Insteon Max Device Count vs System Response time

[devoir]

Please note the Insteon Plug-in is amazing

I'm posting this here not as a Plug-in issue, rather this is where folks with insteon devices look the most.

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I recently installed a new Insteon 6 button Dimmer 2334-232. I noticed a significant delay in response vs any other device.

Pressing any button A-B-C-D triggers a lighting event with other insteon switches.

My issue is a very sluggish response if you press A-B-C-D button it takes on average 17 seconds for the event to turn on it's lights and any other insteon switch associated with the event.

Other Insteon device actions triggering events vary in the response time 3-8 seconds. This is way slow from my HS3 experience. Granted my first few 6 button switches

I'm trying to identify what's slowing down the HS4 system or making the event response slow.

My system

Dell Server R820 2.7mHz quad processor
VM with 8 vCPU's
Network is Unifi Lan cat 6e cables to all devices no Wifi associated with HS4
System Window's 10 Pro
Insteon HUB ethernet version
HS4 ver 4.1.14
984 devices
246 events


I'm seeking advise on what to check or change

Is there a correlation with number of devices vs system performance. I'm sure many other folks have way more devices or events

I've turn off logging thinking it was bogging down the CPU but it's never above 35-55% on average.

Advise and comments are welcomed.



Devoir

[mnsandler]

i see you are using the Hub. There are a few UI issues with KPLs in HS4. Not sure if this should translate into performance issues however.

(1) what version of the plugin are you running?

(2) do you have other KPLs exactly like the new one that work ok?

[Burrington]

Are you sure you don't have some Insteon comm problems with the new device? Even your "normal" events taking 3 to 8 seconds is VERY long. I have 155 Insteon devices and my response times are usually less than a second, maybe 2 seconds max if its really busy.

Have a look at your comm results in the "Manage Devices" tab. They should all be close to 100% if your network is working properly. If there are low percentages, or if the hop count is high, you network needs some work. If there are comm problems, the protocol have to do numerous re-transmissions, which slows the response time.

Turn on the Detailed Logging (it should have no affect on performance other than to fill up your log faster. Look for "Try #4 Failed", which means the message never got through.

Your processor time of 35% - 55% seems quite high. Is that for all processes, or just HS4? My HS3 only runs 1 to 2% CPU no matter what its doing (except about 23% the first few minutes after startup).

Have you checked to make sure you don't have any infinite loops going on in your events? IE events are being constantly triggered instead of only on a change? Use "Changes and Becomes" or "Has Been For Exactly" rather than "Has Been for at Least" so that events only trigger once. Look at the log to see if something is being continuously repeated.

Let us know what your comm data shows, and I can point you toward some solutions.

[Burrington]

I just noticed that you said your processor is 2.7 MHz. I assume you meant GHz. If its really 2.7 MHz, that would explain the slow response ...

[devoir]

Mark

I'm currently on version 3.0.7.2 for the Insteon Plugin

INSTEON HUB2 Details
Hub2-V04-20140904
PLM Version:A5
Firmware:1019 Build Nov 18 2019 13:45:08
Insteon ID:57.7D.D6

The last Insteon hub was the 2413U USB version I switched to the IP version to allow a running on a VM

[devoir]

Burrington ,

the CPU is intel Xenon E5-4650 2.7 Ghz.... just to late last night when I posted that

HS4 is the only application thing running on the VM seen below the task manager shows the stats





I did check the comms the last entry captured below Theater Room Seating Lights is the Switch with the most delay. the device shows a 90% Comm Reliability



infinite loops was a good point to check . All of my events use "Changes an Becomes" for a trigger.


I will turn off other plugins to see if any one of those are flooding the HS4 yet I don't see that in the log file.

[mrceolla]

Burrington has some good tips above.

Are you running HS on a virtual machine? You mentioned VM. That can't help but I'm not sure it should result in your experience or not. Why not just run it on the host? I'm no VM expert, but I've actually experienced worse performance with more than one virtual CPU on a virtual machine. Eight seems like overboard for a VM only running HS4. You mentioned your HS3 experience was better. Was that running in a 8 vCPU VM also?

Open the log and set it to auto update. Press the button. Does it register in good time or is it the controlling of the devices that takes forever?

Just a thought... Are your events which turn on other Insteon devices by chance doing it by specifying each device individually in the Control Device action? How many individual devices are you controlling at one time? I've noticed that sending out multiple Insteon commands close together can exacerbate comm issues. I always use Insteon Groups when I want to control multiple Insteon devices at one time. Even if it's only 2. Additionally, depending on what you're doing, you can link Insteon devices together and bypass HS entirely. HS will still register everything that happened even if it's not needed to make the device changes. If you're already using groups or direct links, I'm out of ideas for now.

I suspect your VM is the primary culprit if that is the new element between HS3 and HS4.

[Burrington]

In Task Manager, click on the ">" next to HS4 to expand it and see which sub-process is using all the CPU time.

Here's HS3 running normal full load 155 Insteon Devices and much, much more - just so you can see how it should be running...

[devoir]

Sorry for the slow response to the suggestions. Had to go outta town a few days.



I restarted teh HS4 running on a VM in the Dell Server. Here is the screen shot.






I seem to get inconsistent results. There are times when a motion triggered events is like you experience nearly instant then later the same day the same motion sensor is 10+ seconds.


I tried turning off every plugin except Insteon I didn't notice any difference this the triggered events.


Many thanks for your input.

Devoir

[devoir]

After running several hours the CPU load is high..

[mnsandler]

that is awfully high for HS in general? you need to track down what is going on with HS? a looping event, a run away script, etc?

i would turn on every possible logging option (in hs and all plugins) and see if that sheds any light on the situation. use detailed mode within the insteon plugin.

[mrceolla]

Did you run HS3 in a VM? If not I'm pretty sure that's your problem

[mnsandler]

Did you run HS3 in a VM? If not I'm pretty sure that's your problem

Mike can you clarify this

[mrceolla]

Mike can you clarify this

He mentioned switching to the Hub so he could run HS4 in a VM, so the VM seems like a new element. Plus in my past experiences VMs never perform as well as actual hardware, and sometimes even worse with multiple virtual processors. I'm almost certain he'll have better overall performance running it in the host. I'm not 100% certain the VM is causing what he's describing above but I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Edit: I do believe it should be possible to run HS in a VM with reasonable performance, but only if the VM and host are properly configured. I don't know how well versed Devoir is with VMs, so that's where I'm coming from.

[Burrington]

Devoir, Would I be correct in guessing that you used a VM and hub in hopes of being able to run the hub with HS4, AND some other software simultaneously? If so, maybe there is a conflict with the hub trying to serve two masters, which I'm sure it was not designed to do.