Hardware and performance

Hi AL

"Batch" is a common word in my environment. The full intake to a stream of study in a university in a given year is a batch and then they become batch mates - for the whole life!

Back to the topic. I think Ken convinced the OP that he needs more raw power. No "optimizing" will bring 700% improvement. Here is a quiz for the benefit of others: If an exam is of 60 min duration, how long will it take for seven batches? The answer is 90 min. Because you can send the batches in 5 min intervals. The server gets peak loads right at the beginning and the end of the exam. It idles in between.