Overseas users experiencing Creo slowdown

[Shaun_Hughes]

We have users located overseas (UK, Spain) who have reported that while using Creo Parametric, their systems lag to the point where "it's almost unusable" - I've done video calls where I can see as they scroll or type, there is a 5-10 second lag in the system. 

It does not start immediately upon launch, some users have reported delays of anywhere from 2-10 minutes before things start to slow. I have had them reinstall Creo, double check their graphics drivers, and ensure their Java is compatible. We had a call with a PTC rep who had one of the users disable much of his graphics capability, and this failed to stop the lag.

They claim that one of the users was able to unplug his ethernet cable and Creo resumed running smoothly, until he plugged everything back in.

The license server is located in the US, we're running Parametric 7.0.3.0

[TomU]

To remove the license server from the equation, have them borrow a license and then temporairly block access to the license server.  (Use the computer's 'hosts' file to block access.)

Does Creo rely on anything from the network for operation?  Config files, templates, pen tables, color maps, anything else...???

It might not be a bad idea to temporarily block all traffic from the computer to ptc.com and see if that makes any difference. 

[Shaun_Hughes]

Configs and Templates are on Windchill, so there's that. I'll look into that. I've mentioned the anti-virus to IT, they shot me down right away, as the software is worldwide.

[TomU]

Something else to check is Anti-Virus software.  We've had users at our China facility install some '360' stuff that caused a huge performance hit until we uninstalled it. 

[BenLoosli]

Are the users in Europe connected to Windchill in the US?

Do you have replica servers in Europe, if using Windchill?

Is Creo installed locally or being served off a network install, either in the US or Europe?

[Shaun_Hughes]

They are connecting to a "local" replica server, as far as I understand. We have several over there. I would imagine that Creo is being installed for them the same way it is for us, using the Microsoft "Software Center" 

[TomU]

Ah, Windchill is involved too. That definitely complicates things.  Keep in mind that a replica server only helps with upload and retrieval of files (if already cached).  It does nothing for everything else.  All other communication has to go back to the main server.  Something you can try is taking the workspace offline.  If performance suddenly improves then you have to look at the communication speed back to the main Windchill server.