Project Queue jobs average wait time per day

 

Applies to: Project Server 2013, Project Server 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2013-12-18

Element ID / Rule Name:   Project_Queue_Jobs_Average_Wait_Time_Per_Day

Summary:   This alert indicates that the amount of time jobs are waiting in the queue (on average) before they are processed has exceeded the threshold set for this rule. This gives you a direct way to determine whether your Service Levels are not being met. Note that if this alert occurs repeatedly, this indicates that service is poor.

Note

Average wait time is calculated as follows:
Average wait time = Time when the job was picked up for processing – Time when the job was put into the queue.

Cause:   Possible causes include the following:

  • Jobs are blocked in the queue of the Project Server application server.

  • The Project Server application server may be overloaded.

  • The Project Server application server may have fewer job processor threads than required to meet the inflow of jobs.

Possible resolutions include the following:

Perform the following steps:

  1. Verify whether jobs are blocked in the queue by reviewing the Windows NT Event log and trace logs, and troubleshoot accordingly.

  2. If the problem persists, determine whether the problem is due to an overloaded Project Server application server by monitoring the following performance counters on the affected server: Processor, Memory, and PhysicalDisk.

    Important

    If these performance counters indicate a bottleneck, upgrade the components that are causing the bottlenecks, or add one more additional Project Server application server as a service application so that the load is balanced among multiple servers.

    Warning

    When you add another service application to the farm, the farm and the queue infrastructure provide load balancing automatically. If these performance counters indicate that the Project Server application server is not bottlenecked. However, the average wait time remains high, this may indicate that your Project Server application server might have fewer job processor threads than are required to meet the inflow of jobs. You can also increase the number of job processor threads.

  3. Try increasing the number of job processor threads by using the following procedure:

    1. Log on to Microsoft Project Web App as an administrator.

    2. In the Quick Launch, click Server Settings.

    3. On the Server Settings page, in the Queue section, click Queue Settings.

    4. On the Queue Settings page, in the Maximum Number of Job Processor Threads section, enter the maximum number of threads you want to use.

      Note

      This setting is for a particular Project Web App site. This means that, if your Project Server application server has three Project Web App sites and you set the number of threads to 4 for each site, this will result in a total of 12 job processor threads for the Service Application (3 * 4 = 12). This is important to understand, because setting the total number of job processor threads too high can affect the performance of your server.