Lesser Known Tactics to Increase Microsoft SharePoint Performance

Lesser Known Tactics to Increase Microsoft SharePoint Performance

Directly out of the box, SharePoint possesses powerful tools to encourage and facilitate document sharing and data visualization. Unfortunately, not all of them arrive activated. Some quick and easy manipulation of a few basic settings can deliver increased SharePoint performance.

Regular SharePoint users will occasionally notice reduced performance due to the number of documents stored on servers. This number will grow along with the user base and frequency of use. It is common for those unfamiliar with the nature of high volume data storage to assume that, regardless of the amount of data being stored, the servers and the network can handle a limitless demand for bandwidth. A high level of storage and regular demand for access will certainly diminish overall performance. One way to limit the impact of all that activity would be to divide user and database traffic. This can be accomplished by separating front-end servers from SQL servers, either by separating physical servers or via virtual LAN’s. Isolating additional, specific kinds of traffic will help to improve performance; for example, adding a server dedicated to servicing search inquiries. This method is particularly effective at reducing traffic to front-end servers, often achieving a 70% reduction during index operations.

Monitoring automatic SQL activities can help improve performance. SQL grows a database at a predetermined percentage rate of total database size. During these growth cycles, new data is incapable of being saved. Customizing the regularity of the growth cycles can increase performance according to the specific needs of the servers. Planning for regular defragmenting will also improve response time. These events need to be planned ahead of time as they preclude the writing of any new data during the defragmenting process.

Caching the most commonly accessed data and documents so they are pulled from memory will reduce calls to the databases and increase speed for less frequent searches. It’s also important to divide up cache access for different users. Those who require larger cache profiles can have access to everything they need, maintaining high performance levels for all users while not allowing the caches to become bloated. Caching large files or other documents to be displayed on community web pages can make accessing the page for all users.

In the end, SharePoint developers have a huge number of options and settings to adjust, either drastically or incrementally, to improve SharePoint performance. The individual user permissions can be altered for the benefit of that particular user, or central options can be shifted to improve the experience of every user. Out of the box, SharePoint does a great job helping a team stay on the same page. Customizing some small, lesser-known settings, however, can provide optimal performance available for a business.