PT3 performance tuning 2 HDDs

[walter1953]

Hi,

i have a new PC (JUST for poker) with two HDDs and now i thought that i could tune pt3 HH import.

how should i install PT3?
i am a new PT3 user (had PT2 but i restart tracking with PT3 because i play another limit now).
i have downloaded the trial version and i will buy the full version soon.

should i install pokerstars software on HDD1 (this is the HDD with windows XP and all other stuff installed) and PT3 with postgreSQL on HDD2 or both on HDD2.

one HDD (HDD2) is copletely reserved for PT stuff.

[kraada]

Please make sure you are logged in as an administrative user

If you are running Windows Vista, please make sure that User Access Control is disabled. You can disable UAC in Windows Vista by following these steps:
1.Click the Start button and open the "Control Panel".
2.Select "User Accounts and Family Safety.
Note: This step can be skipped if in Classic View
3.Select "User Accounts".
4.Click "Turn User Account Control on or off".
5.Uncheck "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer" then click OK.
6.You must now restart your computer for the changes to take effect.


If you are running Windows XP, you will need to make sure Simple File Sharing is turned off. To turn off Simple File Sharing in XP Professional, double click on "My Computer" on your desktop or start menu. From the menu bar choose Tools --> Folder Options. Click on the "View" tab and make sure the "Use Simple File Sharing" box is not checked. Click ok and you can close these windows. In XP Home follow this walkthrough.

I am going to assume that your C:\ drive is your primary hard drive and that the D:\ drive is your secondary drive. What we are going to do is install a tablespace on the D:\ drive. The logs will be located on your C:\ drive but all of the actual data will be on D:\. That way the only times that there are searches for data on the D:\ drive or writes to that drive we are looking for (or writing to) bits of the database. This will markedly improve performance. If you wish to install your tablespace elsewhere, substitute that location for wherever you see D:\ in the rest of these directions. If you have PostgreSQL installed in any place other than C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\ you should also substitute your installation location where appropriate.

Double click "My Computer" then "D:\" and right click in the window that appears. Click New, then click Folder and name the folder "pg_data". (You may name it otherwise if you would like, and if you do, when this document refers to pg_data you should substitute what you named this folder instead.)

Now we need to allow the database user full access to this folder. Right click on pg_data and click Properties. Choose the Security tab, and click "Add" (in Vista click "Edit" then "Add" on the next window) and type "postgres" (without the quotes), then click "Check Names" to change the name to the correct format and then click "OK". "Postgres" should now appear in the list of names available. Click on it, then look underneath and check the box that says "Allow/Full Control". Click Apply and then OK. Now the database user has complete rights to control this folder.

Click Start, click Run and type in "C:\Program Files\PokerTracker 3\Data\Schemas" and click ok. There is one file in here: schema.postgres.sql. Right click on it, and click copy. Click Start, click Run type in D:\ and click ok. Right click in the window and click Paste to copy the schema.postgres.sql to that location.

Now to create the actual database:

Click Start --> Programs --> PostgreSQL --> psql to template1. This will open up a console window. You may need to log in to the database - if so please complete the login procedure by pressing enter to use the default server, port and user then enter your postgres password. You will know it is done because the prompt will read template1-# when you are logged in. Once you are logged in, type into the console type:

Code: Select all

CREATE TABLESPACE spare_disk LOCATION 'D:\\pg_data';

and hit enter. Please note there are two backslashes. Then type:

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CREATE DATABASE pt3_newdb TABLESPACE spare_disk;

and hit enter. Then type:

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\connect pt3_newdb;

hit enter and the console will change to show that we are now connected to pt3_newdb. Once the console changes, type:

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\cd D:

hit enter and then type:

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\i schema.postgres.sql

and hit enter one more time. PostgreSQL will now create your database to conform properly with the PokerTracker 3 database specifications. Please be patient while it completes this process. Once it finishes type "\q" and hit enter to exit the command prompt.

Your database is now created, and you just need to attach the database within PokerTracker 3.

Go into PokerTracker 3, click Database --> Database Management from the menubar, then click New. Click "Browse Databases" and select pt3_newdb from the list of databases displayed. Click 'ok'. This should return you to the earlier screen before you clicked "Browse Databases" with the "This database already exists" box checked. If that box is not checked, check it now. If you wish to change the name of the database to something else, you can do it via the box above, and click connect.

If you would like, you can now set your database as active and default via the Set Active and Set Default buttons. At this point, your database will now store all of its data in D:\pg_data\ and this should markedly improve your PokerTracker 3 database performance.

Edit: fixed a broken code tag. Sorry about that.

[walter1953]

Hi,

thanks for fast reply. FYI: i am xp user.
there are some problems left:

i use the trial version, is that a problem?
i followed the documentation file and all worked fine until the step "Your First Database". i did not see that window which is shown in the documentation file there. is this because of my trial version?

then i followed your instruction. instead of HDD "D:\" my HDD is called "F:\". so i used always the expression "F:\". shouldn't be a probem, is it?

Click Start, click Run and type in "C:\Program Files\PokerTracker 3\Data\Schemas" and click ok. There is one file in here: schemas.postgre.sql. Right click on it, and click copy. Click Start, click Run type in D:\ and click ok. Right click in the window and click Paste to copy the schemas.postgre.sql to that location.

on my computer the file is called " schema.postgres" not "schemas.postgre.sql"

Click Start --> Programs --> PostgreSQL --> psql to template1. This will open up a console window. In the console type:

i couldn't find "psql to template1". instead i took: "psql to 'postgres'". i think that should be correct too, isn't it?

Code: Select all

hit enter and the console will change to show that we are now connected to pt3_newdb. Once the console changes, type:

Code: Select all
\cd D:[code]
hit enter and then type:

[code]\i schemas.postgre.sql



this didn#t work. after i entered: "\cd F:[code]" there always stood: "\cd: could not change directory to "F:[code]": no such file or directory"

whats wrong?

many thanks for your help.


BTW: i installed PT3 and pokerstars on directory "C:\Programme". is that correct?

FYI: i am austrian. this is why it is called "C:\Programme"

[WhiteRider]

i use the trial version, is that a problem?
i followed the documentation file and all worked fine until the step "Your First Database". i did not see that window which is shown in the documentation file there. is this because of my trial version?

The trial version limits you to one database, and doesn't allow you to manage it, so you might not be able to connect to the DB on the other drive, since from a brief skim through Kraada's directions you need to create a new database. However, I wonder if you can do the same thing using the Edit button instead. Is the Edit button enabled?

You don't see the thing about 'my first database' because the trial version creates that for you since you have no choice.

then i followed your instruction. instead of HDD "D:\" my HDD is called "F:\". so i used always the expression "F:\". shouldn't be a probem, is it?

No, that will be fine.

on my computer the file is called " schema.postgres" not "schemas.postgre.sql"

This is *probably* because you have file extensions turned off on your computer?

Click Start --> Programs --> PostgreSQL --> psql to template1. This will open up a console window. In the console type:

i couldn't find "psql to template1". instead i took: "psql to 'postgres'". i think that should be correct too, isn't it?

I'm not sure - sounds reasonable, though.

hit enter and the console will change to show that we are now connected to pt3_newdb. Once the console changes, type:

\cd D:
hit enter and then type:

\i schemas.postgre.sql

this didn#t work. after i entered: "\cd F:[code]" there always stood: "\cd: could not change directory to "F:[code]": no such file or directory"

You don't actually type the "[code]" bit, just "cd F:"
Kraada's forum tags got a bit mixed up there..
It should look like this (if I can get it right...)

hit enter and the console will change to show that we are now connected to pt3_newdb. Once the console changes, type:

Code: Select all

\cd D:

hit enter and then type:

Code: Select all

\i schemas.postgre.sql

BTW: i installed PT3 and pokerstars on directory "C:\Programme". is that correct?

FYI: i am austrian. this is why it is called "C:\Programme"

That should be fine.
Just make sure all your poker sites are installed in English.

[walter1953]

thanks for fast reply

this time i tried: "\i schema.postgre.sql" and then there were running scripts for about 2 minutes, so i think it worked.

now i just have to wait until i get the key so i have full rights to run PT3 and complete the exercise.

i hope i have good performance now.
is there anything else i should do?
i heard of other postgre tuning tips on your site. should i execute them or am i satisfied with the tuning exercise above?

[six4withafro]

pls to be adding this to FAQs

[walter1953]

alright, i did all what you have written and it seems to work. thank you for your help

i have a new question:
is it recommended that i create a second database if i have a lot of HH of a friend or change to another limit?
or is it better to use just one such database?

can i create a second database like this one written above at all?
do i have to do it the same way, just with another database name?
what do i have to mind?

[WhiteRider]

Whether you need to create a new database is really dependant on how many hands you have.
You should keep your own hands in the same database so that you can analyse them all together, but if you have a LOT of datamined hands you will probably want to create new databases for them.

I assume if you want to create a new database on the other drive, you would do it in the same way.

[walter1953]

Hi,

when i did the first import after i did all mentioned in this thread, i reached a HH import speed of about 220h/s.

later i did also the other tuning tasks which were added in this forum:
- "Performance Tuning: hard drives"
*Enlarge Write-Ahead Cache:
*Disable Last Access Time Support:
-"Performance Tuning: postgreSQL"

now my HH import speed is "just" about 150h/s.

what did i wrong?
can i re-reach the old HH import speed?



thanks for your professional help

[WhiteRider]

Is this a new import into an existing database?
That will be a little slower as it has to check for existing hands, etc.

The postgres tuning settings are quite specific to each system, so may need a bit of tuning.
I don't know what values to suggest, but you could try tweaking them a bit, or even reset them to what they were and see if you get the old performance.