Advanced Processor Settings - Fully Utilize Your Technology Investment

Since the advent of multi-core and multi-processor technology in the PC and Server market, TOP Server has been engineered to work with these powerful processing technologies.  TOP Server V5 takes the next step in leveraging the processing capabilities of these multi-processor systems, providing flexible configuration options that can be changed to meet the needs of each project.

The settings for adjusting processor usage are located in the Runtime Process section which is accessed by right-clicking on the  Administration icon in the Windows system tray and selecting Settings, which launches the TOP Server Administration Settings menu

Note:  If the TOP Server Administration icon is not available, it can be launched by going to Start | Programs | Software Toolbox | TOP Server 5 | TOP Server 5 - Administration.

The Runtime Process section of the TOP Server Settings offers configurable settings for how the TOP Server runtime process will run on the PC and interact with the processor or processors.  Advanced Processor Settings include:

• Process Priority
• Processor Affinity

The Process Priority setting allows you to mark the TOP Server runtime service (server_runtime.exe) to receive processor resources at a higher priority than other services/processes running on the same machine.

If TOP Server is installed on a machine where it is the primary application and you wish for TOP Server to receive higher processing priority, this setting allows you to specify that preference.

The Default setting is Normal priority (unchecked).

Note:  Microsoft recommends against setting applications to a high priority as it can adversely affect other applications running on the same PC.

The Processor Affinity section allows configuration of which processors will be used by TOP Server on machines having multiple processors available.

By default, TOP Server will select all available processors and distribute the processing load evenly across all processors for best TOP Server performance.

This section provides the ability to be selective with the processors used by TOP Server, giving you the ability to restrict processor usage as you see fit.

On machines with multiple resource intensive processes in addition to TOP Server, this allows fine tuning of your overall system performance with respect to processor usage.

Depending on how much CPU time is required for each process, you can restrict TOP Server to use fewer CPU’s for optimum system performance.