Performance Degradation in eGap 3.6 after apply Windows Server 2003 SP2

1. Scenario

 

This post is based on a support call where customer was reporting a performance degradation issue that was noticed after applying Windows Server 2003 SP2 on eGap 3.6 appliances. The server started to slow down until a point where it was no longer answering external requests.

 

2. Gathering Data

 

The initial step here was to get performance monitor data from the OS and IIS perspective to understand what was happening. Fortunately the issue was really clear when we looked at the object Process and the counter %Processor Time. We found that the process whlerrsrvd.exe was constantly growing in memory consumption and not releasing resources. At that point the workaround implemented to drop the memory utilization of this process was to restart the Whale Log Server Service (whlerrsrvd).

 

3. Resolution

 

To fix this problem we had to install eGap 3.6 SP1. This update introduced a number of changes which contain a fix for memory management in whlerrsrvd.

 

4. Additional Information

 

Besides this issue that can potentially happen when you install Windows Server 2003 SP2 in a eGap 3.6 that doesn’t have SP1, you need also to be aware of other issue and our official statement about eGap/IAG with Windows Server 2003 SP2. For more information access the article below:

 

You may experience network-related problems after you install Windows Server 2003 SP2 on a computer that has Whale Communications IAG 3.6 or IAG 2007 installed

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/955090/en-us

 

 

Author

Yuri Diogenes

Security Support Engineer – ISA/IAG Team

Microsoft – TX

 

Technical Reviewer

Dan Herzog

Security Support Engineer – IAG Team

Microsoft – WA