There are several pitfalls when purchasing and configuring hardware for the App Control Server. This section lists most common mistakes.

Category Problem Explanation Possible Mitigations
Slow SQL Storage Misconfigured or slow storage used for SQL database files can significantly impact the ability of the server to process agent events and file changes and can cause a backlog of server tasks and slow console response.
  1. Use direct-attached storage with correctly sized disks and RAID architecture
  2. Avoid using SAN storage due to high latency
  3. For larger deployments, use fast SSD/Flash storage, as documented
Slow Network A slow network connection between the App Control Server and SQL Server can significantly impact the ability of the server to process agent events and files. This can cause a backlog of messages and loss of visibility into the agent inventory and operation.
  1. Deploy App Control in a 1-tier model, with both the App Control server and SQL Server on the single machine
  2. Reduce network latency between App Control and SQL server by using fewer, faster switches, or a direct cable connection
Resource Sharing Shared SQL server or SQL storage layer can impact overall server performance because the server cannot utilize hardware resources as needed. Also, sharing introduces a varying load which makes it impossible to predict future server performance.
  1. Provide a dedicated SQL server instance to the App Control
  2. Provide dedicated storage to App Control SQL storage files, not used by either other databases or other applications
Hardware Virtualization

Improperly virtualized server hardware or virtualizing the server for a large number of endpoints can impact the overall server performance. The impact can be on either the network, CPU, memory, or storage layer.
  1. Move product to physical hardware
  2. Move product to 1-tier virtual hardware
  3. Ensure that the virtual machine satisfies OER requirements (CPU, Memory), uses physical storage, and that there is very low latency between the App Control and SQL servers in case of 2-tier deployment