Troubleshooting the performance of a large Erlang system

Abstract

This paper discusses our experiences troubleshooting and optimizing Hyper-Q, an enterprise software written in Erlang. Hyper-Q implements database virtualization that translates the SQL queries of an existing application to a new database system and converts the data returned by the database system to the data representation expected by the existing application. Using a real world example, we present effective troubleshooting techniques to identify poor-performing code and general refactorings and optimizations that can improve the performance of other Erlang systems.