Interpreting The Test Results - Avid Technology Unity LANserver EX3 Setup Manual

Appendix B Avid Performance Meter

Interpreting the Test Results

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This section contains information to help you interpret your test results
displayed in the Avid Performance Meter window.
Average Rate Calculation
The average data rate is calculated over the duration of the test. This
calculation includes the time the utility requires to open and close the test files,
so the test file size (which you can configure for custom tests) might affect the
overall measured throughput.
Also, if the throughput is slow as the test is starting, this might be reflected in
the average rate. For example, if the target bandwidth is 4.0 MB/s, the actual
average rate calculated at the conclusion of the test might be 3.98 or 3.99
MB/s.
Performance Graph
The graph of results over time can help experienced users obtain information
about system performance.
Items to look for include:
• Trends — Does the system perform at a consistent rate over time? Is there
an upward or downward trend in performance measured over time? If you
do notice a trend, it might be helpful to perform testing over a longer
period of time to determine if the trend continues over longer durations or
if a recurring pattern emerges.
• Patterns — Is there a momentary drop in performance that occurs at
consistent or varied intervals? Patterns can emerge as a result of
implementation details and the configuration of a particular system (for
example, caching strategies or physical memory), or they might indicate a
load on a system that is occurring periodically.
• Changes in performance as load varies — What occurs when a
subsystem is placed under a load by other users (or the Avid Performance
Meter is running on another client)? It might be easier to observe these
interactions by inspecting the plot of performance results over time.