option to "Strip GUIDs"   what will be the true impact of selecting this option?

Are elements mapped to each other by GUID? Are they indexed by GUID in the database?  What other impacts might I expect if I choose to "strip GUIDs"?

6

Bugs and Issues / Performance: Get All Latest takes too long--42 Min

« on: December 07, 2010, 03:21:16 am »

"Get All Latest" takes 42 Minutes for my architects. This is too long to be practical.  Is there a way to get EA to use more memory to speed "Get All Latest" process up?

Configuration:  EA v8.0.858, WinXp sp2, Subversion 1.6.1, 1.86ghz, 2gb RAM, 100Mpbs dedicated Network, non-secured http to svn, no sql backend.

We have a model w/ more than 7k elements and 10k connections.  Standard operating proceedure is to run "Get All Latest" in the morning so that architects can be sure that they have all changes from the previous day.  Architects are instructed to use "Import only files that have changed" .  "Get All Latest" causes the CPU to max out, while EA only uses 128MB of 2GB of memory ( w/ > 1Gb free).

It appears that small changes (adding one or two elements w/ connections) to a diagram w/ many elements and connections modifies each diagram, require the tool to re-import each connection/element again during "Get all Latest" operation.  Also, killing the "explorer.exe" process temporarily while "Get all Latest" is executing appears to speed the process up.

Architects could benefit from a function that allows them to get all the latest for a particular branch, rather than an entire project or single package.

7

Bugs and Issues / EA needs to be able to manage Pedigree Documents

« on: November 18, 2010, 08:22:58 am »

Please see:

http://www.sparxsystems.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1290028646/0

8

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: December 07, 2010, 03:42:00 am »

I was able to work around this isssue.  It turns out it was not a problem with Sparx EA.  Instead it was a problem with the Apache configuration.  

I was able to reduce check out/check in time to btw ~2-5 sec /package.  This was accomplished by disabling SSL connections to Subversion.  This is not an ideal configuration since SVN transfers passwords in the clear.

I am hoping that future server-side adjustments to the SSL module (in Apache) will improve performance to the extent that it is usable.

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: October 29, 2010, 04:22:49 am »

Thanks Geert

Yes. 47 seconds   Odd but true.  I would much prefer your 20 seconds

It seems pretty clear to me that its an issue on the Sparx EA side with how the app handles spawning svn clients and importing data. Drivers could be at the root, but I would need Sparx to tell me what config they recommend. I'm now in touch with Allan Butt from Sparx and hope to be working with him to resolve this issue.  

  Really appreciate your help in narrowing the issue down.

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: October 29, 2010, 02:28:34 am »

Thanks Geert,

I realize that its more efficient to check out portions of the model rather than the whole thing.  In most cases you are right, we will only be checking out particular packages in the model.  However, for changes that are more sweeping we will have to touch and check-out more packages.   We will have to develop some business process to minimize the number of packages that we are checking in and out daily.

Nonetheless, after deeper investigation a single package (xmi2.1 file) requires almost exactly 47 seconds to check out regardless of how many diagrams or elements are in it. This metric is consistent regardless of whether we are using SQL or the embeded DB as the EA backend.  In fact, we are now counting packages and able to predict exactly how long checkout will take.  The main problem that I have with this is that during the majority of this time, the application is waiting, no network activity, no cpu activity, no disk activity.  It spawns svn.exe processes occasionally, but these open and close within about 8 seconds each (max).  

This EA behavior is problematic for us, especially since we can check packages in and out, and then import much quicker manually. This is a bug.

Tim

Sparx EA 8.0.858 (w/ BPMN, Visio, UPDM, TOGAF, SysML add ins)
Collabnet SVN 1.6.x
Win XP sp 3 (clients)  , 4Gb, Dual Core 2.5Ghz
Win2k3 Active Directory
100mbps network

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: October 26, 2010, 08:02:09 am »

I have configured our repository to work with SQL 2005.

The average check-out time per .xml file is 47 seconds ( time that elapses between svn status,update,lock requests).  In one of our repositorires we have 45 .xml files ..  The largest xml file in that repository is 12MB, average is approx 150Kb. It takes about 35 minutes for a check-in.  

How long does it take to other people to check in or check out a single XML file?  (based on subversion log)?

How can we reduce the amount of time it takes to check in/out?
Tim

12

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: October 26, 2010, 05:49:19 am »

Hi Geert,
 
In your central DBMS scenario..

How long does it take for you to log into and open your DBMS managed projects?  Also, what kind of authentication are you using to connect to your DB?   Is your DB on a central server or deployed onyour desktop?

Thanks !
Tim

13

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: October 23, 2010, 12:50:49 am »

Great. I was thinking the same thing and this was my next step.  

My concern with this strategy is that it limits us to performing updates at a single location, rather than the multi-site capability that our customer needs.  In the long run, we want to support multiple contributors around the world.  Somehow I need to configure the system to be a hybrid of the "Distributed Team using local Model" & "multiple site locations" scenarios that are described in the version control whitepaper (http://www.sparxsystems.com/WhitePapers/Version_Control.pdf)

I'll try deploying EA w/ SQL and let everyone know what I what I find.

I'm also very happy to hear that there is a lot of room for growth and that we're not reaching model limitations w/ the number of elements we have. Thanks for your reponse !

14

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Performance Issues

« on: October 22, 2010, 07:20:06 am »

I'm still experiencing crippling performance issues. As our models have increased in size, so has the time required to check in and check out.  It started off being "slow" but its becoming "unusable".

Currently our models contain about 4960 elements,5550 connections 96 packages, and 40 diagrams.   EA Ultimate v8 software is running on windows XP sp2, with an intel core 2 duo, 2.66Ghz w/ 4GB ram.  We're running on an unhindered 100mbps network.  We have a Collabnet Subversion on win2k3 servers on the back end.  The server stats present no noticeable performance bottlenecks.

The size of the exported data is about 460MB.   It takes btw 40 minutes and 1.5 hours to completely check out all data using the "get all latest" function or "check out branch..".   Using Tortoise SVN, it takes 40 seconds.  Both clients interact w/ the SVN server over SSL, authenticating w/ the same cached certificate.

The import process causes the EA application to consume about 50% of the CPU time & 400MB RAM.

Help! How do I improve performance so my architects can model collaboratively?

Tim

15

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Performance Issues with EA+SVN+LDAP configurat

« on: August 28, 2010, 06:41:33 am »

I observed today that between selecting "add to version control" and a progress dialogue that says "Exporting to Version Control" .. there is a period of time when EA is busy or appears to hang (doesn't repaint). This lasted 4min 15 seconds for an 85MB model.

This appears to be in addition to the steps you mentioned before:

The total execution time of a a checkin operation should be the sum of
- time to export each package to xmi
- time to checkin each created xmi file to VC.

What is happening during this period of time?