Debugging has become really slow ... Why and how can I fix this?

[Dean R. Henderson]

I have a project built for ASP.NET that recently started running really slow
in debug mode (it takes about 10 seconds or more to step from one line of
code to the next).

This just started recently and only impacts one ASP.NET project. I have
some other ASP.NET projects that I can step thru with the debugger with
almost instant response. I also have some Windows Forms projects that work
normally.

I am running Visual Studio 2003 and using VB as my language on a Windows
2000 Server (having Service Pack 3) with Sql Server 2000 (having Service
Pack 3).

I added a function to create an Excel workbook from data in my Sql Server
around the time the slowdown surfaced, but I have removed this code and the
Excel reference in the project, but this did not change the slowdown
problem.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this slowdown and how to
correct it ... Thanks, Dean

 

[Jacob Yang [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,

Thank you for using Microsoft MSDN managed newsgroup.

It is difficult to give a specific answer to such a performance issue.
Thank you for your undestanding. In ASP.NET, Debug mode degrades
performance significantly.

Based on my research and experience, the following aritcle is useful to
you. Please refer to it carefully.

Performance Tuning Tips
http://samples.gotdotnet.com/quickstart/aspplus/doc/perftuning.aspx
"...
Any programming model has its common performance pitfalls, and ASP.NET is
no exception. This section describes some of the ways in which you can
avoid performance bottlenecks in your code.
..."

I hope it helps.

Best regards,

Jacob Yang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! ¨C www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 

[Dean R. Henderson]

Hi Jacob,

Thank you for the article on performance tips.

My problem is not degraded performance when browsing pages in a project. My
problem is the performance of debug mode itself.

I have several ASP.NET projects and in all but one of these projects, debug
mode allows me to step thru my code with almost instant response. But, one
of my ASP.NET projects just recently started having a problem with how long
it takes to step thru my code. The problem I am having is that it takes
over 10 seconds to step from one line of code to another or to move from one
breakpoint to another. Until just recently, this project was able to step
thru code or move from one breakpoint to another almost instantly.

For other projects on this computer system, I do not have any delay when
stepping thru code for those projects or moving from one breakpoint to
another.

For the ASP.NET project having this debug performance issue, there has been
no corresponding performance change for access to various pages in this
project during normal browsing.

I have been using the Visual Studio debugger for several years and have
found it is an incredibly powerful tool for use when debugging code, but
when it takes over 10 seconds to step thru each line of code or move from
one breakpoint to another, the debugging process becomes almost useless and
very frustrating.

I suspect that I made some change to configuration or included some
conflicting components to the impacted project that has recently introduced
this debug mode performance problem in a way that is only impacting this one
project and not others, but I have not been able to figure out how to fix
the debug mode performance problem.

I am hoping to isolate exactly what I have done to introduce this debug mode
performance problem so that I can avoid having this same problem in other
projects I work on.

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide in regard to configuration or any
other tips that might help resolve this debug mode performance problem.

Thanks,

Dean

 

[Rick Strahl [MVP]]

Do you have a lot of watch variables set up? If you have a lot of these it
takes VS time to grab the values to display...

+++ Rick ---

--

Rick Strahl
West Wind Technologies
http://www.west-wind.com/
http://www.west-wind.com/wwHelp

 

[Jacob Yang [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,

Firstly I want to thank Rick's great help in this issue, please refer to
his response carefully.

In addition, have you installed any third party antivirus products such as
Norton or Macfee. There are some reports regarding the performance issue
caused by these third party products. Please try to uninstall them and test
this issue again.

I hope it helps.

Best regards,

Jacob Yang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! ¨C www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 

[Dean R. Henderson]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Per your suggestion, I did have several watch variables, but removing them
did not change the debug mode performance ... Before and After removing the
variables, I have found it is pretty consistent in that it takes about 14
seconds after doing a step or resume command before the next step or
breakpoint is reached or the application resumes running.

Per a suggestion from Jacob Yang, I disabled Norton Anti-Virus, but this did
not improve the debug mode performance either.

I have recently setup another computer I can use to access this ASP.NET
project and I have found this computer does not have any delay during debug
mode for this ASP.NET project ... For now, that is providing me a way to do
any debugging I need to get done.

Since this other computer does not have the same problem, it would seem to
be something in the configuration of the computer with the problem. The
system with the problem is running Windows 2000 Server as well as hosting
the IIS Web and SQL 2000 Database, while the system without the problem is
running Windows XP Pro and accessing the Web and Database over a Fast
Ethernet connection.

Thanks again for your suggestion and any other thoughts you might have
regarding this problem ... Take care,

Dean

 

[Dean R. Henderson]

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Per your suggestion, I disabled Norton Anti-Virus, but this did not improve
the debug mode performance.

Per a suggestion from Rick Strahl, I did have several watch variables, but
removing them did not change the debug mode performance ... Before and After
removing the variables, I have found it is pretty consistent in that it
takes about 14 seconds after doing a step or resume command before the next
step or breakpoint is reached or the application resumes running.

I have recently setup another computer I can use to access this ASP.NET
project and I have found this computer does not have any delay during debug
mode for this ASP.NET project ... For now, that is providing me a way to do
any debugging I need to get done.

Since this other computer does not have the same problem, it would seem to
be something in the configuration of the computer with the problem. The
system with the problem is running Windows 2000 Server as well as hosting
the IIS Web and SQL 2000 Database, while the system without the problem is
running Windows XP Pro and accessing the Web and Database over a Fast
Ethernet connection.

Thanks again for your suggestion and any other thoughts you might have
regarding this problem ... Take care,

Dean

 

[Jacob Yang [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,

Based on my research and experience, please try the following steps on your
side.

1. Please delete the ASPNET account using Computer Management.

a) Select Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Local
Users and Groups->Users
b) In the right pane, right click the ASPNET account and select "Delete"

2. Please refer to the following Knowledge Base article carefully to repair
IIS mapping.

<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306005>

3. Please restart IIS.

a) Select Start->Run...
b) Type the command "iisreset".

4. Test this issue again.

I hope it helps.

Best regards,

Jacob Yang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! ¨C www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

 

[Dean R. Henderson]

Hi Jacob,

The Windows 2000 server hosting my web and SQL Server is an Active Directory
Domain Controller, so I am using a Domain account of ASPUSER because the
built-in local ASPNET account does not work. There is a knowledge base
article on how this must be setup, so I deleted the ASPUSER account and
added it back in. It took quite a while to get everything back to normal
(at least, almost everything ... Still have one glitch).

This did not correct my debug mode performance on the Windows 2000 Server
.... I was just trying to debug the glitch that I found after deleting the
ASPUSER account ... This is a problem where an Excel WorkSheet.PageSetup
object is now failing on the Orientation property:

"<error: an exception of type: {
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException } occurred>"

It is taking 15-20 seconds everytime I try to step thru the code, go to a
breakpoint or resume the application.

Since I have another computer I can use to debug this problem with almost
instant debug mode response, I hope to find out what is causing this new
problem and will just have to put the debug mode performance problem on the
back shelf for now.

Best Regards,

Dean R. Henderson

 

[Jacob Yang [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,

I have done more research regarding this issue.

As I understand, you are trying to do the Server-Side Automation of Office.
Unfortunately, Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not
support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended,
non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, DCOM, and
NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock
when run in this environment.

Please refer to the following Knowledge Base article for the detailed
information regarding this issue.

INFO: Considerations for Server-Side Automation of Office
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;257757
"...
This article discusses the complications that developers may face, offers
alternatives to Automation that can speed performance, and suggests ways to
configure Office if server-side Automation is unavoidable. Developers
should be aware, however, that the suggestions provided below are for
informational purposes only. Microsoft does not recommend or support
server-side Automation of Office.
..."

If I have misunderstood your concern, please feel free to let me know.

Best regards,

Jacob Yang
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! ¨C www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.