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ArcMAP 10.5 Slow Performance

TerryAdams_2

Hello All,

We have just updated from ArcGIS 10.3 to ArcGIS 10.5.

Suffering from very slow performance in ArcMAP now with certain things. I've completely re-made MXD's from scratch under 10.5 that I had under 10.3 to remove possible changeover issues.

When I simply tick on/off layers it takes a long time (1 minute or more) to update the display or give me control of ArcMap back.

When I save edits - long time to do that (2 minutes or more)

When I change a layer from editable to not editable - long time (1 minute) to do that.

I'd have maybe 10 layers in the MXD with JPEG 2000 aerial photo loaded in - but not displayed.

Arc Catalog displays layers quickly - as you'd expect. Loading one or 2 layers into ArcMAP also seems ok. But more than that *really* seems to slow it down. I never had extremely slow responses like this under 10.3.

We're putting in a support call but just wondering if anyone else has noticed this - and might know what the cause is. Data sits in SQL 2012 with ARCSDE.

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AndresCastillo

Thank you Margaret.

Excellent notes on troubleshooting ArcMap slow performance.

YeonKim

Michael,

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried both 10.3.1 server cached services and brand-new 10.5.1 cached services, whose caches were newly created in 10.5.1. They are both very slow to load in ArcMap 10.5.1. Our cached map services only cover the City and plus some extent. ArcMap is definitely caching the tiles - after spending several minutes to load, it zooms in and out quite fast. Hope ArcMap does some pre-loading and some in-time loading so that users don't have to sit there and wait for minutes...

Please keep sending your ideas this way. Maybe there is a trick or something simple I overlooked?

Thanks.

Yeon

mvolz47

Are you still using the cache(s) created in the previous version of ArcMap? Maybe try recreating one of the cached mapservices from scratch in 10.5.1 instead of using a cache migrated from 10.3.1 (If that is what you did).

YeonKim

Hello,

I just ran into the same issue. We are getting ready to migrate to 10.5.1 from 10.3.1 and we deployed ArcMap 10.5.1 to pilot users before the Citywide deployment. All seemed acceptable (we did a complete uninstallation before installing 10.5.1 following the advice on this thread) and then I just ran into this painfully slow loading of cached map services in ArcMap 10.5.1.

Have you found a solution for it? Any advice is much appreciated.

Yeon

JustinConnerWR

Did the change in ArcGIS in Desktop 10.4 for views persist into Pro https://community.esri.com/thread/216224-fundamental-flaw-when-opening-attribute-tables-in-arcgis-pro

DavidMiceli1

I am with you on the slow performance issues. It also takes about 5 minutes just to start the program at times. I spent 2-3 hours total on the phone with tech support, uninstalling and reinstalling, changing every setting and refreshing everything they could think of without fixing the performance problems. I was using a brand new gaming laptop with a core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and 6GB graphics GPU, so needless to say, I am quite sure it was not a hardware issue.

Has anyone worked with ArcGIS Pro 2.0? I also have had performance issues with Pro on all the computers I have used it on (3 computers so far). I think I am beginning to see a pattern with Esri software. Frustrating to say the least.

MargaretMaher

I am sorry this is an issue for so many of our customers. I have copied here a list of suggestions and recommendations I have compiled over my 17 years in Tech Support that have helped a lot of users improve performance with ArcGIS Desktop. This is not the complete list, but these are all really useful for troubleshooting performance issues:

Note that these are all valuable troubleshooting techniques that have resolved a multitude of

problems in ArcGIS Desktop for many users. I would recommend keeping the list and applying

many of the suggestions as preventative measures, even if no problems are occurring.

1] First of all, the quickest and easiest thing to try is to have another user log into the

computer, and see if performance is equally poor for another user. If it is NOT, have the IT

department replace the user profile for the original user. If the other user also has the same

problem, continue reading.

2] With ArcMap and ArcCatalog both closed, use Windows Explorer to access the path below:

C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.x\Configuration\CATID

In this context, "Desktop10.x" may be Desktop10.0; Desktop10.1; Desktop10.2, Desktop 10.3,

Desktop 10.4, or any combination thereof. Within each Desktop10.x folder that exists, open the

folder named "Configuration" and rename the CATID folder within it. The CATID folder contains

files which have the extension .ECFG. These files will initialize some Esri extensions such as

Business Analyst, but may also exist for unsupported 3rd party applications that have been

installed on the computer, either at the current version, or previously. Since these

applications are not tested or certified by Esri, they can prevent ArcGIS from operating

correctly. Renaming the CATID folder(s) will not remove these applications, but will prevent

ArcGIS from initializing them on startup.

The Desktop 10.x folder in which the CATID folder resides indicates the version of ArcGIS

Desktop at which the custom application was installed. A 3rd party plugin may function without

a problem for 2 or even 3 version, then with a new install cause ArcMap to crash, or even fail

to start up.

It may be necessary to run a repair on the install of ArcGIS Desktop, but in most cases this

step is not necessary.

DO NOT LOOK FOR ANY OTHER FILES, WHICH HAVE AN ECFG EXTENSION, IN ANY OTHER LOCATION ON YOUR

COMPUTER. THE LOCATION LISTED IS VERY SPECIFIC AND IS RELATED ONLY TO THE ISSUE DESCRIBED

ABOVE. Other files with an ECFG extension may exist on your computer in other locations but

these are not involved in this issue.

3] After performing the above step, restart ArcMap and go to Customize > Add-In Manager. If

any add-ins exist on the computer, other than the Esri Add-In that allows access to ArcGIS

Online, delete it.

4] Click on your Start button, and in the "Search programs and files" box, type in the letters

UAC. Open the User Account Control Settings dialog. Change the value to "Never notify" if you

have permissions to do so. If not, have one of your IT staff change this setting for you.

5] To improve performance in ArcMap, do the following:
a) On a weekly basis, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System tools, and run Disk

Cleanup, followed by the Disk Defragmenter. I run the Disk Cleanup on both my machines a few

minutes before I leave on Friday afternoon. I delete the unnecessary files, then start the

Disk Defragmenter before I leave for the weekend. On Monday morning when I come in, I reboot

both my computers, so they are cleaned up and ready to go. Windows 7 generates a huge number

of temporary files, and does not clean these up, so this is essential. WARNING: DO NOT RUN

DISK DEFRAGMENTER ON A SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE!
b) In ArcMap go to Customize > ArcMap Options > Display Cache tab, and clear the display cache

if it is larger than 0. The display cache is useful when using online imagery or data in the

current session, but saves by default when the ArcMap session is closed. Several hundred MBs

of cached imagery will impact performance.
c) In ArcMap go to Geoprocessing > Geoprocessing Options, and uncheck "Enable" for Background

Processing. This is personal preference, but running a process in the background takes quite a

bit longer than in the foreground. Usually a process that will take several hours can be run

overnight, rather than when the user is present. Also, if an error occurs I want to see it

immediately.
d) In the same dialog, change the "Geoprocessing Results" to save for a shorter time than 2

weeks. When starting ArcMap or ArcCatalog, all saved results are validated during the startup

process. If you run a lot of Geoprocessing tools this can take an excessive amount of time.

Save the MXD to save the above changes to your Normal.mxt ArcMap template.

6] Minimize the number of network connections in ArcMap. Each time ArcMap starts up, ALL the

network connections to GIS data sources must be validated. If many connections exist, this can

be very time-consuming. Also, when creating a connection to a data source, create the

connection at the lowest level in the directory structure that will allow the data to open.

7] Start components of ArcGIS Desktop from Start > Programs. Desktop shortcuts used to start

the program can become corrupted and result in strange behavior in the application.

8] when you have downloaded a fresh copy of ArcGIS Desktop or other software from the Esri

website, run the Checksum utility on the ISO (installer) file to validate the download before

installing the program. Checksum instructions and download can be accessed at the link below:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/software-tools/ht/file-checksum-integrity-verifier.htm

9] If problems are occurring when opening old MXDs created at previous versions of ArcGIS,

apply the MXD Doctor utility. This utility will generate a new copy of the MXD if possible and

copy over all valid features.

10] If VBA code was used to create an MXD in a previous version of ArcGIS, the MXD will return

errors and will not open. The MXD Doctor may enable the MXD to open, so that the objects in

the map created with VBA scripting can be deleted.

11] If ArcMap documents are very slow to open, apply the Document Defragmenter utility, which

can be found at Start > All Programs > ArcGIS > Desktop tools. The defragmenter will remove

bits and pieces of object that were held in memory from an edit session for example. Typically

this utility will reduce the size of a bloated MXD by 50% or more, greatly speeding up opening

the file.

12] Certain virus scanning programs have been identified as causing problems with ArcMap,

including crashes on opening. Make a note of the virus scanning program on the computer, and

white list ArcGIS Desktop in the the virus scanning program. These may include Malware Bytes,

Microsoft Security Essentials, Kaspersky, Avast, AVG, Cylance, and others.

13] For serious performance issues, Process Monitor can be used to identify software on the

computer or network that are consuming resources so that ArcMap cannot operate at maximum

efficiency.

Download Process Monitor from the link below, then run the application while working on the

process in ArcMap to capture what is going on with the computer.

Process Monitor will record every operation being performed on the computer, and the amount of

time each operation takes. The PML files created by this application can contains hundreds of

thousands or millions of entries, since they record times of events to the 1/10-millionth of a

second. Installing and running this application wil allow you to see if any specific process

on thecomputer is interfering with ArcGIS Desktop. The utility can be downloaded at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645

Download and unpack the ZIP file to C:\Program Files\Process Monitor.

To run Process Monitor, turn off ALL applications - Internet Explorer or other internet access

application, email, instant messaging, etc. - that are running on your computer. The files

generated by this program are massive, and we must avoid reporting irrelevant processes.

Start ArcMap and get ArcMap set up to run the process where you are experiencing the problem.

Go to C:\Program Files\Process Monitor and double click procmon.exe to start the application.

After Process Monitor has started up, continue your operations in ArcMap for two to three

minutes, so ProcMon has time to capture the problem in the process, but prevent the file from

becoming so huge that it is unmanageable.

In Process Monitor, click File and uncheck Capture Events.

Save the report in the native PML format and reopen the PML file by double clicking. There is

information online about how to work with these files.

=======================================

Good luck and hope these suggestions will help all of you.

TomeJovanovski

Hi everyone!

My company has recently migrated from ArcGIS Desktop 10.4 to ArcGIS Desktop 10.5.1.

Everything works perfectly fine, no performance issues, until I try to consume a cached map service (ortophoto imagery) from another organization. It takes 5-6 minutes to load the ortophoto and after it loads, even simple command like right click -> properties on a certain layer takes forever to complete. We also consume vector map services and other raster cached which are not as large as the ortophoto and everything works just fine.

Simultaneously, we have tried loading the same web services from a PCs where our ArcMaps are still 10.4 and 10.3.1 and there is no problem loading and using the ortophotos.

We have used these web services from this organization successfully for a long time and we have not run onto this kind of problem until we upgraded to 10.5.1.

The best advice I have read so far regarding our case is that I should uninstall completely ArcGIS Desktop, remove every ESRI folder from the PCs and do the "clean install". But it would not be wise to do that on so many computers in our organization. Also deleting those folders would affect other ESRI products we have installed. There MUST be some other fix for the slow performance issues with 10.5.1.

Anyone else has this problem? Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Tome GDi Skopje

MichaelHewitt

12GB of RAM on an Intel Pentium CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz running Windows Server 2012R2 64-bit OS. It's a Dell PowerEdge T20 with 3 RAID Towers (non-profit on a shoestring budget). 🙂

RickGeittmann

How much memory do you have on your SQL machine??

MS SQL 2014 and later are memory hogs.

MichaelHewitt

Rick,

I am glad it worked for you.

I tried Rebuild Indexes (and Analyze Datasets) tools and unfortunately, it did not work for me. Maybe I was writing a little too much on my last post and no one caught that...

I was rambling on about the different things I have tried to no avail. Just a little frustrated, I guess.

I am happy that someone is getting some good results using this thread.

RickGeittmann

Hey gang,

OK so still had real slow performance from the databases so as someone else mentioned earlier in the thread I went through this past Friday (11/10/2017) evening and ran the Rebuild Indexes tool against the main database that was giving us fits and customers reported this morning this were running fast and no problems.

Toolboxes\System Toolboxes\Data Management Tools.tbx\Geodatabase Administration\Rebuild Indexes

Took a few minutes to run but folks are very happy with the result - try it - might help.

MichaelHewitt

Kevin,

Thank you for the response. I am glad that tech support will talk to you. I have a concurrent license and unfortunately, I am not the purchaser of the software. Tech support's first question is, "What is your customer number?" We have tried in the past to have my account linked so I am "allowed" to talk to them and somehow the connection is always missing. I gave up calling them because of the hassle every time I attempted to call. But it's their policy... Also, there is something to be said for a company that makes software that every other upgrade has problems after installing, but I digress.

I had reluctantly uninstalled and "fresh installed" 10.5.1. Initially, I upgraded from 10.3.1. No change in speed.

So the Analyze Datasets and Rebuild Indexes tool are found in ArcToolbox>Data Management>Geodatabase Administration> for anyone following along. Funny thing is that I had done all of that in a different way when I was forced to upgrade my Enterprise (formerly ArcSDE) Geodatabase server-side Database Server Workgroup (also formerly ArcSDE) program and SQL. I have the recommended flavor of SQL 2014 as per ESRI help files on the subject.

It was so much easier when they kept the names the same, who decided to rename them anyway?

I tried these tools anyway, and the results were the same. Nada... Still, almost 4 mins to open the MXD (no red exclamation points). Editing the ArcSDE Geodatabase seemed to be a few (up to 10) seconds for each task. Like I said before editing the geodatabase was never really a problem. It's the regular tasks. For instance, Zoom-in takes 40 seconds. Didn't have time to test more. It's not a death crawl, but it's just enough to be really annoying.

I am really contemplating going back to 10.3.1. I kept my other computers there until I am satisfied that it's not going to slow down the productivity of the entire office.

KRubalcaba

Terry,

It never hurts to do a complete uninstall of older version of desktop and their related folders and then install the newer version of desktop.

We had performance issues after upgrading to 10.5.1 and we called tech support. After rebuilding indexes (Rebuild Indexes (Data management) tool) and analyzing datasets (Analyze Datasets (Data Management) tool) our performance problems were solved. We were not routinely rebuilding indexes and over time it bogged everything down and after our upgrade to 10.5.1 and turning on editor tracking, it finally had enough and slowed to a crawl.

So, remember to routinely rebuild your indexes and call tech support if you need assistance, they are an invaluable resource.

Kevin Rubalcaba

GIS Analyst

RickGeittmann

Michael,

Arc Server manager is installed by default below is how you would access it from the local machine [localhost] or remotely via http if you have it enable for management over the network

http:// [server IP or name or localhost]:6080/arcgis/manager/

You would need to know the management account created to login with

http://server.arcgis.com/en/server/latest/install/windows/log-in-to-manager.htm

From there you would be able to look at the logs for arc server for MS SQL you would need SSMS installed and either do remote administration or install on the server its self and remote in and then bring up SSMS locally on that machine.

MichaelHewitt

I second that Rick and Mark, informational articles through the Arc GIS Server for Workgroup program (used to be called ArcSDE... the change names on these things so much it's annoying) it suggested I start with a new enterprise geodatabase. So I backed up my old enterprise geodatabase and brought the feature classes back in once the upgrade was complete via ArcCatalog on a client computer.

There was a whole table of ArcGIS Server versions and which ones worked with what SQL versions. Since I planned to upgrade in stages, I chose SQL 2014 because that would also work with 10.3.1. When (or If) I upgrade all of them to 10.5.1 then I could use SQL 2016 maybe. It all seems a little sketchy.

BTW, Mark, did you install the ArcGIS 10.5.x patch for SQL from ESRI that I mentioned above? I did and it might have helped a little. It had to do with authentication issues. Maybe your issue?

I found my SQL logs and there seem to be no errors with AppDomain. It seems to be starting the database with the correct name at different times when it is being accessed by different computers (spid#) on the network. I guess I cannot access ArcGIS Server logs without the Manager program?

I don't actually have SQL Managment Studio or ArcGIS Server Manager installed. I opted for a simplified install on both. For what I do, I don't need them.

RickGeittmann

Margaret - yes I forgot to mention to clear out all add ins and third party installs related to the desktop software - had that issue on one machine with some add ins running we had to clear those add ins out and things started working just fine.

I still am of the mind set there is as yet some undiscovered bug on the server side causing issues but have not located anything in any logs to point at.

RickGeittmann

Mark,

Did you upgrade to SDE databases through Arc Catalog to the later version?

I have also determined there may perhaps be an issue due to the changes in the coding of SQL 2014 and later engines.

Check you logs on Arc Server and on SQL and see if you are getting any errors of an AppDomain unloading due to memory pressure issue - I am currently working through that issue on our systems.

MichaelHewitt

I did as suggested, as well, and did a clean install of 10.5.1 (removed all things ESRI/ArcGIS). My original install was an upgrade from 10.3.1. Things have sped up a little. I have noticed that when I have an MXD with features from my SDE Geodatabase added, things seem to move slower. Still not an issue with the computers on our office network running 10.3.1. I am relatively convinced something new in 10.5.x is still causing the slowdown.

I have one of the older computers in the office, it is the litmus test for the others. Our server is a few years old as well and our storage is via RAID Towers JBOD configuration. So I expect things to move a little slower since it isn't local data. But what I saw and continue to see to a point is ridiculous. 3 minutes to load an MXD... really? Adding and removing layers is down to 30-60 seconds now. Zoom to a layer is the same. Editing in the SDE Geodatabase is fine. Stopping and saving edits takes about 30 seconds.

There have been a few Microsoft SQL server updates lately via Windows update. I think I am at SQL Server 2014 (KB3045324) which installed properly last month. I am using the ODBC driver. There was a Service Pack 2 (KB3171021) and a Security Update for SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 2 GDR (KB4019093) that failed recently.

MarkBratcher

Any further solutions to the performance issue in 10.5 sde? We have tried both uninstalling all previous version folders and reinstalling as well as switching to the ODBC driver instead of native client but we are still having severe performance issues to the point you can hardly edit.

MargaretMaher

Just a comment on the above discussion. Deleting the folder at "C:\Program Files\Common Files\ArcGIS" will remove folders lower down the directory structure at

C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\ArcGIS\Desktop 10.x\Configuration\CATID

where Desktop 10.x is the version at which 3rd party extensions, or some Esri extensions, were installed. Those may be 10.0, 10.1, 10.2. 10.3. 10.4 OR 10.5. There will be a separate "Desktop" for each version at which an extension was installed. The CATID folder(s) will contain files with a .ECFG extension, which initialize these 3rd party extensions or Esri extensions when ArcMap starts up. Renaming the respective CATID folders, or deleting the ArcGIS folders will prevent the extensions from initializing but does not remove the extension from the computer. Whenever doing an upgrade from one version of ArcGIS Desktop to another, all 3rd party extensions, or Esri extensions that were installed with the program must also be removed. If needed, reinstall after checking to make sure that version of the extension is supported for the new version of ArcGIS.

A story to illustrate the potential problems: a customer called, had just installed ArcGIS Desktop 10.4.1 and found that they could not start ArcMap. Splash screen would appear, then disappear, but the application would not start. Turned out that at 10.0 the customer had installed ET Geowizards, and never removed it. When the CATID folder under 10.0 was renamed, ArcMap started. No problems at all from 10.0 through 10.4, but at 10.4.1, ET Geowizards caused ArcMap to choke.

JustinConnerWR

I update indexes regularly but still have trouble snapping in 10.5.1 that I didn't have in 10.3.1.

RickGeittmann

Michael,

My root issue was the slooooooow connection and response to the client in edit sessions etc.

The result was me doing the uninstall routine on the work stations and using the ODBC driver - see earlier in the thread.

As for SQL open the connect to your DB instance and then open a NEW QUERY window

type in

@version

Highlight it and then select the EXECUTE button you should get a response back similar to the one below

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 (SP2-CU6) (KB4019094) - 12.0.5553.0 (X64) Jun 28 2017 16:26:18 Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation Standard Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1)

I reinstalled the client machines - then installed the patches for v10.5.1

THEN went to each machine and used the windows uninstall programs to remove the SQL client connection driver then simply ran the installer for the ODBC driver which you can get in the My ESRI portal where you download your software installs from.

MichaelHewitt

I was on another thread and someone pointed me to this thread for similar issues. I am on 10.5.1 however. I use SQL on my server to facilitate a workgroup geodatabase (formerly ArcSDE, not sure what they call it now).

I started diving into SQL as the problem. Recently windows updates for my server suggested that I upgrade SQL server 2014 to Service Pack 2 as an optional update. It seems I have a SQL 2014 version from July 2015 (it was quite difficult to figure this out BTW and this was the version that "database_server_workgroup_1051_156258.exe" program had me install). I plan to install the update today at the end of the day (when staff are not using it), but something I found recently was an ArcMap patch that deals with SQL: ArcGIS 10.5.1 (Desktop, Engine, Server) SQL Server Permissions Patch. I tried installing that before uninstalling, cleaning up leftovers and running a registry sweep for anything ArcGIS/ESRI.

Although the SQL patch deals more with server permissions and not really the issues being brought up in this thread, it seemed to speed things up. Specifically, it lets loose the chokehold on bringing up properties (the core issue that started the other thread I was on). Georeferencing goes much smoother...

My hope is that ESRI found the real cause and delivered it quietly in this SQL patch. If not, I will try the fresh install.

Thank You for everyone that was involved in troubleshooting the issue. I would rather go through a community blog like this as opposed to running to the support desk every time. Being that I have a concurrent license, asking for support from ESRI is a hassle. The first thing they ask is "customer number?"

RickGeittmann

OK so same here went from v10.3.1 to 10.5.1 and did the install over the top of the v10.3.1.

What worked for us was to uninstall everything desktop related via the add remove programs.

Next did a search and destroy on any and all folders that referenced ESRI on the local machine to include each and every profile.

Also unloaded any other ESRI software such as Explorer / Arc Earth

Then we ran a registry cleaner to clear any and all references to pointers in the registry.

Still had issues - ripped out the SQL client driver and installed the ODBC driver that suits your version of OS 64 / 32 bit and database engine.

That has seemed to fix the problems for us - most notable was the "clean" install.

Here is where I removed ESRI / ArcGIS references:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\ArcGIS

C:\ Program Files(x86)\ArcGIS

C:\Program Files\Common Files(x86)\ArcGIS

C:\Python27

C:\Users\

I did find a few directories with just the name ESRI - killed those also

Oh if you see anything in the FlexNet directories leave that alone !!

Hope this helps someone

DavidBlehm1

Hi Terry,

I want to check in to see if you have been able to maintain the performance after cleaning up the install files?

KoryKramer

I've seen snapping performance issues caused by lack of a spatial index. Updating the spatial index might help.

JessicaGormont

Yes! My snapping is almost non-existent unless I use Classic Snapping, which is a pain when I have a lot of edits to make. Normally, compressing the database will fix this issue when it pops up, but I haven't been able to resolve it since we upgraded to 10.4.1.

KoryKramer

Steve, for the "Upgrades should copy anything that might be required or custom (different than default) into a folder for the upgrade version and blow out the old crap." issue, go to Maintain customizations when updating to a major release and/or https://community.esri.com/ideas/11911, up vote and provide your requirements in the comments as you see fit.

Thank you!

GIS-Cambria

I've also run into performance issues with ArcMap 10.5 (10.4 and 10.4.1 were a little better). I've had the problems with ArcCatalog flaking out and flickering when I click on database connections. I've seen the performance of ArcMap slow to a crawl. I've seen the mess left behind from ArcDesktop upgrades. Seriously ESRI for all of the money you get from us you can do better. Upgrades should clear old folders. Upgrades should copy anything that might be required or custom (different than default) into a folder for the upgrade version and blow out the old crap.

I'm going to try a clean install as recommended here, remove any old folders and nonsense and then install 10.5 again.

BTW I'm running MS SQL 2016 and that didn't help with ArcDesktop performance when I upgraded.

ArcPro did offer a little hope that I could edit data and open layers with a better response. However; ArcPro isn't prime time and we use tools for the LGIM that aren't available yet in ArcPro. QGIS looks better by the day...

RandyHillCityofNewnan

QGIS seems to handle large data a lot better than arcmap 10.5. I have had a similar issue with arcmap 10.5 even with a full version on a brand new computer. It does not seem to matter if it is a shapefile or geodatabase. It is kind of a pain going back and forth from QGIS and ESRI but if the data is over a certain size 10.5 will just not do certain processes. So for example: if I need to do a select by location on a large data set , I just do it in QGIS and export it to a shapefile or geodatabase.

MarkBratcher

Just curious if anyone experienced snapping issues along with this slow performance. As in snapping working intermittently unless you resort back to classic snapping. I am having similar trouble with 10.5 desktop and 10.5 server with sde running on sql 2012. However, at the moment our performance issues resolve when working on a local copy.

DanPatterson_Retired

Good fine... but the timid may wish to rename the folders first, prior to deletion... just in case ...

TerryAdams_2

Hi All,

Tentatively - At long last it appears we have an answer to this situation.

What appears to have been the issue all along is a problem with the ArcGIS Desktop installation on the individual workstation PC's. Not with the database / ArcSDE side of things at all.

What we found is that when we installed ArcGIS Desktop 10.5.1 on a PC that had never had ArcGIS on it before, it had *no* performance issues. When we loaded an mxd from a PC plagued with the slowness onto the new PC - we had no issues with slowness.

So - on the PC's with the degraded performance in ArcMAP. Their ArcGIS Desktop upgrade path has been as follows. 10 -> 10.1 -> 10.3 -> 10.31 -> 10.5 -> 10.51. When we upgraded to 10.5 we first saw this issue. All along the way we've simply ran the uninstallation / installation process as usual. But this has left some old folders from those previous installations in place.

On the Affected PC's - what we did was to uninstall 10.5.1 completely. *THEN* we went though the folder structures on each PC and manually deleted *ALL* folders to do with ArcGIS. Every single one. Completely blow them away.

This is what I remember finding on my pc. You want them all *GONE*.

Program Files(x86)\ArcGIS
Program Files(x86)\Common\ArcGIS
*your username*\Appdata\Local *all ArcGIS folders*
*your username*\MyDocuments *all ArcGIS folders*

We had folders left over from 10.1...10.3 etc etc etc in those locations. Only when we deleted all those then installed ArcGIS Desktop 10.5.1 again did our slowness problems go away. Simply Uninstalling 10.5.1 then reinstalling it did not work. Only when we deleted all those old folders did we get our performance back in ArcMAP.

We've only just found this. Time will tell if our ArcMAP performance remains where it should.

shnizaiJawid

Hi to all,

I have the same problem with ArcMap10.5. It works slowly especially when I take the pan to drag one side. The bad problem is with vector data showing. The vector data comes step step, or like zoom in raster. Any solution, please?

SarojThapa1

Hi Terry,

Check out this blog. It could be one or the combination of the following reasons.

Troubleshooting Slow Performance in ArcGIS Desktop | Support Services Blog

mvolz47

Have you looked into the geometry type storage for your data? Are you by any chance using ST_Geometry? If so, would you be able to test what would happen if you converted some of your data to SDEBinary (long raw)? My organization is having slowness with the parcel fabric using ST_Geometry and other endusers have suggested rolling back to SDEBinary to address this issue.

TerryAdams_2

Apologies for the late reply.

Yes we've done much of the troubleshooting in whilst in contact with technical support, and we most certainly have a case logged with them. They have actually been very good with getting onto the situation, albeit without result.

Kory: Thanks for those links and the heads up. I will keep an eye on those situations as well. It's very possible they could well be linked with what we're experiencing.

For a particular MXD - if we copy all the feature classes it uses from SDE into a locally stored file geodatabase - then yes the slowness *does* go away. So far as we've tested anyhow. But we have a number of officers editing versioned feature classes so that gets a little frustrating / time consuming to manage.

Minott: Our issues do sound very similar to yours. We are also of the opinion now there's a bug / issue somewhere with 10.5 over 10.3 (that we moved up from).

Our support case is still being nutted through - we know of at least one other similar issue in Australia. But nothing new I'm sorry to say.

MinottKerr

We are seeing as similar slowness issue with migrating from mxd's created in desktop 10.1 to version 10.4/10.4.1/10.5 and connecting to a SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Geodatabase version 10.4.

The result of our tech support case was the creation of the bug report: #BUG-000102726 (ExecuteSpatialQuery performs slower for SQL Server feature classes beginning at ArcGIS 10.4).

The issue isn't solely around a spatial query but as well simply trying to draw a large number of features at small scale which had not been an issue at desktop 10.1 connecting to the 10.4 version Enterprise Geodatabase.

mvolz47

Have you ever tried to copy all the layers in a troublesome mxd that are stored in the SQL 2012 database to a file geodatabase where you completely re-create the mxd sourcing the layers from the file geodatabase and never switching the data source from the original SQL 2012 database connections? I am recommending this course of action so the mxd in 10.5 has no reference whatsoever to the SQL 2012 database. I've had ghost connections to SDE databases in the past that could only be removed by recreating mxds.

Did you ever look at this thread for ideas to solve (minimize) this problem:

https://community.esri.com/thread/175596

KoryKramer

Thank you for following up with all of the details, Terry. That is definitely very helpful. Did you do all of that troubleshooting in conjunction with Technical Support? Was there a Support Case open for this issue? I'm asking because there is a bug that *might* be causing what you're experiencing, but the issue should first be vetted with support: BUG-000097186: Data displays slower in ArcGIS 10.4 for Desktop..

While that bug is still showing as New to the public, I can say that it is actively being worked on and hopefully there will be a fix soon. You might want to subscribe to it to get updates.

Also, have you looked at this thread: Slow - 10.4 Client with Sql Spatial Views

Hope the above is of use.

TerryAdams_2

The issues are still *not* fully resolved unfortunately no.

The issues I spoke about with SQL above *were* having an impact in certain situations - and with certain operations - but it does not appear to be the full picture. Fixing the nvarchar(max) instances in SQL - as well as completely reworking all the indexes - has *not* fully solved the sluggish ArcMAP performance. We ended up getting a SQL tech in to go through our SQL setup with a fine tooth comb. He found a few minor things - but nothing that has made the ArcMAP issue go away. We've seen a minor improvement it must be said. So... although all of that has helped - the sluggish ArcMAP issue remains.

We really see it when switching layers on and off, zooming in and out, and when we put scale dependencies on labels etc etc. Also when saving edits, this really takes a long time now.

We then hit upon building feature caches in ArcMap to aid with zooming in and out - which also *does* help with reducing draw times when working in ArcMAP. So that helps. But switching the layers on & off still takes ages.

We really see a difference now with scale dependencies - where features or labels switch off at certain scales etc. This seems to make things very slow. Much more so than previously.

We did also hit upon a suspicion that datasets switched over to high precision under 10.3 weren't so happy in 10.5. No real concrete evidence for this but nevertheless we re-did this under 10.5 to tick that box.

We also made sure our SQL box wasn't maxing memory and killing the machine's performance or anything like that.

So - we feel we've chipped away at the problem as much as we can - and improved things a small amount - but we feel now the remaining issue is a bug with ArcMAP. Arc Catalog seems completely fine and responsive like you'd expect.

We did have an issue sometimes with Arc Catalog where it would go crazy - creating 10 tabs in the windows task bar and flickering our screens like mad. Fixing the nvarchar issue, the indexes, and the high precision issue (only suspected) and making Arc Catalog happy seems to have stopped this from happening. That first appeared under 10.3 and originally didn't seem to have any effect beyond the flickering screen for a few minutes. We suspect now it was probably due to issues we had with our setup at 10.3 - but which really didn't affect things then. At 10.5 those issues *did* come home to roost.

So - no silver bullet I'm afraid. But hopefully that helps somewhat.

KoryKramer

Terry,

Wondering if you made any progress on this...?

TerryAdams_2

Yes ok Dan I will do that once we have properly verified the outcome.

DanPatterson_Retired

Terry, if it works out, could you edit your original discussion title to indicate it is with SQL. It would make it easier to identify the source route of the problem for people searching on a similar issue.

TerryAdams_2

Some findings. This is at the limit of my knowledge so I will describe it as best I can.

ESRI Australia have identified what looks like a bug with ArcGIS 10.5 and SQL 2012.

The issue is around the indexing of nvarchar (max) fields in SQL. So - fields that are set with nvarchar (max) in SQL are causing problems in ArcGIS - because ArcGIS can't index them properly...... resulting in very poor performance.

If in SQL you change the nvarchar(max) definition to nvarchar(254) - the issues disappear.

The way we tested things was choosing a feature class with say 10,000 records in Arc Catalog and try and sort on any of the fields. If you have nvarchar(max) set in SQL - this took a *very* long time. Set to nvarchar(254) and the sorting was back to around 10-15 seconds as usual.

After we have made the changes in SQL to all our datasets (a days work) - I will report back if the poor performance issues have indeed disappeared. Initial testing though seems promising.

Hope that makes sense. The nitty gritty of databases isn't my forte.

DanPatterson_Retired

I have heard this issue from time-to-time. All I can report is... new machine, new install, current operating system, no network, no problems. This will be an issue in our teaching labs where this will not be the case. I just wonder how much of a difference each of those sub-components make to the cumulative problem. I would forget about installing PRO if you are having problems with ArcMap

TerryAdams_2

Yes I have several ArcMAP mxd's made under 10.3 (or earlier) that are taking a very long time to load now under 10.5. 10 minutes plus for me as well.

Re-making the mxd's under 10.5 does help. It at least allows the projects to load in a decent timeframe - but they still suffer very sluggish performance when doing simple tasks.

If I find any information that helps, I will certainly post it here.

RachanaKothari2

I have also been experiencing similar issues after upgrading to 10.5. My team is unable to open map documents that were made using 10.3. I am currently trying to open one of the business analyst templates that automatically get downloaded to my desktop to run a demo report and it has been loading for 10 minutes now. Please let me know if you find any solution. I am in the queue with Esri but an analyst hasn't' contacted me yet. Thank you.

JayantaPoddar

You might like to share your opinion on ArcGIS Ideas‌, and others can vote-up.

Hopefully, Esri will come up with a Performance Improvement patch.

TerryAdams_2

ESRI Support have told us that other people are also suffering performance degradation in ArcMap after upgrading to 10.5. It's *really* affecting the amount of work we can get through daily.

Just wondering if others with this issue can voice it here to build a case for some action on it. Also to judge how widespread this issue might be.

JayantaPoddar

Thank you for the clarification. In that case, it would be wise to let the Esri support team to work closely with you.

Share the solution, once the issue is resolved, so that other members in the community can benefit from it.

TerryAdams_2

Thanks for the reply Jayanta.
Yes I've tried renaming the ArcMap normal.mxt and creating a new template - no change.

I tried doing a complete application profile reset as per your link - no change.

I can confirm we have installed service pack 3 for SQL Server 2012, and have indeed upgraded our enterprise geodatabase. We have also re-done all the indexes.

What we've also discovered is that if we load 1 - 2 feature classes into ArcMap - it's ok. If we load more than that, we start seeing the slowdowns I mentioned above.

Also, we've found that when we sort large-ish datasets in Arc Catalog (16,000 records for example) by ObjectID - or anything - it takes a long time. Far longer than it did under 10.3.

At this point - it seems to be something to do with larger amounts of data. Either ArcMap projects loaded with several layers or operations on large-ish datasets. Just viewing a single large dataset in ArcCatalog - no problem.

JayantaPoddar

Did you try Resetting your ArcGIS application profile‌?

Has the enterprise geodatabase been upgraded? Also check if service pack 3 is installed for SQL Server 2012.

Upgrade an enterprise geodatabase in SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server database requirements for ArcGIS 10.5

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