Dynamics AX Performance

Optimization Guide

By Martin Zhen & Daniel Liao

PREFACE
This book is a practical guide for database administrators and Dynamics AX
technical consultants who implement, maintain, or develop Dynamics AX. It
outlines guidelines for improving the performance of Dynamics AX running on
Microsoft SQL Server.
Much of the information presented in this book is based on findings from realworld customer deployments. This book and its content are provided as is without
warranty of any kind, and should not be interpreted as an offer or commitment.
We cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented.
We make no warranties, express or implied, in this book.
Also, the descriptions are intended as brief highlights to aid understanding, rather
than as thorough coverage.

WHICH VERSION OF DYNAMICS AX IS COVERED IN

THIS BOOK?
All the examples in this book are based on Dynamics AX 2012. In fact, most of
what is covered in this book also applies to Dynamics AX 2009. While you may
notice some minor changes between the two versions, and discover that Dynamics
AX 2012 includes a few new features, every example in this book will work with
Dynamics AX 2009 and everything you learn here is applicable to both Dynamics
AX 2012 and Dynamics AX 2009.

AVAILABLE SUPPORT
We make every effort to ensure that there are no errors in the text. However, no one
is perfect, and mistakes do occur. If you find an error in our book, such as a spelling
mistake or a faulty piece of code, we would be very grateful for your feedback. By
sending in errata, you may save other readers hours of frustration, and at the same
time, you will be helping us provide even higher quality information.
To find the errata page for this book, go to
http://www.outsourceax.com/AXPerfBook and click the Errata link.
If you have any comments regarding the book, please contact us via emails to
Martin.Zhen@outsourceax.com or Daniel@outsourceax.com .

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Martin Zhen started as a Dynamics AX developer in 2004. He currently works as a
principle technical consultant at OutsourceAX Development (outsourceax.com),
specializing in problem resolution support, proactive consulting assistance for
Dynamics AX environments. He has worked on Dynamics AX environments for
leading corporations in various business domains, helping them to identify and
rectify SQL Server-related issues for Dynamics AX applications.
Daniel Liao runs OutsourceAX Development, a Chinese offshore development
company in Shanghai, China. He started as a developer on Microsoft Dynamics AX
in 2004 primarily working on a Chinese localization project with Dynamics AX 3.0
for Microsoft. He has worked on many projects based on AX versions 2.5, 3.0, 4.0,
2009, and 2012.

PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... 2
AVAILABLE SUPPORT ...................................................................................................................... 3
ABOUT THE AUTHORS..................................................................................................................... 4
1

UNDERSTANDING DYNAMICS AX ........................................................................................... 9

1.1 DYNAMICS AX ARCHITECTURE ................................................................................................. 9
1.1.1
Dynamics AX and its Components ........................................................................... 9
1.2 HOW DYNAMICS AX MANAGE SESSIONS.................................................................................. 12
1.2.1
Server/Client Session ............................................................................................. 12
1.3 CONCURRENCY CONTROL WITHIN DYNAMICS AX ....................................................................... 17
1.3.1
Pessimistic Concurrency Control ............................................................................ 17
1.3.2
Optimistic Concurrency Control ............................................................................. 17
1.3.3
How To Set Up Concurrency Model Globally .......................................................... 17
1.3.4
Implementing Optimistic Concurrency Control ...................................................... 18

MONITORING HARDWARE, DATABASE, AND DYNAMICS AX ................................................. 23

2.1 HARDWARE MONITORING .................................................................................................... 23
2.1.1
Using System Monitor ........................................................................................... 23
2.1.2
Microsoft Dynamics AX Performance Counters...................................................... 28
2.1.3
WCF Performance Counters with Dynamics AX 2012 AOS ...................................... 31
2.2 DATABASE MONITORING ...................................................................................................... 33
2.2.1
Using SQL Server Profiler ....................................................................................... 33
2.2.2
Using Dynamic Management Views ...................................................................... 44
2.2.3
Finding Current Users and Processes ..................................................................... 49
2.2.4
Decoding the Object Blocking a Process ................................................................ 49
2.2.5
Selected DBCC Commands ..................................................................................... 50
2.3 DATABASE I/O ................................................................................................................... 51
2.3.1
SQLIO Disk Performance Test Tool ...................................................................... 51
2.3.2
SQLIOSim Disk Stress Test Tool ........................................................................... 51
2.3.3
Instant File Initialization ........................................................................................ 51
2.3.4
Long I/O Requests ................................................................................................. 52
2.4 MONITORING DYNAMICS AX ................................................................................................. 53
2.4.1
Dynamics AX Trace Parser ..................................................................................... 53
2.4.2
Windows Event Tracing ......................................................................................... 60
2.4.3
WCF Service Trace Viewer Tool .............................................................................. 65
2.4.4
Microsoft Visual Studio Profiling Tools .................................................................. 68
2.4.5
PerformanceTester - WebServer Performance Tester ............................................ 70
2.4.6
Performance Testing for Enterprise Portal (Web Performance Test) ...................... 71
2.4.7
Performance Analyzer for Microsoft Dynamics AX (DynamicsPerf) ........................ 75
2.4.8
Process Monitor .................................................................................................... 77

SETUP AND CONFIGURATION .............................................................................................. 78

3.1 INPUT/OUTPUT (I/O) CONFIGURATION ................................................................................... 78
3.1.1
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) Configuration ................................ 78
3.1.2
Typical I/O Performance Recommended Range..................................................... 79
3.2 FILES, AND FILEGROUPS ........................................................................................................ 80
3.3 TEMPDB PLACEMENT AND TUNING ......................................................................................... 80

3.4 DATA AND LOG FILE SIZING................................................................................................... 82

3.5 RECOVERY MODELS ............................................................................................................ 82
3.5.1
Simple Recovery Model......................................................................................... 82
3.5.2
Full Recovery Model ............................................................................................. 83
3.5.3
Bulk-Logged Recovery Model................................................................................ 83
3.6 DATABASE OPTIONS ............................................................................................................ 83
3.6.1
Read Committed Snapshot Isolation (RCSI) ........................................................... 84
3.6.2
Asynchronous Statistics Update ............................................................................ 85
3.6.3
Parameterization.................................................................................................. 86
3.6.4
Auto Update Statistics .......................................................................................... 87
3.6.5
Auto Create Statistics ........................................................................................... 87
3.7 ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE ......................................................................................................... 88
3.8 SQL SERVER CONFIGURATIONS ............................................................................................. 88
3.8.1
Installation Considerations ................................................................................... 88
3.8.2
Hyper-Threading................................................................................................... 89
3.8.3
Memory Tuning .................................................................................................... 89
3.8.4
Important SP_Configure Parameters .................................................................... 92
3.8.5
Network Protocols and Pagefile............................................................................ 94
3.8.6
Advanced Performance Option ............................................................................. 95
3.9 NETWORK CAPACITY ........................................................................................................... 98
3.9.1
TCP Chimney ......................................................................................................... 98
3.10
DYNAMICS AX SETUP ..................................................................................................... 98
3.10.1
Statement Compilation .................................................................................... 98
3.10.2
Cache of Number Sequences ............................................................................ 99
3.10.3
Configuring HTTP Compression in IIS ................................................................ 99
3.10.4
Use AppFabric for NLB topology ......................................................................102
3.11
OFFLOAD REPORTING (SSRS) ..........................................................................................103
4

COMMON DYNAMICS AX PERFORMANCE PROBLEM ..........................................................104

4.1 LARGE NUMBER OF ROUNDTRIPS TO THE DATABASE ..................................................................104
4.1.1
Increase buffer size ..............................................................................................104
4.1.2
Set Based Operations...........................................................................................104
4.1.3
AOS Authorization ...............................................................................................105
4.2 HIGH PROCESSOR UTILIZATION .............................................................................................105
4.3 DISK I/O BOTTLENECKS ......................................................................................................107
4.4 MEMORY BOTTLENECKS ......................................................................................................108
4.5 HIGH MEMORY USAGE WHEN RUN IN IL(BATCH MODE) ..............................................................109
4.6 BLOCKING AND DEADLOCKING ISSUES ....................................................................................109
4.7 EXTENSIVE LOGGING ...........................................................................................................109
4.7.1
Application Integration Framework .....................................................................110
4.7.2
Workflow Notifications........................................................................................110
4.8 SQL SERVER WAIT TYPES ....................................................................................................111
4.8.1
CXPACKET ............................................................................................................112
4.8.2
PAGEIOLATCH_EX ................................................................................................112
4.8.3
ASYNC_NETWORK_IO ..........................................................................................113
4.9 PARAMETER SNIFFING ........................................................................................................113
4.9.1
Dealing with Bad Parameter Sniffing ...................................................................114
4.9.2
Turn Off Parameter Sniffing .................................................................................116

OPTIMIZING DYNAMICS AX SQL STATEMENT......................................................................118

5.1 QUERYING SQL SERVER...................................................................................................... 119

5.2 DYNAMICS AX DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICE FOR PERFORMANCE .............................................. 120
5.2.1
Use Set Based Operations.................................................................................... 120
5.2.2
Use the SysGlobalCache /SysGlobalObjectCache Class ........................................ 120
5.2.3
Avoid Using Pessimisticlock in X++ ...................................................................... 120
5.2.4
Select wisely ........................................................................................................ 120
5.2.5
Use table caching ................................................................................................ 121
5.2.6
Use Display/Edit Method Caching Where Appropriate ........................................ 121
5.3 SQL PRE-PROCESSING IN MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX ................................................................ 121
5.4 STATEMENT CACHE & MAXIMUM BUFFER SIZE ........................................................................ 123
5.4.1
Statement Cache (Open cursors) ......................................................................... 123
5.4.2
Maximum Buffer Size .......................................................................................... 124
5.4.3
Default Maximum Number of Rows Returned ..................................................... 125
5.4.4
Statement with ForceLiterals Keyword ................................................................ 127
5.5 USING HINTS ................................................................................................................... 128
5.5.1
Index Hints .......................................................................................................... 128
5.5.2
Plan Guides ......................................................................................................... 129
5.5.3
ODBC API Server Cursor Performance Enhancements .......................................... 129
5.6 TRACE FLAGS .................................................................................................................... 132
5.6.1
Controlling Trace Flags ........................................................................................ 132
5.6.2
Implementing Trace Flags ................................................................................... 132
5.6.3
Monitoring Trace Flags........................................................................................ 135
5.6.4
Trace Flags Recommended for use with Dynamics AX ......................................... 135
6

SQL SERVER PERFORMANCE AND COMPLIANCE OPTIMIZATIONS FOR DYNAMICS AX ......... 138
6.1 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................. 138
6.1.1
Resource Governor .............................................................................................. 138
6.2 BACKUP AND STORAGE OPTIMIZATION .................................................................................. 139
6.2.1
Backup Compression ........................................................................................... 139
6.2.2
Data Compression ............................................................................................... 140
6.3 AUDITING AND COMPLIANCE ............................................................................................... 144
6.3.1
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) ..................................................................... 144
6.3.2
SQL Server Audit .................................................................................................. 146
6.4 PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND DATA COLLECTION ............................................................... 148
6.4.1
Data Collector and Management Data Warehouse ............................................. 148
6.4.2
Memory Monitoring DMVs.................................................................................. 150
6.4.3
Extended Events .................................................................................................. 151
6.5 QUERY PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION ................................................................................... 153
6.5.1
Plan Freezing ....................................................................................................... 153
6.5.2
Lock Escalation .................................................................................................... 154
6.6 HARDWARE OPTIMIZATIONS ................................................................................................ 154
6.6.1
Hot Add CPU........................................................................................................ 154
6.6.2
NUMA ................................................................................................................. 155

DATABASE MAINTENANCE ................................................................................................. 156

7.1 MANAGING INDEXES .......................................................................................................... 156
7.1.1
Index-Related Dynamic Management Views ....................................................... 156
7.2 DETECTING FRAGMENTATION ............................................................................................... 159
7.3 REDUCING FRAGMENTATION ............................................................................................... 160
7.4 STATISTICS ....................................................................................................................... 162

7.4.1
AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS and AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ...............................162
7.4.2
Disabling AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS at the Table Level .....................................163
7.4.3
User-Created Statistics.........................................................................................164
7.4.4
Updating Statistics...............................................................................................164
7.4.5
Viewing Statistics ................................................................................................165
7.5 CONTROLLING LOCKING BEHAVIOR ........................................................................................166
7.5.1
Isolation Levels ....................................................................................................166
7.5.2
Lock Granularity ..................................................................................................167
7.5.3
Lock Escalations ...................................................................................................168
7.5.4
Lock Escalation Trace Flags ..................................................................................169
7.5.5
Deadlocks ............................................................................................................170
7.6 DEDICATED ADMINISTRATOR CONNECTION (DAC)....................................................................174
8

INFRASTRUCTURE & HYPER-V VIRTUALIZATION ..................................................................175

8.1 HARDWARE SIZING ............................................................................................................175
8.1.1
Database Server ..................................................................................................175
8.1.2
Application Server hosting AOS ...........................................................................176
8.1.3
Web Server hosting Enterprise Portal ..................................................................177
8.1.4
Batch Servers .......................................................................................................177
8.1.5
Remote Desktop Session Host Server (RDSH Server) ............................................178
8.1.6
Firewall................................................................................................................178
8.2 SIZING METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................179
8.2.1
Work Load ...........................................................................................................179
8.2.2
Sizing Guidance for Each Components (AX 2012) .................................................181
8.2.3
Sizing Guidance for Each Components (AX 2009) .................................................184
8.3 DYNAMICS AX SERVER VIRTUALIZATION .................................................................................186
8.3.1
Virtualization Benefits .........................................................................................186
8.3.2
Hyper-V Virtualization .........................................................................................186
8.3.3
Hardware Considerations ....................................................................................187
8.4 HYPER-V BEST PRACTICES ...................................................................................................188
8.4.1
DO NOT virtualize SQL Server...............................................................................188
8.4.2
Increase Network Capacity ..................................................................................189
8.4.3
Implement Hyper-V Integration Services .............................................................189
8.4.4
Maximize Memory Usage ....................................................................................190
8.4.5
Minimize Operating System Overhead.................................................................190
8.4.6
Optimize SCSI and Disk Performance ...................................................................190

APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................191
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................194
INDEX .........................................................................................................................................195

Appendix
Analysis Tools for Troubleshooting Performance
Tools
SQL Server Profile Trace

Description
Microsoft SQL Server
Profiler is a graphical
user interface to SQL
Trace for monitoring an
instance of the Database
Engine.

Used for
SQL Server

Performance Monitor

Use Performance Monitor

to monitor the utilization
of system resources.
Collect and view real-time
performance data in the
form of counters, for
server resources such as
processor and memory
use, and for many
Microsoft SQL Server
resources such as locks
and transactions.

SQL Server
AOS

SQLdiag utility

The SQLdiag utility is a

general purpose
diagnostics collection
utility that can be run as a
console application or as
a service. You can use
SQLdiag to collect logs
and data files from SQL
Server and other types of
servers, and use it to
monitor your servers over
time or troubleshoot
specific problems with
your servers.

SQL Server

Performance Analyzer for

Microsoft Dynamics

Process Monitor

Network Monitor

Trace Parser

Performance Analyzer for

Microsoft Dynamics is a
set of scripts to collect and
analyze performance
information from the
database and application
tiers of Microsoft
Dynamics products.
Process Monitor is an
advanced monitoring tool
for Windows that shows
real-time file system,
Registry and
process/thread activity. It
combines the features of
two legacy Sysinternals
utilities, Filemon and
Regmon, and adds an
extensive list of
enhancements including
rich and non-destructive
filtering, comprehensive
event properties such
session IDs and user
names, reliable process
information, full thread
stacks with integrated
symbol support for each
operation, simultaneous
logging to a file, and much
more.
Network Monitor is a
protocol analyzer that
allows the capture of
network traffic and the
ability to view and analyze
it.
Trace Parser consolidates
information from multiple
sources, such as remote
procedure calls (RPCs)
and Microsoft SQL Server,
to provide an integrated
view of application
performance at run time.

SQL Server

EP
AOS

SQL Server
EP
AOS

X++
CIL

Visual Studio Profiling

Tools

The Visual Studio

Profiling Tools let
developers measure,
evaluate, and target
performance-related
issues in their code. These
tools are fully integrated
into the IDE to provide a
seamless and
approachable user
experience.

CIL

Cursor Types in Dynamics AX

Version
3.0 SP6
4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2
2009, 2009 SP1
2009 SP1 HF
(Build#
5.0.1500.3775)
2012 R1, 2012 R2

Cursor
FFO for read-only
Dynamic for pessimistic locking
FFO for read-only
FFO for optimistic locking
Dynamic for pessimistic locking
FFO for read-only
FFO for optimistic locking
Dynamic for pessimistic locking
FFO for read-only
FFO for optimistic locking
FFO for pessimistic locking
FFO for read-only
FFO for optimistic locking
FFO for pessimistic locking
Dynamic for full-text search

Repeatable
Read
Support
No

RCSI
Suppor
t
No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Bibliography
Literature
The Microsoft Dynamics AX Team, Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012, Microsoft Press (2012)
Lars Dragheim Olsen/Michael Fruergaard Pontoppidan/Hans Jorgen
Skovgaard/Tom Kaminski/Deepak Kumar/Satish Thomas, Inside
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Microsoft Press (2009)
Luis X. B. Mouro/ David Weiner, Dynamics AX: A Guide to
Microsoft Axapta, Apress (2006)

Other Sources
Microsoft Dynamics AX Developer Center
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/ax/)
Microsoft TechNet Library Dynamics AX
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd362025.aspx)
AX Support Blog
(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/)
Dynamics AX in the Field Blog
(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axinthefield)
MFP's Two Cents Blog
(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mfp)
Brandon George's Microsoft Dynamics AX Blog
(http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com)
Palle Agermarks Microsoft Dynamics AX blog
(http://palleagermark.blogspot.com.au)
Dilip's blog on DYNAMICS AX
(http://daxdilip.blogspot.com)

Index
-internal=nocursorreuse
117
-internal=comments
117
Application Integration Framework (AIF) 10,109
AOS Authorization
105
Application Object Server (AOS) 8,10,28,30, 119
Asynchronous Statistics Update
84
Auto Create Statistics
86,87
Auto Update Statistics
86
Ax32serv.exe.config file
108
Address Windowing Extensions (AWE)
88,89
Backup Compression
138,139
Batch Server
176,177
Buffer size
103,112,122
Bulk-Logged Recovery
82
Concurrency Control
16,17
CPU
23,43,44
Cursor
39
CXPACKET
111
Data Compression
139,140
Database
30,50,82,103
Database trip
103,104
DBCC CACHESTATS
49
DBCC DBREINDEX
160
DBCC TRACEOFF
49,131,133
DBCC TRACEON
49,133,134
DBCC TRACESTATUS
49,131,134
DBCC SQLPERF
46
Deadlock
33,83,135
Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC) 173
Display/Edit Method Caching
120
DMV
110,147,149
Dual Core
79,80
Dynamic Cursor
128,129
Enterprise Portal 9,11,29,70,98,100,176,182,184
Event Tracing for Windows (ETW)
52,150
Exclusive Lock
17,165
Execution Plan
36,45,84,92,152,161,163,172
Fast Forward Cursor
32,121,129,135
FFO
128,191
Fibre Channel
186
FileGroups
79,160
FIRSTFAST
118,127
Firewall
177
ForceLiterals
113,114,126
Full Recovery
82
High Processor Utilization
91,103,104
Hot Add CPU
153
Hyper-V
174,178,185,186
Hyper-Threading
88,176
I/O requests
50,51,79
I/O consumer
44
Implicit Cursor Conversion
129

Index
36,74,155
Index hint
127
Instant File Initialization
50,51
Keyset-driven cursor
129
Latency
78,154,177
Lightweight pooling
91
Lock Escalation
153,167,168
Locking
83,124,125
Max degree of parallelism
91,92,111
Maximum buffer size
123,124,125,127
Named Pipes
94
Network Interface Controller (NIC)
186,188
Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)
154
ODBC API Server Cursor
128,129,130
OnlyFetchActive
119
OptimisticLock
17
Optimistic concurrency control
16,17
PAGEIOLATCH_EX
111
Parallelism
92,105
Parameterization
85
Performance Analyzer for Microsoft Dynamics 75
Performance Monitor
28,79
Page Compression
140
PerformanceTester
70
PessimisticLock
18,120,125
Pessimistic locking
125,126,127
Pessimistic concurrency control
17
Physical Address Extension (/PAE)
89
Plan freezing
153
Plan guide
129
Process Monitor
77
Processor Affinity
81
Quad Core
183,184
Read Committed Snapshot Isolation (RCSI)
84
RDSH Server
178
Remote Desktop Session Host Server
178
Resource Governor
138
Row Compression
141
Sales Order transaction lines per hour (SOTPH) 179
SCSI
190
Sessions
12,14
Set Based Operations
104,105,120
Shared Memory
95
ShowPlan XML
34
Simple Recovery
82
Sizing guidance
181,184
Sizing Methodology
179
SQL Server Audit
145,146
SQL Server Profiler
32,36,37
SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) 102,181,183
Statement cache
122,126
SysClientSessions
11,12,13

SysGlobalCache
SysGlobalObjectCache
SysServerSessions
Table caching
TCP Chimney
TCP/IP
TempDB
Thread
Throughput
Trace flag
1204
1211
1224
1244
4136
4199

120
120
10,11,12
121
98
95
81,84
177,178,179
107,187
131
135,169,170
153,168
135,153,168
135
135
131,134,135

Trace Parser
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
Transaction log
Two Node Configuration
Update conflict exception
UpdLock
Virtual hard disks (VHDs)
Virtual machines (VMs)
Virtualization
Visual Studio Profiling Tools
WCF Performance Counters
WCF Service Trace Viewer
Windows Performance Monitor

52,53
143
24,50,79
186
17,20
125
188
185
185,186,187
67,68
30,31
64
31,55,59