Performance considerations for the JCAMP-DX conversion option in the NuGenesis data adapter for Empower projects - WKB21187

OBJECTIVE or GOAL

To document the impact of the JCAMP-DX conversion option on the performance of the Empower Projects data adapter in NuGenesis

ENVIRONMENT

• NuGenesis 8 SDMS
• NuGenesis 8 Data Adapters Release 2, Release 3, or Release 3 Hotfix 1
• NuGenesis 9
• Empower 3
• Empower 2
• A NuGenesis Archive Template line configured for archival of Empower projects

PROCEDURE

When the JCAMP-DX conversion option is active in an SDMS Archive Template line, the Empower data adapter will (in addition to backing up projects via the Empower Toolkit and extracting metadata from the projects) convert each result into a JCAMP-DX file.  The .DX files are copied into the \Conversion subfolder of the Empower project backups directory.

The JCAMP-DX conversion option exists to serve as a way to quickly view the chromatogram associated with an Empower result, for a project that has been archived into NuGenesis, without restoring the whole project back into the Empower database.  Unfortunately, the conversion process incurs a large performance penalty on the Empower data adapter.  The time required to archive a project with JCAMP-DX conversion is often 5 or 10 times longer compared to archiving the same project without conversion.  For this reason, use of the JCAMP-DX conversion option is not recommended.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The NuGenesis software development team and product management are aware of this issue and are planning on some performance improvements in Data Adapters R3 Hotfix 2.

The Empower data adapter converts the results to JCAMP-DX in a serial fashion, rather than in parallel.  The time required to convert a result to JCAMP-DX varies significantly due to machine resources and the complexity of the data.  Since each result is converted serially, the time required for conversion increases proportionally with the number of channels in a project.

The system stores the .DX files in the \Conversion folder in a flat structure.  All of the .DX files go into that folder, without subfolders.  Unless the .DX files are regularly cleaned (manually or by NuGenesis Data Management), the .DX files can consume excess disk space on the Empower client.  An excessive number of files in that folder can also contribute to the slow performance of the data adapter.