Domino Fragmentation Analyser - FAQ

What is the Domino Fragmentation Analyzer (DFA) ?
A new Free and easy to use tool that runs in a Command Prompt and will quickly analyse Domino and produce a comprehensive report of fragmented nsf files. The DFA concentrates only on analyzing nsf files and will highlight the total number of nsf files fragmented, how many fragments each of those files are in, the most fragmented nsf file and also freespace info for the drive hosting the Domino Data directory, including freespace fragments and the size of the largest fragment.

Where can I get the Domino Fragmentation Analyzer (DFA) ?
Just register and download it from here

What's required to run Domino Fragmentation Analyzer (DFA) ?
You just need a copy of the code, and an account with Local Admin Rights. When you open the command window make sure you select Run as Administrator if you have UAC on. You also need a .NET Framework 2.0+

What will DFA tell me ?
It will detail the NSF files that are fragmented, and show the current state of the volumes freespace.

Can I run DFA while Domino is running ?
Yes.

DFA show's a significant number of fragmented files, what should I do next ?
Take steps to defragment your Domino NSF files. Grab a trial of Defrag.NSF.

Domino reads data 'randomly' so having a fragmented file wont make a difference.
Wrong. The effects of fragmentation add up. Random reads will be slower, and sequential reads will be significantly affected. Backup times universally suffer.

Domino is on a VM, I don't need to worry about fragmentation
Sorry, wrong. Please review this blog post.

Domino is on a SAN, I don't need to worry about fragmentation.
Sorry, wrong. Please review this blog post.

I get an error, Error: Access to the path  is denied. What's wrong ?
You haven't open a cmd.exe and selected "Run as administrator"

Will DFA follow Domino database links ?
No, it just looks at the state of the files on a given volume. If required, run it on the other volumes that the links point to.

We use DBMT, its pre-allocation will prevent fragmentation.
If the freespace is fragmented (and it normally will be), DBMT pre-allocation helps but it is far from a complete solution. See this blog for more details