Network performance between the client and server will play a key factor in how well CRM performs for the end users. It is very common to have users working from remote locations where the network performance is unknown. There are several methods to test network performance, but since the release of Update Rollup 4 CRM has included its own diagnostics page to show bandwidth, latency and JavaScript Rendering performance.
This diagnostics page will issue a series of pings from client to server and transfer several blobs of data. Based on this data it will provide the latency in milliseconds and max transfer speeds achieved. This is a quick and easy way to identify the network performance without having to install any tools on the client or server. Using this tool you can gather baseline performance from various locations and determine expected response times given the users bandwidth and latency. This should be taken into consideration when planning and designing a CRM environment to provide the best user experience available.
In the Optimizing and Maintaining Client Performance for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM Online document it states that “Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to work best over networks with latency under 150 milliseconds”. Each company may have a different acceptable latency and bandwidth ranges depending on what their acceptable load times are. I have worked with CRM users in other countries where the latency between client and server has been as high as 350ms. CRM was still usable, but will not perform at the same level as someone that is near the CRM Server location. High latency will be expected when traveling over such a long distance and is something that needs to be factored into the design. New features in CRM 2011 such as the Read-optimized forms continue to improve the user experience where latency and bandwidth are a concern.
To use the diagnostics page you can simply browse to the page by using the URL http://<YourCRMServerURL>/tools/diagnostics/diag.aspx and click the Run button to start the tests. This page is available for both CRM Online and OnPremise.
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Thanks,
Jeremy Morlock
Microsoft Premier Field Engineer
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