Project Server WinProjects Test

How a project is opened on the Project Server and how it is saved on the SQL database server can impact the health and overall performance of the Project Server and the SQL server it uses. By keeping an eye on project opens and saves, administrators can proactively detect potential overload conditions / slowdowns in the Project Server / SQL server, and promptly initiate measures to avert such anomalies. The Project Server WinProjects test helps administrators with this! This test reports the count of incremental saves, full saves, incremental opens and full opens that were attempted on the Project Server and its database server, measures the time taken for a project to open, and thus leads administrators to probable performance slowdowns with the Project Server.

Target of the test : A Microsoft Project Server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Microsoft Project server that is to be monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens. The default port is Null.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Winproj incremental saves in the last hour	Indicates the number of incremental saves that occurred for a project created on the Project server during the last hour.	Number	The first time that a project is created on the Microsoft Project Server application server from Microsoft Project Professional, it is saved using a full save, which means that all of the project data is transmitted and saved in the database used by the Project Server application server. Subsequent saves of the project are saved incrementally, by default. This means that only the project data that has CHANGED is transmitted to the server and saved in the database. If this default setting is overridden, it may increase the number of full saves, which is detrimental to the optimal performance of the Project Server and the SQL database.
Winproj full saves in the last hour	Indicates the number of full saves of the project that was created on the Project server 2010 during the last hour.	Number
Winproj incremental opens in the last hour	Indicates the number of times the project created on the Microsoft Project Server application server was opened during the last hour.	Number
Winproj full opens in the last hour	Indicates the number of times a ‘full open’ was attempted on the projects that were created on the Project server 2010 during the last hour.	Number
Avg time taken to open project	Indicates the average time taken for a project to open on the Project server application server that uses Microsoft Project Professional.	Secs	Ideally, the value of this measure should be less than 120 seconds. The value of this measure tracks the time taken for a project to open on the server only — it does not include the communication overhead between the client application (in this case Microsoft Project Professional) and the Project Server application server. A value higher than 120 seconds is a cause of concern and is an indication of an overloaded Project Server application server or an overloaded SQL Server computer that is hosting the databases of the Project Server application server.
Incremental save to full save ratio	Indicates the percentage of incremental saves to full saves.	Percent	For optimal performance, the value of this measure should be low.