Microsoft CRM "du jour"

After the release of the Dynamics CRM Threshold files a short while ago, someone asked me to do the same for the Outlook client, so here it is.

You can download the Threshold files from here; it contains all performance counters for the outlook client and alerts for failed transactions.
I couldn't find Microsoft recommendations for transactions performance so you would have to run it on some workstations first to have a good baseline for performance alerting.

For installation and usage; please read the CRM server threshold files article.

Last week, while following a Performance training at Microsoft by Gonçalo Antunes; we had some hands on using the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool.
It's a very nice tool but unfortunately, no template existed for Dynamics CRM.

This was a bit disappointing, so based on some knowledge built for the CRM Extreme Monitoring session I presented some months ago in Barcelona, I went to implement a first draft of the threshold files.
Those are basic thresholds, more oriented towards health than performance; but you still get quite a few of thresholds as MSDx CRM is more than generous in failure counters.

I first thought of making a file for every CRM server roles; but that would leads to a lot of files and furthermore; the counters are not that easy to split per role.
There're currently 3 files; one for front-end, one for back-end and a full server role (which inherits from the other two); you will also need to add the sql server threshold file if needed (IIS, Asp.net, etc.. are already inherited) as it depends on the SQL Server version.
I would be more than happy to get feedback when some of you use PAL in real world audits; so it can be extended and improved over time.

So, how does it works ?
First, download and install the PAL Tool from codeplex (the Dynamics CRM templates are embedded)
You can then start the PALWizard; and you should be able to see the Dynamics CRM threshold files in the selection list.

 From then, you can use the PAL tool the usual way.
In short: 

• Select the Threshold files
• Click "export to perfmon template file" and save the template
• Start Perfmon
• Go to Data Collector Set, Create New Data Collector Set, Create from a Template and select the template
• Schedule the collection or start it directly
• When the collection is complete, you should get a blg file
• Restart the PALWizard
• Select the collection file
• Re-select the Threshold file; answers some questions and next...
• This would generate the report.
  
  

 

One of my customer got a daunting experience the other day; similar to the way a lobster may feel the sudden drop in boiling water.

Bulk delete right is usually very restricted, but the culprit was a full power user with all rights and was confused by the way the interface displays the bulk delete options.

Let's look at an example, here's the view of contacts associated with a given account; as you can see (the orange circle), there's no contact record associated with that account. 

Now let's click on the Bulk Delete button, you may believe this would only applies on the associated contacts of that account (even if the criteria does not displays it)

Now Let's click on Preview Records; this will actually delete all active contacts (not only the one of that account)

In that particular case, the user had some hundreds of associated records and thought he found a nice way to 'bulk delete' them but he actually triggered a system wide delete including the cascading records. It took him a couple minutes to realize it and get the sudden "lobster experience". We ended up restoring a database backup as thousands and thousands of records where already gone (bulk delete is quite efficient). 

Even if  I think the associated view bulk delete button behavior is quite misleading in terms of user experience, the moral of the story is beware of the bulk delete rights; be sure the users understand the true implications of it (or face the lobster effect..)