Whenever I run a script using the MKS Kornshell (a Windows version of the Unix Korn shell), I get very high CPU usage (as much as 65%) from ccSvcHst.exe; the script running time increases by anywhere from 30% to
almost 200%. Worse, the output of the script is sometimes corrupted. The script on which I did the most testing is basically a filter on the output of another program; by “corrupted”, I mean that the number of lines that make it through the filter varies from invocation to invocation.
Neither the running-time increase nor the corruption occurs when SONAR is disabled.
OS: XP Pro SP 3
NIS 2009: 16.2.0.7
Whenever I run a script using the MKS Kornshell (a Windows version of the Unix Korn shell), I get very high CPU usage (as much as 65%) from ccSvcHst.exe; the script running time increases by anywhere from 30% to
almost 200%. Worse, the output of the script is sometimes corrupted. The script on which I did the most testing is basically a filter on the output of another program; by “corrupted”, I mean that the number of lines that make it through the filter varies from invocation to invocation.
Neither the running-time increase nor the corruption occurs when SONAR is disabled.
OS: XP Pro SP 3
NIS 2009: 16.2.0.7
Update: I ran similar tests calling programs from an executable program, and got essentially the same results, so I don’t think the problem has anything to do with the MKS Kornshell or the other programs I invoked. The impact of ccSvcHst’s activity is minimal for a single invocation of a program, especially an interactive program such as MS Word, but the performance impact is significant when many invocations are involved, as typically happens with a script that calls command-line programs.
Jeff, thanks for reporting and analyzing this issue. I’ve entered an incident into our defect tracking system that will be researched and considered for future releases.
If SONAR must perform some action for every program invocation, I suppose it may be tough to reduce the performance hit to the point where it doesn't have a noticeable impact on multiple invocations. Perhaps there could be a way to configure it so that some invocations are ignored while still not allowing bots to run amok.
For completeness, I should conclude with
Interim workaround: turn off SONAR Advanced Protection while running a script that invokes many other programs.