Re: 10.13.2 running on a MacMini (Late 2014) 8GB RAM External RAID 0+1 Samsung SSD. Using SoftRaid XT

[Tim Nevels via 4D_Tech]

On Jan 30, 2018, at 2:00 PM, Jim Dorrance wrote:

> Find a mac mini late 2012 i7 with ssd and 16 gb ram


I agree. This is a fantastic little machine for running 4D Server on with under 
20 users and a “medium sized” data file. 

This is how I currently categorized 4D data file sizes:

Small is less than 5GB
Medium is between 5GB and 30GB
Large is anything over 30GB

If I have the RAM, I set the data cache size to about the same as the data file 
+ index file size. Otherwise I like to have data cache set to about 50% of that 
total size. This is for high transactional type databases. I like to keep cache 
purging to almost never. Load it once from disk. Generally speaking, if you are 
purging the database cache daily or weekly, you need to increase the cache 
size. Of course with SSDs now becoming the norm, I may have to adjust my 
thinking. 

I’d be curious what others feel are “small”, “medium” and “large” sizes for 4D 
databases running on current, modern hardware and using 4D v13+. (I can 
remember the days where a 1GB data file would be considered huge for 4D.)

Tim

Tim Nevels 
timnev...@mac.com 
Innovative Solutions
785-749-3444


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Re: 10.13.2 running on a MacMini (Late 2014) 8GB RAM External RAID 0+1 Samsung SSD. Using SoftRaid XT

[Jim Dorrance via 4D_Tech]

Find a mac mini late 2012 i7 with ssd and 16 gb ram

On Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 9:37 PM, Tim Nevels via 4D_Tech <
4d_tech@lists.4d.com> wrote:

> On Jan 29, 2018, at 2:00 PM, Mitchell Shiller wrote:
>
> > 4D Server 16.2
> > Mac OS  10.13.2 running on a MacMini (Late 2014) 8GB RAM
> > External RAID 0+1 Samsung SSD. Using SoftRaid XT
> >
> > Only applications running are:
> > 4D Server (no stored procedures), 15 users
> > Carbon Copy Cloner 5.05 (latest) scheduled to run every hour except from
> 22:00 - 6:00 when there are no users logged in)
> > Retrospect Client (14.6.0.127 latest) (which backs up a second attached
> drive that contains the 4D backup files at 23:00)
> >
> > I have been having  intermittent system crashes. These happen every 2-5
> days.. Never when the system is in use. (8-21:00) Usually  early in the
> morning long after Retrospect has run. Retrospect Client takes about 15-30
> to back up to our main Server.
> > I get the spinning beach ball of death. So it is not just a 4D crash.
> Nothing is responsive. The computer requires a hard reboot to get going
> again and then I am fine for 2-5 days.
> > Usually no users are logged in at the time.
> >
> > In the console I get the following information from the most recent 2
> crashes;
> >
> > https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2xejz2dehwqf3wu/
> AADcablM2L7vzu8uLRxY0-Hxa?dl=0  2xejz2dehwqf3wu/AADcablM2L7vzu8uLRxY0-Hxa?dl=0>
> >
> > I have tested the disk integrity, RAM integrity. All OK. I changed to a
> new computer with no change.
> > The previous computer was running 10.12
> > I contacted the SoftRaid support who downloaded  a crash report and
> stated that the crash is not happening with a disk access to the RAID
> system.
> >
> > Any idea what the next step should be?
>
>
> I would use the “Console” and see what messages were happening around the
> time it goes crazy. Start by checking “Errors and Faults” in the Favorites
> bar.  Then resort to “All Messages” to see everything.
>
> Could be some messages there will give you an idea of what’s going on. I
> had a problem years about on a Mac Pro server machine that would sometimes
> go deaf. Very random. Some morning people would come to work and try to log
> into the database and couldn’t. They’d go check the server and it would be
> frozen. I tracked it down by checking the Console for messages.
>
> I would immediately restart the server and the immediately go check
> Console and scroll back up until I got to log entries just before the
> restart. It turned out to be a memory issue. The machine was running low on
> RAM and would get into a page swap problem and never recover. There was a
> message in the Console about “low memory” and then just a few messages
> after that and it was dead. The fix was easy. Install another 8GB of RAM in
> the machine.
>
> Sad news is I don’t think your Mac Mini is RAM upgradable. You buy it with
> either 8GB of 16GB and that’s it.
>
> Tim
>
> Tim Nevels
> timnev...@mac.com 
> Innovative Solutions
> 785-749-3444
>
>
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-- 
Jim Dorrance
jim.dorra...@gmail.com
4...@dorrance.eu
www.4d.dorrance.eu

PS: If you know of anyone that needs an experienced 4D programmer to add
energy and experience to their team, please let me know. I have
experience in many areas. Reasonable rates. Remote or Paris only.
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Re: 10.13.2 running on a MacMini (Late 2014) 8GB RAM External RAID 0+1 Samsung SSD. Using SoftRaid XT

[Tim Nevels via 4D_Tech]

On Jan 29, 2018, at 2:00 PM, Mitchell Shiller wrote:

> 4D Server 16.2
> Mac OS  10.13.2 running on a MacMini (Late 2014) 8GB RAM
> External RAID 0+1 Samsung SSD. Using SoftRaid XT 
> 
> Only applications running are:
> 4D Server (no stored procedures), 15 users
> Carbon Copy Cloner 5.05 (latest) scheduled to run every hour except from 
> 22:00 - 6:00 when there are no users logged in)
> Retrospect Client (14.6.0.127 latest) (which backs up a second attached drive 
> that contains the 4D backup files at 23:00)
> 
> I have been having  intermittent system crashes. These happen every 2-5 
> days.. Never when the system is in use. (8-21:00) Usually  early in the 
> morning long after Retrospect has run. Retrospect Client takes about 15-30 to 
> back up to our main Server. 
> I get the spinning beach ball of death. So it is not just a 4D crash.  
> Nothing is responsive. The computer requires a hard reboot to get going again 
> and then I am fine for 2-5 days.
> Usually no users are logged in at the time.
> 
> In the console I get the following information from the most recent 2 crashes;
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2xejz2dehwqf3wu/AADcablM2L7vzu8uLRxY0-Hxa?dl=0 
> 
> 
> I have tested the disk integrity, RAM integrity. All OK. I changed to a new 
> computer with no change.
> The previous computer was running 10.12
> I contacted the SoftRaid support who downloaded  a crash report and stated 
> that the crash is not happening with a disk access to the RAID system.
> 
> Any idea what the next step should be?


I would use the “Console” and see what messages were happening around the time 
it goes crazy. Start by checking “Errors and Faults” in the Favorites bar.  
Then resort to “All Messages” to see everything. 

Could be some messages there will give you an idea of what’s going on. I had a 
problem years about on a Mac Pro server machine that would sometimes go deaf. 
Very random. Some morning people would come to work and try to log into the 
database and couldn’t. They’d go check the server and it would be frozen. I 
tracked it down by checking the Console for messages. 

I would immediately restart the server and the immediately go check Console and 
scroll back up until I got to log entries just before the restart. It turned 
out to be a memory issue. The machine was running low on RAM and would get into 
a page swap problem and never recover. There was a message in the Console about 
“low memory” and then just a few messages after that and it was dead. The fix 
was easy. Install another 8GB of RAM in the machine.  

Sad news is I don’t think your Mac Mini is RAM upgradable. You buy it with 
either 8GB of 16GB and that’s it. 

Tim

Tim Nevels 
timnev...@mac.com 
Innovative Solutions
785-749-3444


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