Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Which mod next?

I would like to speed up AC for my current MU pet peeve. To update the Allergies takes a long time, between 2 to 5 seconds. Not a lot to complain about, but still slow for an update query to run.

I guess most of my peeve is that it takes so much longer than the smoking combo box. Since Allergies rarely change, why can't I just check a box to confirm the allergies, rather than open the dialog box that could add a new one. But, still, it takes too long.

I have a 2 year old server with Xeon 4 processors, 20 Gb ram, Raid 10 15k HDD with adequate space, a new Cisco 500 series managed switch, and a typical client is 2 years old with E7500 duo core 2.93 GHz, 2 Gb ram and almost empty HDDs.

So my question is what should I change to get the fastest AC Allergies update?

Would I save more time with client changes such as 4 Gb ram or solid state drives, changes in the server/network, or something else? Like maybe my expectations?

I am sure you will get all kinds of answers. I use an M-tech server and all in one computers in the exam rooms. I would recommend that you look at this website and call Jerry at M-tech and talk to him. He does not charge anything for his recommendations and is familiar with AC. Tell him I told you to call.
Website: http://mtechlaptop.com/

That's because allergies are stored in a searchable format. You can run reports to find out the prevalence of certain allergens in your practice. Smoking status is a plain text entry which gets saved at the time of sign off.

For us, it is roughly 1 to 2 seconds with a two second max (at least over LogMeIn). It's likely faster in person. Sounds like the server is fine. I think it's interesting that it's noticeable. Is more often close to 5 than to 2?

It could be the network or it could be the PC

Thanks,

I'm hesitant to virtualize the network. Might do that when it's time to update the clients, or maybe just for the exam rooms.

I was getting jealous of the solid state drive ravings on this forum, so was thinking about doing that after I didn't get much change with the new switch. Then I realized I only had 2 Gb on XP machines so wondered about that, and decided to combine it with my pet MU peeve to get advice.

Most of the time it is closer to 2 seconds. If it wasn't for MU, we wouldn't have to open the Allergies dialog box to click a confirm Allergies box if there was no change in the allergies. All that space wasted to the right of the Allergies button.

Do you think that the program would run faster with 4Gb or SSDs? I don't care how long it takes to load, only to complete events.

As for the network, it is heavily used. 3 providers and 4 staff constantly on AC, and more than that on MediSoft with scheduling and billing. I was hoping the new switch would help more than it has.

Sandeep, I was thinking about asking you for a yearly update on your server recommendations, cause mine cost me $10k 2 years ago. The fixed fee for the installation and data migration was more than your hardware costs 1 year ago.

SSDs most likely. XP usually does just fine with 2 or 3GB. If you have Win 7/Vista, 4GB seems to be that new sweet spot. However, most XP computers have old hardware that can't take advantage of the new SATA 6G/SATA3 standard. To achieve the speeds you desire, my guess is that you'll also need SSDs on the server. With SSDs on clients and hard drive on server, I'm seeing about 1-2 seconds. For SSDs on both server and client, <1 second. Here is a video I recorded from a remote session (3 doc practice as well) so it might even be faster in person. Lots of variables to consider when doing remote work. Should be obvious that it's running on a client computer as well with the Essentials launchpad in the video.

Allergy Demo over RDP
Allergy Demo over RDP (HD 720P)
Amazing Charts Official Allergy Demo Speed <- Is this your current speed?

Personally, I think 2 seconds is acceptable, but it's up to you in the end. Not sure how much an extra second is worth to you. Also, to be honest, I don't think it ranks up very high for AC developers with the big 81 and new MU requirements coming.


I don't think I mentioned virtualizing. But you could make a terminal server that is dedicated to running AC instead of upgrading each computer. (depending on how many you have) If it runs that quickly for me over the Internet, I'm sure it'll be even more pleasant experience over LAN.

My servers require assembly. The hardware also comes from 10 different brands. Each one, the best at what they do. There is often a large markup on the higher end. The only thing that really changed is that there are newer IvyBridge processors E3-1230V2 and LGA 2011 is released for those who need a more robust platform. I'll probably start posting that on my blog (need to make one first). E.g. my desktop (more of a server at this point) would cost me over 14,000 from Apple or Dell. It cost me much less than that. ~3K

Upside is you can use your local IT guy if something goes wrong. They can usually do same day. Usually ends up costing 2-3K less than Dell or Lenovo. So you should have extra funds left over. I have received some requests for servers, but I'm only selling them locally until I can get a cost effective and fast backup solution. With Server 2012, this seems like a possibility. Possibly even full failover (2 servers) for less than 7K for those larger practices.

These have to be more than 2 years old. The i5 Lynnfield line was out in late 2009. (i5-750). SandyBridge was 2011. LGA775 was being retired 3 years ago.

Sandeep,

Thank you for all your advice!

You are right on clients being older than 2 years, and 2009 sounds right now. And, they were not high end machines back then.

Do you think there is a lot more room for improvement with a new processor/machine vs. the SSD/OldMachine? If so, and especially by a lot, how about vs. 8 thin clients on an AC server with SSDs with data backup to my main server? If that, what kind of rough specs would be needed for an AC server?

I thought your components list was a guideline for us to purchase and assemble ourselves. Didn't realize you assembled.

One Christmas I purchased components for my teenagers to each assemble a gaming desktop. Educational and saved a lot of money.

You can assemble it yourself. It's just the price of the parts. It's the exact same as desktop assembly so if you've done it before, it should very simple. It has been stated I wasn't being clear about it having to be assembled. I don't have to, anyone can ha. Just trying to stress that they need to be assembled.


This is a tough call. I think you'll need SSDs on the server to get that instant performance that I showed in the video (SSD on servers and clients). On the hard drive servers with SSD clients, it was between 1-2 seconds like in the official AC Video. I suspect it's probably due to allergy info not typically being loaded in RAM requiring a hard drive/system drive read. So the SSD would need to be on the server.

You could grab a few SSDs and try it out. Maybe get 2 in RAID 1 on the server. Move AC to the new drive. Get one more SSD for a client. See if the performance is up to par.

Thanks so much Sandeep,

I have two drive slots open on the server, so will try that.

Usually you can put 2 SSDs in one slot. They barely generate heat. Also, I should advise that I like to use higher end SSDs in the server.

Top Tier (Servers) SSDs: Intel 710*, Kingston E100*
* I haven't used these yet due to the price. They are enterprise SSDs.

Mid Tier (Servers) SSD: Intel 520, Samsung 840 Pro, Plextor M5 Pro, Micron P400e*
*Micron P400e only has a 3 year warranty while the others have 5 years.

Thanks Sandeep!

I was researching Intel 520 vs Samsung 840 Pro when I looked at my server and realized it has a HP drive cage, so now I am thinking of putting the drives in an empty optical drive slot.

Do I need a different raid controller from my raid 10 SAS 4 HDD array since the SSDs are SATA?

You can use SATA drives on SAS controllers, but not the other way around so you're fine.

Thanks again!

You're welcome.

HP Drive Cage? Do you mean a hotswap bay? If so Icy Dock makes a nice adapter that is compatible with hotswap bays.
IcyDock 2.5" to 3.5" adapter

If not, I know thermaltake makes a optical drive bay adapter with a quad bay hotswap for SSDs.
ThermalTake Quad SSD hotswap

Yes it is a hot swap bay, and that thermaltake adapter looks great.

I found HP's part and ordered 2

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AO0HFY2PTJS7R

which should allow me to put each SSD into the 2 open bays I have, so I thought I would try that first as no wiring.

If I ever need to expand, I bookmarked that adapter.

Thanks