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Hyena contains a number of settings and options that can increase performance. The amount of performance increase depends upon the network configuration and how many objects are being retrieved or affected by a given operation. In particular, many of these options can have a big impact in performance and functionality when Hyena is used in a WAN environment.
Disk Space and Print Job Refresh Options – These settings relating to disk space and print job refreshing can be turned off to help performance when viewing this type of information.
Automatically expand current domain on startup – Not selecting this option will cause Hyena to startup much faster, as the current domain will remain unopened and no object retrieval will have to be performed.
Tools->Settings->View
Check if Shares contain Subdirectories in Tree View - Not selecting this option can dramatically increase the performance when expanding the shares object for a server, depending upon how many shares exist.
Cache Domain Controller Information - By default, Hyena does not cache (retain) any information from one operation to the next. On some networks, especially when doing remote operations on some WANs, this can cause some delays, especially when Hyena needs to determine the name of a domain controller. Hyena supports caching of the name of the domain controller that is used for update operations. Use of this feature will both improve performance and reduce some network traffic.
Note: Cached information is discarded when Hyena is restarted, or when Object Manager configuration changes are made. Also, if the name of any domain controllers are changed, migrated, or a PDC/BDC role is changed while Hyena is being used, the cached information must be cleared by either restarting Hyena or making any change in Object Manager.
Suppress Automatic Display of all Users and Groups – Selecting this option will prevent Hyena from retrieving the user and group information for the user groups dialog and group properties dialog. If this information is needed, it can be acquired by clicking on the appropriate button on these dialogs.
Show RAS (dialup) information – Turning this option off can significantly speed up retrieval of user properties, especially when multiple users are retrieved. However, you will not be able to modify user dialup information when this option is not selected. Hyena must be restarted if this option is changed.
Turn all of these options OFF for best performance.
Tools->Settings->Display
Turn OFF the option to display (ie, remove from the display) the Event Description information for the Events display. You can still see the event description if you double click on an event.
For process information, the fewer columns displayed, the faster the process retrieval will be.
Turning off the option to display some user detail information, such as SID and RAS information, can significantly improve performance of the retrieval of the "View All User Details" function (Windows domains only)
Other Performance Options and Techniques
Viewing Single Objects – Hyena contains options to view only a single user, group, share, or computer in the left tree window. Using these options prevents the retrieval of the entire object list, which can take a significant amount of time. To view a single object, right click on the heading for the object group, such as the Computers object, then select the “View…” option as appropriate. For example, to view a single user named “JDoe”, right click on the Domain Users object for the domain, and select View User…, and enter in the name “JDoe”.
This feature can also be used on Active Directory objects.
Setting the Source domain controller for Windows NT domains – Hyena by default will retrieve and update all information only on the PDC for a given domain. However, a BDC can be designated for the retrieval of user and group information by using the Object Manager, and specifying the name of a BDC to be the Source Controller for a Windows domain. Hyena will still use the PDC for retrieval of individual user or group properties and for all updating, but will use the designated BDC (source controller) for all mass user and group retrieval operations.
To reset the source controller back to the PDC, simply remove the BDC name from the Source Controller field in Object Manager.
To specify another domain controller quickly or temporarily, use the Set Source Domain Controller context menu option that is available for any Windows NT/2000 domain object.
Specifying the name of the PDC for Windows NT domains - In some installations, a lack of WINS and/or name resolution can cause Hyena and other management utilities to be unable to find the name of the primary domain controller (PDC) for a Windows NT domain. This can be both frustrating and difficult to solve. Hyena supports manually entering the name of the PDC for Windows NT domains. This also increases performance on some operations, as Hyena will already know the name of the PDC to use. To specify the name of the PDC for a Windows NT domain, select the domain in Object Manager, and enter a DNS name, NetBios name, or tcp/ip address of the PDC for the PDC Name. Remember to click the Update button.
Active Directory Only - Manually entering the group name when adding users to a group - Due to the design of Active Directory, when modifying a user's group memberships, the display of the "object picker" dialog is usually required. To speed up adding a user to a group, the user properties Member dialog can accept manual entry of either the distinguished name or container name of a group, bypassing the need to display the standard Windows Object Picker dialog.
Active Directory Only - Adding only necessary attributes to directory queries - Due to the design of Active Directory, and Hyena's support for flexible directory queries, Hyena will only retrieve the directory elements specified for any particular view. Hyena's List and Tabular views utilize user-defined queries to control the attributes displayed. By carefully choosing only the needed attributes (fields) for a typical display, network traffic can be optimized. For example, double-clicking or expanding the "All Users" object can be configured to run a default query that only retrieves a few user directory attributes. If a more detailed view is desired, a different query can be executed to retrieve a larger set of attributes. See the Object Manager - Queries topic for more information on how to modify Hyena's directory queries.
Active Directory Only - Specifying a dedicated domain controller for Active Directory operations - Use the ADSI Server option in Object Manager for a given Windows 200x domain to force Hyena to use the designated server for all Active Directory retrieval and updates. To use this feature, select the domain in Object Manager, and enter a DNS name, NetBios name, or tcp/ip address of a local domain controller for the ADSI Server. Remember to click the Update button.
To specify another domain controller quickly or temporarily, use the Set Source Domain Controller context menu option that is available for any Windows domain object.
When a directory operation is requested for a Windows 200x domain that has been assigned to a specific server, Hyena will not need to query the directory for a server, thereby saving time. Plus, if Service Pack 1 or later is installed on the CLIENT computer using Hyena, a performance increase should be noted when performing most operations. Please note that if the server being used is not online or available, Hyena will be unable to manage the domain until the ADSI Server is either changed or removed.
Authenticating to Remote Computers - If a different security context is needed to access a computer, right click on the computer, and select the Logon As... option. Enter the name of a domain or server and a valid username/password. Hyena will then establish a connection to the computer using an alternate security context.
Object Manager – The Object Manager is Hyena's central control mechanism for controlling the way that domains, computers, and other objects are displayed in the left tree window. Adding individual computers to an Object Manager group can speed the time required to find and select one or more computers.