bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/performance/uninstall-test-framework-to-measure-insert-performance.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	performance	test-framework bulk-insert performance-test benchmark insert	al	w1	all

Uninstall the test framework to measure insert performance

Description

Business Central's server uses a bulk insert optimization that batches multiple row inserts into a single SQL round-trip when conditions allow. When the test framework is installed on the environment, that optimization is disabled — inserts fall back to one SQL statement per row. The behavior is a side-effect of how the test framework instruments AL execution and applies whether or not any test is actually running.

For functional tests this is invisible; for performance measurement it is catastrophic. A benchmark that inserts ten thousand rows with the test framework present reports a number that has nothing to do with production, because production will not run in row-by-row mode. Treating the measurement as a real baseline produces conclusions that are wrong by a large constant factor.

The same caveat applies to Update and Delete paths where bulk optimizations exist — the test framework's presence suppresses them.

Best Practice

Before running any insert, update, or delete throughput benchmark — whether via the Performance Toolkit, a hand-rolled harness, or SessionInformation assertions — uninstall the test framework from the target environment. Re-install it only for functional test runs. Document this step in the benchmark procedure so future measurements are comparable.

Anti Pattern

A performance regression report comparing two builds on a sandbox that has the test framework installed. Both numbers are row-by-row timings; the ratio between them may be meaningful, but neither number reflects production, and any absolute throughput claim derived from the run is wrong.