Background: I'm tuning a UniServer hosted WebApp and WebAPI, running on Windows Server 2008 R2. Via the Task Manager, I experimented with setting the process priority for apache, mysql & php-cgi to "Above Normal" and saw complex processing task execution times reduce by 30%. This is quite significant.

 

I have successfully rewritten php logic in my WebApp where it launches separate "worker" executables to launch it's WebApp processes at high priority:

pclose(popen('start /B /HIGH '.$cmd, 'r' )); // $cmd is the command line to launch my worker exe

Additionally, I've tried the following "Windows PowerShell" script to modify the running apache, mysql & php-cgi processes:

get-process -processname httpd1 | foreach { $_.PriorityClass = "AboveNormal" }

get-process -processname mysqld1 | foreach { $_.PriorityClass = "AboveNormal" }

get-process -processname php-cgi | foreach { $_.PriorityClass = "AboveNormal" }

This Windows PowerShell script works, but only when executed interactively. I tried executing this from within the WebApp, but it silently does nothing.

 

I took a brief look at the UniServer's "start_as_service.exe" -> "About", and that seems to indicate the "start_as_service.exe" is written in VBA. So, perhaps a variant of this logic could be inserted or added to enable the UniServer's key executables to run with enhanced priority?

 

/* only an example, uniServer version would be affect apache, mysql & php-cgi, with uniServer-admin specified priorities */
Private Sub ProcessIdle()  
Dim psList() As Process
If Process.GetProcessesByName("hl").Length = 0 Then
  Me.Text = "Waiting for hl.exe"
Else
  Try
	psList = Process.GetProcesses()
	For Each p As Process In psList
	  If p.ProcessName = "hl.exe" Then
		p.PriorityClass = ProcessPriorityClass.Idle
	  End If
	Next p
  Catch
  End Try
End If
End Sub

 

Thanks for any attention to this you can provide. And double thanks for the UniServer's existence!

It could be a welcome extra...

 

Alternatively, I use ProcessExplorer to change processes priority. Of course it could be a hassle for development since changing process priority every time your you restart a service is not really practical. In a production environment I don't see it as a big deal though.

I have tested this too. The effort is not measurable imo.

 

You can use the freeware "Prio - Process Priority Saver"

It saves the priority you choose in the windows taskmanager.

 

http://www.prnwatch.com/prio.html