Are multiple processes more efficient in Solaris 2.6 ?

I am running performance measurement tests in a Solaris 2.6 environment. The tests run one message at a time through my application and measure the response time. I found that my app will process the test message more quickly when multiple instances of the (single threaded) app are running.
This runs contrary to my intuition - since only one message is available in the message queue for processing at one time, the performance should be the same, with one or several instances running.
Does Solaris 2.6 run programs more efficiently when multiple instances exist?
I ran sar with various options, and some of the results vary, but I'm not sure which results are significant.
Thanks -

Your thinking is a little off.
What you are seeing is an attribute of a multi-processing operating system. I'm going to explain this wrong but hopefully the theme is correct. One characteristic is a single process runs on the CPU for a specific time quantum. If the process uses all of its time quantum, it gets forced off the CPU and its priority gets raised - meaning the potential that more processes could knock it off of the CPU cuz their priority is better. If it voluntarily releases the CPU, its priority gets lowered - means it may be the CPU more often if and when it needs it.
So maybe your CPU can phsyically handle 10 operations/sec. Because of scheduling topics (time quantums, interrupts, etc) and the nature of single threaded apps, that single threaded performance process of yours may only get 2 operations/sec all by itself.. By increasing the number of processes you run to say 5, you'll get your 10 operations/sec. Increasing it to 6 processes, you might get 10.5 operations/sec but you've reached your point of limited return and may start slowing thing down.
There are several good books on performance and high level queueing theory which can explain this much better then I just did.

Similar Messages

Implement Process order if there are multiple processes in production of FP

Hi Experts,
I have another scenario in which for a production of final product i need to go through
multiple processes.
For Eg.
I have a raw product suppose as rubber and i want to make an Tyre
for which i have to do 3 procedures followed one by the other in sequence
So can u please explain me how can i achieve the same.
Thanking you
Regards,
Ashish P.
Edited by: Ashish@123 on Nov 14, 2011 2:06 PM

") expected" means exactly what it says. You must be missing brackets there. Correct those and you will prpbably find that the "Illegal start of expressions" will go away too.
Rachel

Multiple processes on unix server even stop replicat, is that block port?

I have configured on source server Oracle goldengate manager/extract on port 7809 and same configured on target server with port 7809.
Now over the weekend, I encountered two problems.
1). tcp ip timeout from extract error log and extract abend.
test : telnet linuxserver 7809
$ telnet linuxserver 7809
Trying...
Connected to linuxserver.
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed.
It connected, then after a second, connection closed.
2). On target server, there are multiple processes for replicat existed even I stopped replicat and stopped manager. There are nothing running.
ps -ef|grep ggs
oracle 13595 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 14031 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 14447 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 14674 1335 0 13:34 pts/0 00:00:00 grep ggs
oracle 14962 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 15529 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 28295 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 28751 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
oracle 29158 1 0 May20 ? 00:00:00 ./replicat INITIALDATALOAD -p 7819-12818 -m 7809 PARAMFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirprm/load2.prm REPORTFILE /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ggs/dirrpt/LOAD2.rpt PROCESSID LOAD2 USESUBDIRS
I have to manually kill those processes by kill -9 on server.
How to control this manner?
thanks.

I have another quetion, in real life migration, our database have a lot clobs datatype, and logsegments, etc. What is the best practice or advices you can give to me?
I am probably not the best guy to answer this question.
Can I create multiple extracts on source and multiple replicat on source?
Yes.
Let's say we have 10 application users in the prod database, do I create at least extracts for each schema? then within each schema, I create multiple extracts to based on datatype or others?
Yes. You can create one Extract/Replicat group per schema. That would help in parallelizing the things.

Newbie: why are there multiple process started?

Hi I have a simple question to ask...
Q1. Why are there multiple process for webserver instance and http-admserv for a default installed web server? Please refer below:
$ ps -ef | grep web
root 931 930 0 Jan 21 ? 0:00 webservd -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-admserv/config -n https-adms
root 930 1 0 Jan 21 ? 0:00 ./webservd-wdog -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-admserv/config -n htt
root 948 1 0 Jan 21 ? 0:00 ./webservd-wdog -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-mta01.mydomain.com
root 932 931 0 Jan 21 ? 0:03 webservd -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-admserv/config -n https-adms
root 949 948 0 Jan 21 ? 0:00 webservd -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-mta01.mydomain.com/config
root 950 949 0 Jan 21 ? 42:09 webservd -r /opt/SUNWwbsvr -d /opt/SUNWwbsvr/https-mta01.mydomain.com/config
jes 6203 5994 0 10:52:36 pts/2 0:00 grep web
I understand we need 1 watch dog for web server and 1 for admin server but why 2 process for "https-mta01.mydomain.com" and "https-admserv"?
Q2. This is in relation to Q1. If I need to turn on CA Agent for monitoring, which process should I monitor for web server instance and also for http-admserv?
Newbie.

Ans1) That is by design and default behavior. There is one watch-dog process and 2 webservd processes that get started by default. The first webservd is called primordial and the second child webservd is the one that actually serves all the HTTP requests.
Example:
# ptree 6898
6898 ./webservd-wdog -r /space/iws61sp2 ...
6899 webservd -r /space/iws61sp2 -d ..
6900 webservd -r /space/iws61sp2 -d ...
In this example, the pid 6898 is called the watchdog process,
6899 webservd process is called the primordial process
and the pid 6900 is called the child webservd process that actually serves all the HTTP requests.
Ans2) You would monitor the child webservd process.
Thanks
Manish

Information Text for multiple process.

Hi All,
I have a page with multiple process.
Process 1. Upload multiple files to table using Process Row
Process 2. The Files are rearranged to another table, ready for analysis.
Process 3. Uploaded file is analysed for errors 1,
Process 4. Analyse for Error 2.
The problem is when the upload file size growth with more number of uploads. It take quite a longer time to upload and then analyse.
Is there a way i can pass back a value to the Page and display what process has been done and what process is running currently.
or Any ideas ?
Thanks in Advance
Bala

Hi,
You can create background process
See if this help you
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14373_01/appdev.32/e11838/advnc.htm#BABGHIFB
Br, Jari

How to make it more efficient

Hi,
I am working on AQ where I am just sending and receiving simple messages. But the performance is very poor. It takes around 35 seconds to send (enqueue) just 100 messages which is not acceptable for our project. Can someone help me how to make it more efficient. I am using JMS for sending and receiving messages.
Thanks,
Sateesh

Bhagath,
Thanks for your help.
Oracle server we are using is 8.1.7. We are using JDBC client that ships with Oracle client (classes12.zip).
Right now we are working on point to point messages.
I am just wondering whether I need to do any tuning on server.
Your help is greately appreciated.
Here I am pasting sample code that I wrote which may help in finding the problem.
Thank you so much once again for your help.
-Sateesh
import java.sql.*;
import javax.jms.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Properties;
import oracle.AQ.*;
import oracle.jms.*;
public class CDRQueueSender {
private final String DB_CONNECTION = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@dev1:1521:dev";
protected final String DB_AQ_ADMIN_NAME = "dev78";
private final String DB_AQ_ADMIN_PASSWORD = "dev78";
/** DB AQ user agent name and password */
private final String DB_AQ_USER_NAME = "dev78";
private final String DB_AQ_USER_PASSWORD = "dev78";
private QueueConnectionFactory queueConnectionFactory = null;
private QueueConnection connection = null;
private QueueSession session = null;
private Queue sendQueue;
private QueueSender qSender;
public CDRQueueSender() {
try {
Properties info = new Properties();
info.put(DB_AQ_USER_NAME, DB_AQ_USER_PASSWORD);
queueConnectionFactory = AQjmsFactory
.getQueueConnectionFactory(DB_CONNECTION, info);
connection = queueConnectionFactory.
createQueueConnection(DB_AQ_USER_NAME,
DB_AQ_USER_PASSWORD);
session = connection.createQueueSession(
true, Session.AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE);
connection.start();
sendQueue = ((AQjmsSession) session).getQueue (DB_AQ_ADMIN_NAME,"CDR_QUEUE");
qSender = session.createSender(sendQueue);
catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
public boolean sendCDRMessage(CDRMessage messageData)
throws JMSException, SQLException {
ObjectMessage objectMessage = session.createObjectMessage(messageData);
try {
qSender.send(objectMessage);
session.commit();
catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
return true;
public void close() throws JMSException {
session.close();
connection.close();
public static void main(String[] args) throws SQLException, JMSException {
int count = 0;
CDRQueueSender qSender = new CDRQueueSender();
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
long endTime;
CDRMessage message;
while(count < 100) {
message = new CDRMessage("filename", 20, "This is testing", count);
qSender.sendCDRMessage(message);
count++;
//qSender.sessionCommit();
endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("time taken to process 100 records is " +
((endTime - startTime)/1000) + " seconds");
qSender.close();

Using AQ for rejectedmessagehandler for Multiple Processes

We are trying to use advanced queues to store our rejected messages for ESB and BPEL. We would like to use a single queue for all of our processes but we are unsure how to do this. We followed the AQ rejected message handler BPEL sample project that Oracle provided and that worked great. However, if we have multiple processes writing to this queue how do we know which process enqueued the rejected message? Do we have to setup a multiconsumer queue? If so, how do we set this up? Or, would the easiest route be creating a queue for each BPEL and ESB process?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Todd

We have a similar case in one of our projects. There we chose for a single BPEL process to handle all our rejected messages. These can come from the predefined ESB_ERROR_TOPIC or from a custom-defined AQ queue on which we enqueue other faults, such as these caught in fault handlers of BPEL processes. Basically our BPEL error-handling process had several activation points (the AQ en JMS adapters). In that project a requirement was to have all faults treated in a similar fashion, namely creating a human task for it and sending an email containing the payload to system administration. We could define the payload as opaque and use base64 decoding to get the payload as XML and display it in our human task and email. If you need more than one process to pick up the errors (or possibly will have so in the future) I would go for topics. You can also use correlation or message selectors to treat errors (from different processes) differently based on its origin. That way you define more incoming adapters in your error handling flow. Or possibly have more than one error-handling flow.

Multiple processes under linux

If I run Java programs under Suse Linux 9.0 using JDK 1.5.0_09 for every started Java programm I can see 9 processes running under linux.
It seems like one of them is the master and the others are child processes of this one.
I've never seen this with other Linux / Java versions before.
Could anyone tell me what's happening there?
Thanks xccarlsson

Earlier versions of linux threads were done by mapping each thread onto it's own process and each of these processes shared their address space with an original process, the one you describe as the master. The newer thread model is more like what you'd expect with one process and multiple contexts within the process. So you must be running on system which is using the old threading model.
tom

Making code more efficient

I am having a lot of trouble getting my code to work fast enough. I have 4 sonic anemometers and currently my code is only efficient enough to collect data from one. I have programs that run 2 sonic anemometers and save the data, but bites pile up at the port. The instruments are in unprompted mode and send data at 10hz. I find that using the wait command dose not work well for some reason so I have the loop continuously running. The first version of my code (V3a) worked for one sonic and bites did not pile up at the port. So I made (V3b) and tried to make a more efficient program. I tried separating things into multiple loops but, it still does not work well and was hoping to get some ideas to make things work better.
I attached the 2 versions of my code. I am not sure if I should attach the subVIs, let me know.
Thanks!
Attachments:
fo3csat_unprompted_v3a.vi ‏23 KB
fo3csat_unprompted_v3b.vi ‏27 KB

I'm going to ask you a very important question about that occurrence in the top loop: by using the occurrence the way you have, have you eliminated the possibility of a race condition? The answer is NO... study it, and you'll see why. If you can't figure it out, post back and I'll tell you why the race condition is still present.
Also, if you ever are coding and thinking to yourself, "WOW, I can't believe the guys who developed LabVIEW made it so hard to do this simple task!", odds are, you're making it hard yourself! Rather than making 4 parallel branches of a numeric, converting to an ASCII string, then reinterpreting as 4 separate numerics, consider the following code. It's nearly equivalent, except my seconds has more significant digits (maybe good, maybe not):
I'm going to argue that even splitting the discrete components of time is unnecessary, unless your logging protocol specifically requires that format. Instead, simply write the timestamp directly to file with the data points.
Also, remember to use a standard 4x2x2x4 connector pane on your SubVIs. Refer to the LabVIEW Style Guide (search, and you will find it).
Finally, I'm going to disagree with the other guys, it's not evident why you split the one loop into three loops. The only "producer/consumer" architecture has the top loop as the "producer", and all it's producing is a timestamp! This is not a typical or intended use of the producer/consumer architecture. Your VI is intended to only save a data point once every 30 minutes (presumably), so it's no big deal of both of your serial devices are in the same loop.
The single biggest problem why your VI is completely railing out a CPU core (you didn't state this, but I'm guessing the reason you posting is because you noticed a core running at 100%!) is the unmetered loop rate... like the other guys say, drop a "Wait Until Next ms Multiple" and slow the loop rate down significantly. 10msec is probably too fast for your application.... actually, a loop rate of once every 30 minutes (that's 1800000msec) might be best.
Let us know how it goes!
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Can Java Spawn multiple processes?

I see that Directory proxy server is spawning multiple processes. Is this really possible? How should one shut down this process? kill -15 did not kill child process
Operation System is Solaris 10.
-bash-3.00$ ptree 27450
27450 /usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.6.0/bin/java -Xss128k -Xmx1400M -Xms1400M -XX:NewSize=1
27789 /usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.6.0/bin/java -Xss128k -Xmx1400M -Xms1400M -XX:NewSize=1
27790 /usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.6.0/bin/java -Xss128k -Xmx1400M -Xms1400M -XX:NewSize=1
Thanks!

Because on linux threads are implemented as standard processes but on other
platform like windows and solaris they are not processes.

Target Vs Acual Cost Comparison for multiple process orders

Dear SAPians,
I want to take a report for target vs actual cost for all process orders and product cost collectors created in a particular period. I have checked the standard report KKBC_ORD that serve my purpose but for a single order. I want the same report for multiple process orders and product cost collectors.
Is there any standard report or should I create a report painter report. I have tried to create a report painter report based on library 7KO, but target cost was not showing for selected order.
Kindly suggest.
Shirazi

Target Costs are available in library 601 for internal orders (and can be used for process/production orders).
Regards,
Adrian

Under Options , Applications There are multiple entries for the same item (Acrobat Document). how can I delete the duplicates?

Under Options, Applications there are multiple entries for the same item. (Adobe Acrobat) . Three show Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.3 and the other shows (ask) or (save file) with no ability to select Acrobat Reader . Is there a way to edit this list to remove the duplicates and
the incorrect entry? Adobe installed a very quick update today.

They are all different. Hover your mouse pointer over each of the "Content Type" descriptions and you should see a "tooltip" to see that each has a different description.
You need to update your plugins. It is important to keep them updated due to continuing security fixes and improvements in those plug-ins:
* Adobe Shockwave for Director Netscape plug-in, version 11.5 (you '''may''' need to update)
* Shockwave Flash 10.1 r53
* Next Generation Java Plug-in 1.6.0_20 for Mozilla browsers
#Check your plugin versions: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/
#*'''Note: plugin check page does not have information on all plugin versions'''
#'''Update Shockwave for Director'''
#*NOTE: this is not the same as Shockwave Flash; this installs the Shockwave Player.
#*Use Firefox to download and SAVE the installer to your hard drive from the link in the article below (Desktop is a good place so you can find it).
#*When the download is complete, exit Firefox (File > Exit)
#*locate and double-click in the installer you just downloaded, let the install complete.
#*Restart Firefox and check your plugins again.
#*'''Download link and more information''': http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Shockwave+plugin+with+Firefox
#'''Update Shockwave Flash'''
#*Use Firefox to Download and SAVE to your hard drive from the link in article below
#*SAVE to your Desktop so you can find it
#*After download completes, close Firefox
#*Click on the file you just downloaded and install
#**Note: Vista and Win7 users may need to right-click the installer downloaded and choose "Run as Administrator"
#**Note: Most browsers other than IE will also get updated with this one download
#**Note: To update IE, same procedure '''but use IE''' to go: http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe
#*After installation, restart Firefox and check your version again.
#*'''Download link and other information''': https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+the+Flash+plugin#Updating_Flash
#* Also see: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Installing+the+Flash+plugin
#* Also see (if needed): http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_Uninstall
#'''Update Java:'''
#* Download and update instructions: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Java+plugin+with+Firefox

What are these processes and how do I prevent them?

For many years, many have complained of external drives that are in standby/sleep spinning up for no apparent reason. From the user's point of view this is unnecesssary, but to make matters worse, the system usually stops everything else while waiting for the drives.
I have a Mac mini that I use as a home theater pc. The media and backups are on a 5-bay enclosure (no RAID) attached by USB. While watching a video, the unused drives will go into standby mode, which is good. But then, with no user activity, they will spin up, freezing the video and everything else, which is not good. As these are slow drives and spin up sequentially, this can take 10-20 seconds. This may happen once or twice an hour, but sometimes more frequently.
In looking into the causes, I have turned off time Machine (after putting these drives into the Privacy section for good measure). I also prevented Spotlight and fsevents logging with the following:
mdutil -i off /Volumes/<drive1> /Volumes/<drive2> . . .
cd /Volumes/<drive1 and then repeat for other drives>
 rm -rf .fseventsd .Spotlight-*
 mkdir .fseventsd
 touch .fseventsd/no_log .metadata_never_index
As far as I can tell this has worked to stop those processes from accessing the drives after they are mounted, but the problem persists. To find out what else might be causing them to wake up:
sudo fs_usage -w | grep -e Volumes/<drive1> -e /Volumes/<drive2> . . .
and here is what I found last night (actually didn't use the -w last night, thus it is cut off):
18:35:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/XBMC 0.000026 SSDragHelper
18:35:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/Stuff 0.000006 SSDragHelper
18:35:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/DatOptic_3 0.000005 SSDragHelper
18:35:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/MacBackUp 0.000003 SSDragHelper
18:36:15 fsgetpath /Volumes/XBMC 0.000026 System Prefe
18:36:15 fsgetpath /Volumes/Stuff 0.000004 System Prefe
18:36:15 fsgetpath /Volumes/DatOptic_3 0.000003 System Prefe
18:36:15 fsgetpath /Volumes/MacBackUp 0.000003 System Prefe
18:55:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/XBMC 0.000034 GoogleSoftwa
18:55:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/Stuff 0.000004 GoogleSoftwa
18:55:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/DatOptic_3 0.000003 GoogleSoftwa
18:55:36 fsgetpath /Volumes/MacBackUp 0.000003 GoogleSoftwa
After looking into the Google process, I was surprised to find the tentacles that Google puts into your system, and ripped every bit of it out that I could. But I have no idea about what's going on with SSDragHelper and System Prefe (presumable System Preferences). This must be OS X itself? What are these processes doing, and is there any way to prevent them from accessing these disks in this way?

Thanks for the reply Hen3ry. Looks like you've done a lot of investigation. For me, fs_usage entries accompanying spindown are not problems - I'm happy if the drives spin down. My problem is the spinups. But still, I don't think it is necessary to time the fs_usage entries with spinups. If you grep for the drives you're concerned about, you will see any process that would potentially wake them up.
Because my understanding is limited, I also am more concerned with the process/application that is accessing the drives than with the functions or commands they are sending. And the values that are returned by those functions are way beyond what I can deal with.
It's interesting that you've found a difference between your old and new drives. Could you specify the enclosure and drives in each case?
The StorageStatus app looks interesting; thanks for the tip.
Here's a summary of what I've done so far, which I think is working. I need a few more weeks to know for sure.
How to prevent unwanted drive spin-ups
If you are actively using the computer that the enclosure is attached to, nothing on God’s green earth will stop OS X from waking them up after some user action, even ones that seem to have nothing to do with the external drives. But if you leave the computer alone while some application is running, like watching a movie or downloading a file, you have a fighting chance of coaxing OS X into leaving the uninvolved drives alone.
If the drives are shared with any other computers over a network, eject them on those computers
Otherwise, OS X (AppleFileServer) will poll them every 10 seconds. This might not be bad if you want to just keep the drives spinning and the other computer stays awake.
Third-party apps
Make sure no apps are running that might access your drives. Google runs some processes that do this (maybe I’m naïve, but I was so shocked I removed chrome and every other trace of Google from my Mac mini system). Another is iStat and any utility that monitors SMART status in the background.
Don’t let Spotlight index or search the drives
Spotlight is persistent, and it may be necessary to take a variety of steps to stop its various processes (mds, mdworker) from accessing the drives and waking them up. In other words, kill it, drive a stake through its heart, then burn the body:
In System Preferences > Spotlight, add the drives to the Privacy pane.
Add a file called .metadata_never_index to the root of each drive (note the leading period). The easiest way to do this is in Terminal
touch /Volumes/<drive1>/.metadata_never_index
Tell Spotlight AGAIN to keep away from the drive:
mdutil -i off /Volumes/<drive1> /Volumes/<drive2> . . .
Finally delete the Spotlight folder from the drive.
rm -rf /Volumes/<drive1>.Spotlight-*
Stop fseventsd from logging in the drive
This is easy, just putting a no_log file in its folder. I have found that rarely it still writes some files in there, but it doesn’t seem to do so when it causes problems, so . . .
 rm –rf /Volumes/<drive1>/.fseventsd/*
 touch /Volumes/<drive1>/.fseventsd/no_log
Finder sidebar
Some people say that if the drives show in the Sidebar of Finder windows, the Finder will be checking them. I’m not sure. But to be safe, in Finder Preferences > Sidebar, uncheck External Disks.
Just say no to Time Machine
On the home theater mac itself, regular backups shouldn’t be needed. You should be able to just turn Time Machine off. However, it is probably sufficient to simply open System Preferences > Time Machine > Options and add the drives to the list of locations to exclude from backup.
Second, local backups can be disabled with
sudo tmutil disablelocal
Look for other culprits
If the problem persists, use fs_usage, which generates a real-time log of filesystem activity. There is so much going on that you need to use grep to restrict the output to entries that involve your drives. The entries that accompany your drive spin-ups are the ones you really want.
sudo fs_usage -w | grep -e Volumes/<drive1> -e /Volumes/<drive2> . . .
Now leave the keyboard and mouse alone, as many things you might do will cause the drives to be accessed. You probably want to find what does it when you’re not actively interacting with the computer. It’s not really necessary to wait for your drives to sleep and see what wakes them. Any activity you see would probably wake the drives if they were asleep. When you see some activity and want to stop and examine, type Control-C to stop the output. On the far right of each entry is the process or application that accessed the disks.
I got pointers from http://system-log.tyr.org.uk/2012/01/31/how-to-stop-usb-drives-from-spinning-up- unnecessarily-on-os-x-lion/ and http://www.jackenhack.com/disk-that-refuses-to-sleep-in-mac-os-x-how-to-fix-it/

Linking from one PDF to another: Is there a more efficient way?

Some background first:
We make a large catalog (400pages) in Indesign and it's updated every year. We are a wholesale distributor and our pricing changes so we also make a price list with price ref # that corresponded with #s printed in the main catalogue. Last year we also made this catalog interactive so that a pdf of it could be browsed using links and bookmarks. This is not too difficult using Indesign and making any adjustments in the exported PDF. Here is the part that becomes tedious and is especially so this year:
We also set up links in the main catalog that go to the price list pdf - opening the page with the item's price ref # and prices... Here's my biggest issue - I have not found any way to do this except making links one at a time in Acrobat Pro (and setting various specifications like focus and action and which page (in the price list) to open) Last year this wasn't too bad because we used only one price list. It still took some time to go through and set up 400-500 links individually.
This year we've simplified our linking a little by putting only one link per page but that is still 400 links. And this year I have 6 different price lists (price tiers...) to link to the main catalogue pdf. (That's in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 double clicking the link(button) to open Button Properties, click Actions tab, click Add..."Go to page view" , set link to other pdf page, click edit, change Open in to "New Window" and set Zoom. This isn't a big deal if you only have a few Next, Previous, Home kind of buttons....but it's huge when you have hundreds of links. Surely there's a better way?
Is there anyway in Acrobat or Indesign to more efficiently create and edit hundreds of links from one pdf to another?
If anything is unclear and my question doesn't make sense please ask. I will do my best to help you answer my questions.
Thanks

George, I looked at the article talking about the fdf files and it sounds interesting. I've gathered that I could manipulate the pdf links by making an fdf file and importing that into the PDF, correct?
Now, I wondered - can I export an fdf from the current pdf and then change what is in there and import it back into the pdf. I've tried this (Forms>More Form Options>Manage Form Data>Export Data) and then opened the fdf in a text editor but I see nothing related to the documents links... I assume this is because the links are 'form' data to begin with - but is there away to export something with link data like that described in the article link you provided?
Thanks

A more efficient way to assure that a string value contains only numbers?

Hi ,
I'm using Oracle 9.2.0.6.
I was curious to know if there was any way I could write a more efficient query to determine if a string value contains only numbers.
Here's my current query. This SQL is from a sub query in a Join clause.
select distinct cta.CUSTOMER_TRX_ID, to_number(cta.SALES_ORDER) SALES_ORDER
            from ra_customer_trx_lines_all cta
            where length(cta.SALES_ORDER) = 6
            and cta.SALES_ORDER is not null
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,1,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,2,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,3,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,4,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,5,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')
            and substr(cta.SALES_ORDER,6,1) in('1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','0')This is a string where I'm finding A-Z-a-z characters and '/' and '-' characters in all 6 positions, plus there are values that are longer than 6 characters. That's what the length(cta.SALES_ORDER) = 6 is for. Also, of course. some cells are NULL.
So the question is, is there a more efficient way to screen out only the values in this field that are 6 character numbers or is what I have the best I can do?
Thanks,

I appreciate all of your very helpfull workarounds. The cost is a little better in all cases than my original where clause.
To address the discussion that's popped up about design from this question, I can say a few things that should clear , at least, my situation up.
First of all this custom quoting , purchase order , and sales order entry system WAS written by a bunch a of 'bad' coders who didn't document their work and then left. We don't even have an ER diagram
The whole project that I'm only a small part of is literally trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again and then move it from a bad custom solution into Oracle Applications.
We're rebuilding, documenting, and doing ETL. This is one of your prototypical projects from hell.
It's a huge database project so we're taking small bites as a time. Hopefully, somewhere right before Armageddon hits, this thing will be complete.
But until then,..., well,..., you know the drill.
Thanks Again.

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