Oracle® EPM, Fusion Edition: Infrastructure Performance Tuning Guide

Oracle® EPM, Fusion Edition
Infrastructure Performance Tuning Guide

APPLIES TO EPM RELEASE 11.1.2.2, 11.1.2.3
An Oracle White Paper

October 2013
Change History
Date Author Version Change Reference
03/2012 Ahmed Awan 1.5

(Product Assurance Engineering)
10/2013 CEAL Team 2

(Customer Engineering &
Advocacy Laboratory)
Disclaimer:
All tuning information stated in this guide is only for orientation, every modification has to be tested
and its impact should be monitored and analyzed. Before implementing any of the tuning settings, it
is recommended to carry out end to end performance testing that will also include to obtain baseline
performance data for the default configurations, make incremental changes to the tuning settings and
then collect performance data. Otherwise it may worse the system performance.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 4
1.0 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 4
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO ORACLE® EPM SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ................................. 4

1.2 PERFORMANCE TERMINOLOGY ................................................................................ 4
1.3 UNDERSTANDING KEY PERFORMANCE DRIVERS ..................................................... 5
2.0 TOP TUNING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EPM SYSTEM ............................. 6
2.1 TUNE OPERATING SYSTEMS PARAMETERS.................................................................... 7

2.2 TUNE ORACLE WEBLOGIC SERVER (WLS) PARAMETERS .......................................... 20
2.3 TUNE IBM WEBSPHERE SERVER (IBM WAS) PARAMETERS ..................................... 24
2.4 TUNE 64BIT JAVA VIRTUAL MACHINES (JVM) .......................................................... 33
2.5 TUNE 32BIT JAVA VIRTUAL MACHINES (JVM) .......................................................... 38
2.6 TUNE HTTP SERVER PARAMETERS ............................................................................ 39
2.7 TUNE HTTP SERVER COMPRESSION / CACHING ....................................................... 43
2.8 TUNE ORACLE DATABASE PARAMETERS ................................................................... 53
3.0 PERFORMANCE MONITORING EPM SYSTEM ............................................... 55
4.0 TUNING FINANCIAL PM APPLICATIONS ....................................................... 56
4.1 HYPERION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (HFM) ......................................................... 56

4.2 HYPERION PLANNING ................................................................................................ 58
4.3 ESSBASE APPLICATION LINK FOR HFM ..................................................................... 64
4.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ANALYTICS .................................................................... 68
4.5 HYPERION PROFITABILITY AND COST MANAGEMENT (STANDARD COSTING) ........ 69
5.0 TUNING FOUNDATION SERVICES .................................................................... 70
5.1 ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT WORKSPACE ....................................... 70

5.2 ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ARCHITECT (EPMA) .......................... 70
5.3 HYPERION SHARED SERVICES ..................................................................................... 71
5.3 SMARTVIEW FOR OFFICE ............................................................................................ 73
6.0 TUNING ESSBASE ..................................................................................................... 75
6.1 ESSBASE AGGREGATE STORAGE (ASO) TUNING ....................................................... 75

6.2 ESSBASE BLOCK STORAGE (BSO) TUNING ................................................................. 81
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6.3 TROUBLESHOOTING .................................................................................................... 86
7.0 TUNING REPORTING AND ANALYSIS ............................................................. 89
7.1 TUNE REPORTING AND ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK (RAF) SERVICES ........................... 89

7.2 FINANCIAL REPORTING .............................................................................................. 91
7.3 WEB ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 95
7.0 TUNING DATA MANAGEMENT .......................................................................... 96
7.1 TUNE DATA RELATIONAL MANAGEMENT (DRM) ................................................... 96

7.2 TUNE FINANCIAL DATA QUALITY MANAGEMENT (FDQM).................................... 98
8.0 WEB BROWSER OPTIMIZATIONS ..................................................................... 100
8.1 TUNE INTERNET EXPLORER ...................................................................................... 100

8.2 TUNE FIREFOX ........................................................................................................... 105
9.0 DISK TUNING .......................................................................................................... 107
9.1 RAID CONSIDERATION FOR EPM ............................................................................ 107

9.2 FILE SYSTEM CONSIDERATION FOR EPM .................................................................. 107
9.3 RECOMMENDED IOPS FOR EPM .............................................................................. 108
10.0 ORACLE VIRTUAL MACHINE TUNING ...................................................... 109
10.1 CONSIDERATIONS WITH OVM V3 ........................................................................ 109

10.2 REDUCE THE NUMBER OF DOM0 CPUS................................................................. 109
10.3 TUNE GUEST VM .................................................................................................. 109
10.4 TUNE PROCESS AFFINITY ...................................................................................... 109
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INTRODUCTION
This document is written for people who monitor performance and tune the
components in an EPM environment. It is assumed that readers know server
administration and hardware performance tuning fundamentals, web servers, java
application servers and database.
1.0 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

This chapter discusses performance and tuning concepts for Oracle EPM. This
chapter contains the following sections:
1.1 Introduction to Oracle® EPM System Performance

1.2 Performance Terminology
1.3 Understanding Key Performance Drivers
1.1 Introduction to Oracle® EPM System Performance

To maximize Oracle® EPM System performance, you need to monitor, analyze, and
tune all the components. This guide describes the tools that you can use to monitor
performance and the techniques for optimizing the performance of Oracle® EPM
System components, for example Financial Management, Essbase, Reporting and
Analysis and Planning.
1.2 Performance Terminology

This guide uses the following performance terminologies:
• Scalability
o System's ability to perform within specification under increasing
user load, data load and hardware expansion.
• Latency
o Time between the issuing of a request and the time when the work
actually begins on the request.
• Think time
o The time a real user pauses to think between actions.
• Resource utilization
o A consumption metric, for example, the percent of CPU usage.
• Response time
o A time metric, for example round-trip time it takes the server to
deliver a Web page.
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• Throughput
o A rate metric (requests per unit of time), for example, requests per
second, bits per second. For example, if an application can handle
20 customer requests simultaneously and each request takes one
second to process, this site has a potential throughput of 20
requests per second.
1.3 Understanding Key Performance Drivers

To optimize your deployment, you must understand the elements that influence
performance and scalability. A factor that dictates performance is called a key
performance driver. Knowing how the drivers behave in combination further
enhances your ability to deploy Oracle EPM system optimally, based on the unique
requirements of each deployment.
- Hardware Capacity - Factors such as number of servers, quantity and speed

of processors, available RAM, network speed etc.
- Technical Platforms Tuning – Fine tuning other third party software

required for installing and running Oracle EPM products; for example:
relational databases, Java application servers, Web servers, Server / Client
Operating System and browsers.
- Business Application Design - Application design is an important factor in

system performance i.e. structure, size, and use of product features in
designing applications’ databases, reports, Web data entry forms, calculations
and consolidations.
- Business process usage - Activities carried out by users in the normal flow of
your business cycle.
o Business process usage has three components:
User activity—Activities available to users for data load or data
entry, database processing (consolidations, copy, clear, and so on),
and reporting and analysis.
Rate of user activity – A number of transactions executed by one

user per one hour.
User concurrency—Number of users for each activity being carried

out simultaneously.
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2.0 TOP TUNING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EPM SYSTEM
Performance tuning Oracle® EPM system is a complex and iterative process. To get
you started, we have created a list of recommendations to help you optimize your
Oracle® EPM system performance.
This chapter includes the following sections that provide a quick start for
performance tuning Oracle® EPM products. Note these performance tuning
techniques are applicable to nearly all Oracle® EPM products such as Financial PM
Applications, Essbase, Reporting and Foundation services.
2.1 Tune Operating Systems parameters.
2.2 Tune Oracle WebLogic Server (WLS) parameters.
2.3 Tune IBM WebSphere Application Server (IBM WAS) parameters.
2.4 Tune 64bit Java Virtual Machines (JVM), including ADF parameters.
2.5 Tune 32bit Java Virtual Machines (JVM).
2.6 Tune HTTP Server parameters.
2.7 Tune HTTP Server Compression / Caching.
2.8 Tune Oracle Database Parameters.
2.9 Tune Reporting And Analysis Framework (RAF) Services.
2.10 Tune Oracle ADF parameters.
Note: While the list in each of the above stated section is a useful tool in starting
your performance tuning, it is not meant to be comprehensive list of areas to tune.
You must monitor and track specific performance issues within your EPM
application to understand where tuning can improve performance. See
"Performance Monitoring EPM System" for more information.
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2.1 Tune Operating Systems parameters
Proper OS tuning might improves system performance by preventing the occurrence
of error conditions. Operating system error conditions always degrade performance.
The following sections describe issues related to operating system performance:
2.1.1 Linux Tuning Parameters

This topic describes how to tune the Linux operating system to optimize the
performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
Parameter Default Value Suggested Value

tcp_fin_timeout 60 30
By reducing the value of this entry, TCP/IP can release
closed connections faster, providing more resources for new
connections.
Consult your Linux (OEL / RHEL / SLES) documentation for

more information on how to permanently change the value
for this parameter.
Important Note: It is hardcoded into Linux kernel directly
sometimes, which will imply that it is not possible to modify
even with root.
File descriptors (open files=ulimit –n value) 1024 4096 (32 bit)
If the value set for this parameter is too low, a file open 32000 (64 bit)
error, memory allocation failure, or connection
establishment error might be displayed.
Important Note: When you increase the soft limit, make

sure to increase the hard limit as well. The hard limit is the
maximum value which can be reached before the user gets
the error messages Out of file handles.

for this parameter.
Backlog connections queue (tcp_max_syn_backlog) 1024 4096
When the server is heavily loaded or has many clients with
bad connections with high latency, it can result in an
increase in half-open connections.

for this parameter.
Local Port Range (ip_local_port_range) 9000-65535 1024-65535
netstat is the tool to use to determine what ports are in use
currently. As to the limits, the number of ports available is a
16bit unsigned integer which gives you the range 0-65535.
The ports that are available for applications to bind to are
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the reserved privileged/root ports (0-1024) plus whatever is
not covered by your ephemeral port range.
Important Note: cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range

will display actual values. To modify it, you’ll have to
choose between 3 methods:
- echo 1024 65535 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range
- sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range="1024 65535"
- You may need to edit /etc/sysctl.conf file, to make changes
to /proc filesystem permanently i.e. append the following to
your /etc/sysctl.conf file:
# increase system IP port limits
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65535
Recycling of Time Wait connections (tcp_tw_recycle) 0 1

It enables fast recycling of TIME_WAIT sockets. The default
value is 0 (disabled). The sysctl documentation incorrectly
states the default as enabled. It can be changed to 1
(enabled) in many cases.
Important Note: Known to cause some issues with host
stated (load balancing and fail over) if enabled, should be
used with caution.
Reuse of Time Wait connections (tcp_tw_reuse) 0 1

This allows reusing sockets in TIME_WAIT state for new
connections when it is safe from protocol view point.
Default value is 0 (disabled).
Important Note: It is generally a safer alternative to
tcp_tw_recycle, especially when lot of TIME_WAITs are
generated
For more information about Linux tuning, you should consult your Linux
documentation. Note the above TCP/kernel tunable parameters and their
corresponding values are provided as examples and rough guidelines only. You can
re-adjust these and other parameters based on actual system load, usage patterns
such as the number of concurrent users and sessions and so on.
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2.1.2 Windows 2008 Tuning Parameters
This topic describes how to tune the Windows 2008 operating system to optimize
the performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
Parameter Default Suggested Value

Value
MaxUserPort 16383 65532
Under heavy loads it may be necessary to adjust the
MaxUserPort. This parameter determines the availability of
user ports requested by an EPM application e.g. SmartView,
Planning etc.
Tip: By default, the start port is 49152, and the default end
port is 65535, this means there are 16383 usable dynamic
ports. *Use the following “netsh” command to configure start
port and the range:
netsh int ipv4 set dynamicport tcp start=1025 num=64508
Important Note: If you are using firewalls to restrict traffic on

your internal network you will need to update the
configuration of those firewalls to compensate for the new
port range. You can view the current dynamic port range on
the server by using the following “netsh” command:
netsh int ipv4 show dynamicport tcp
Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level normal If your user

Windows Server 2008 has a TCP window scaling feature. The experience slow
operating system can adjust the TCP receive window size to network performance
maximize the network performance. However, some old (e.g. server sends
routers, firewalls and operating systems that are incompatible data very slowly or
with the window scaling feature may cause slow data transfer drops the data
or lost of connectivity. completely) then only
disable the TCP
At the command prompt, run the following command: window scaling feature
netsh interface tcp show global on Windows Server
2008.
The default value for the autoTuningLevel parameter is listed
as Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level:
Important Note: In Windows 2008 SP1/SP2, If you try to

disabled (auto-tuning) and then again set it to normal, then it
is strongly recommended to read MS KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967224
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Set the power option setting to "High performance" Balanced High Performance
With High Performance power scheme, processors are always
locked at the highest performance state. Refer to below
section 2.1.2.1 for performance benchmark on two power
plans. Important Note: For more details, read MS KB article:
Tip: How-to change a power plan:
1. Under Control Panel click on Power Options.
2. Choose the “High Performance” option
3. Close the Power Option window.
Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) bcdedit bcdedit /set nx

On Windows Vista and later, DEP and PAE are enabled at /set nx AlwaysOff /pae
boot time and are configured by setting values for the nx and AlwaysOn
pae parameters using the BCDEdit /set command.
To disable DEP on Windows Server 2008 type the following
on an elevated Command Line.
bcdedit /set nx AlwaysOff /pae
Important Note: Available documentation is here :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff542202.aspx
Scanning mechanism for ORACLE_HOME folder Scan all Exception for

When using EPM or java based products, you should turn off ORACLE_HOME
scanning mechanisms (for example, anti-virus, Windows folder
Automatic Updates). Running these in conjunction with EPM
or java based products may result in unexpected behavior.
When enabled noticed very negative impact on performances
by giving extra CPU time (up to 50%) and slowness on
processes running.
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2.1.2.1 Performance benchmark using “Balanced” versus “High Performance”
HFM consolidation test showed 25% performance improvement when using the
"High Performance" power plan versus the "Balanced" (default) power plan. Note on
HFM application / database servers it has been observed CPU core down-clocking
from 2.66GHz to 1.5GHz. This means that “Balanced” power management is in
effect on the Xeon processor, which has lowered its clock speed to save power.
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2.1.3 Windows 2003 Tuning Parameters
This topic describes how to tune the Windows 2003 operating system to optimize
the performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
TcpTimedWaitDelay 240 30
This parameter controls the amount of time the OS
waits to reclaim a port after an application closes a TCP
connection, has a default value of 4 minutes. During a
heavy users load, these limits may be exceeded
resulting in an address in use: connect exception.
Tip: In registry set this parameter using following:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Para
meters
Value: TcpTimedWaitDelay
Value Type: dword
Data: 30 (decimal)
Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) /noexecute=alwayso /noexecute=always
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a set of hardware n /pae off /pae
and software technologies that perform additional
checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from
running on a system. In Microsoft Windows 2003
Server, DEP is enforced by hardware and by software.
The problem is that java and EPM programs are
considered as malicious codes by default, which will
have a very negative impact on performances by giving
extra CPU time (up to 50%) and slowness on processes
running.
To completely disable DEP in Windows Server 2003,
perform the following with administrative credentials:
1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Tools > Folder Options > View
3. Uncheck Hide Protected operating system files
(Recommended) and Hide extensions for known file
types
4. Click apply > OK
5. Browse to C:\
6. Right click on boot.ini, select properties and ensure
the “read-only” tab is unchecked and click OK
7. Edit boot.ini
8. Modify the /noexecute=
For example, set /noexecute=AlwaysOff to disable DEP
entirely
9. File > Save, close boot.ini file
10. Right click on boot.ini, select properties and ensure
the “read-only” tab is checked and click OK
11. Reboot the computer
Important Note: Available documentation is here :
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Scanning mechanism for ORACLE_HOME folder Scan all Exception for
When using EPM or java based products, you should ORACLE_HOME
turn off scanning mechanisms (for example, anti-virus, folder
Windows Automatic Updates). Running these in
conjunction with EPM or java based products may
result in unexpected behavior. When enabled we saw
very negative impact on performances by giving extra
CPU time (up to 50%) and slowness on processes
running.
MaxUserPort 5000 65534
The number of user-accessible ephemeral ports that can
be used to source outbound connections is configurable
using this parameter.
Tip: In registry set this parameter using following:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Para
meters
Value: MaxUserPort
Value Type: dword
Data: 65534 (decimal)
Tune Windows 2003 (x86 32 bit) /3GB switch
Important Note: Using only the /3GB switch allocates 1 GB to the kernel and 3 GB to the User-mode
space. Therefore it is strongly recommended to implement following settings when /3GB switch is
applied, in order to make sure Essbase, HFM and Windows stability:
1. Using a range of memory for the /userva=xxxx switch that is within the range of 2900 to 3030.
The following sample boot.ini file demonstrates how to use the new switch to tune a server to allocate
2,900 MB of User-mode virtual memory and 1,196 MB of Kernel-mode virtual memory. This increases
the available kernel space by 172 MB:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect
/NoExecute=OptOut /3GB /Userva=2900
2. Increase the SystemPages in registry: The setting being updated controls the allocable memory for
the operational system caches, file caches among others, and the value being set will tell Windows to
calculate the value itself on the side of the maximum allowable resources.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Open the Data: SystemPages
Enter its new value (hex): FFFFFFFF
3. After applying above settings, reboot the server.
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2.1.4 AIX Tuning Parameters
This topic describes how to tune the AIX (6.1 / 7.x) operating system to optimize the

tcp_timewait 1 1
By reducing the value of this entry, TCP/IP can
release closed connections faster, providing more
resources for new connections.
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_timewait=1
tcp_keepidle 14400 600

KeepAlive packet ensures that a connection stays in (2 hours) (5 minutes)
an active/ESTABLISHED state.
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_keepidle=600
tcp_keepintvl 150 10
Specifies the interval between packets that are sent
to validate the connection.
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_keepintvl=10
tcp_keepinit 150 40
Specifies the initial timeout value for TCP
connection.
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_keepinit=40
Listen Backlog 1024 8192
Increase this to handle peak incoming connection
rates under heavy load.
Tip: Set using command no -r -o somaxconn=8192
Socket send buffer size 16384 For optimal value for your
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_sendspace=16384 Ethernet adapter, consult
IBM support.
Socket receive buffer size 16384 For optimal value for your
Tip: Set using command no -r -o tcp_recvspace=16384 Ethernet adapter, consult
IBM support.
User Limit Parameter
It is highly recommended to apply the following values to set for user limits when running Essbase
(x64bit) Server on a 64-bit AIX platform. Tip: ulimit -a command displays all the ulimit limits.
time (seconds) Default unlimited
file (blocks) Default unlimited
data (kbytes) Default unlimited
stack (kbytes) Default unlimited on 64-bit and
64 MB on 32-bit.
memory (kbytes) Default unlimited
coredump (blocks) Default unlimited
nofiles (descriptors) Default 8192 on 64 bit and 4096
Important Note: In majority of deployments on 32 bit.
Essbase does not need too many files to be open.
It is pure waste of resources.
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AIXTHREAD_COND_DEBUG - -
Maintains a list of condition variables for use by AIXTHREAD_COND_ AIXTHREAD_COND_DEB
the debugger. If the program (e.g. Essbase) DEBUG=OFF UG=OFF
contains large number of active condition
variables and frequently creates and destroys
condition variables, this might create higher
overhead for maintaining the list of condition
variables. Setting the variable to OFF disables the
list.
AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_DEBUG - -
Maintains a list of active mutexes for use by the AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_ AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_DE
debugger. DEBUG=OFF BUG=OFF
If the program (e.g. Essbase) contains a large
number of active mutexes and frequently creates
and destroys mutexes, this might create higher
overhead for maintaining the list of mutexes.
Leaving the variable set to OFF disables the list.
AIXTHREAD_MNRATIO - -
Controls the scaling factor of the library. This ratio AIXTHREAD_MNRATI AIXTHREAD_MNRATIO=
is used when creating and terminating pthreads. O=8:1 1:1
Two positive values (p:k), where k is the number
of kernel threads that should be employed to
handle the number of executable pthreads defined
in the p variable. Might be useful for applications
with a very large number of threads. However,
always test a ratio of 1:1 because it might provide
better performance.
AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_FAST - -
Enables the use of the optimized mutex locking AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_ AIXTHREAD_MUTEX_FA
mechanism. FAST=OFF ST=ON
Setting the variable to ON forces threaded
applications to use an optimized mutex locking
mechanism, resulting in increased performance.
If the program experiences performance
degradation due to heavy mutex contention, then
setting this variable to ON will force the pthread
library to use an optimized mutex locking
mechanism that works only on process private
mutexes. These process private mutexes must be
initialized using the pthread_mutex_init routine
and must be destroyed using the
pthread_mutex_destroy routine.
AIXTHREAD_SCOPE - -AIXTHREAD_SCOPE=S
Controls contention scope. A value of P signifies AIXTHREAD_SCOPE=
process-based contention scope (M:N). A value of P
S signifies system-based contention scope (1:1). If
fewer threads are being dispatched than expected,
try system scope.
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YIELDLOOPTIME - YIELDLOOPTIME=0 -YIELDLOOPTIME=20
Controls the number of times to yield the
processor before blocking on a busy lock (only for
libpthreads). The processor is yielded to another
kernel thread, assuming there is another runnable
kernel thread with sufficient priority.
If threads are going to sleep often (lot of idle
time), then the YIELDLOOPTIME might not be
high enough.
Increasing the value from the default value of 0
may benefit you if you do not want the threads to
go to sleep while they are waiting for locks.
SPINLOOPTIME - SPINLOOPTIME=40 -SPINLOOPTIME=500
Controls the number of times the system will
retry a busy lock before yielding to another
process. The default value is 40. This should be
increased to 500 or higher because a busy lock
retry is inexpensive compared to the alternative.
Use the tprof command to determine if the
check_lock routine has high CPU usage. If it does,
you can increase the value even more.
MALLOCOPTIONS Disabled -
This environment variable enables the use of MALLOCOPTIONS=multi
multiple memory heaps. In a highly threaded heap:16,considersize
environment (e.g. Essbase), many threads can
request memory at the same time. With only one
heap, these requests can serialize and create wait
situations. With this variable, multiple heaps are
generated that are used to serve memory-
allocations requests and reduce memory-
allocation latency
Tip: Malloc multiheap is not enabled by default. It

is enabled and configured by setting the
MALLOCOPTIONS environment variable. To
enable malloc multiheap with the default settings,
set MALLOCOPTIONS=multiheap in Essbase
startup environment file.
For more information about AIX tuning, you should consult your AIX vendor’s
documentation. Note the above TCP/kernel tunable parameters and their
corresponding values are provided as examples and rough guidelines only. You can
adjust these and other parameters based on actual system load, usage patterns such
as the number of concurrent users and sessions and so on.
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Important Note to remember for Essbase only: In some cases for AIX 5.3/6.1 the
default Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) settings are not optimal for an Essbase
environment. Common symptoms include high paging, high system CPU time and
slow overall system throughput. Therefore in this scenario, it is recommended to
lower maxperm/maxclient to get good performance.
Important Note to remember for Essbase BSO only: In some cases for AIX
5.3/6.1/7.x the disks are configured in JFS2 for Essbase. AIX classifies memory into
two categories: file cache and working storage. Over time, memory use grows with
both types of memory. AIX will eventually need to free memory and it can do so by
freeing either file cache or working storage. To maximize performance, you would
want AIX to release the type of memory not being used by the application. So for
databases, which use working storage, you would want AIX to release file cache
memory first. To do so in the past, you would put a strict limit on JFS2 file cache
memory using maxclient. It is not unusual to see database servers with file cache
limited to 15% of total memory. However, a strict limit is not always desirable.
The new "lru_file_repage" option solves this problem. By setting "lru_file_repage=0",

AIX only frees file cache memory. This guarantees working storage stays in
memory, and allows file cache to grow.
So in the past you might have set maxclient at 20% for database servers. Today you
could set maxclient at 90% and "lru_file_repage=0". The exact setting will vary
based on your application and amount of memory. Contact IBM Support if you need
help determining the optimum setting.
Full example on AIX for Essbase:

vmo -p -o maxperm%=90 -o maxclient%=90 -o minperm%=3 -o lru_file_repage=0
Useful documentations:
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21328602
• https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/aixpert/entry/ne
w_aix_memory_tuning_option?lang=en
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2.1.5 Oracle Sun Solaris Tuning Parameters
This topic describes how to tune the Solaris operating system to optimize the
performance of your Oracle® EPM System. Note: Solaris default network tuning
parameters should be sufficient in most cases. For heavy, network centric
workloads, it’s always best practice to increase the size of key TCP-related
parameters to improve system performance and reduce dropped connections.

File descriptors (nofiles) 256 16384
Important Note: On any box that hosts an Oracle
HTTP Server / WebLogic Server / Essbase server it is
recommended to increase nofiles (descriptors) to
optimal value. On Solaris this means setting the
“rlim_fd_cur” in the /etc/system file and rebooting the
box.
Please make sure to check your operating system

documentation and release notes; there are some
negative performance implications on some older
versions of Solaris if you set these numbers too high.
Tip: The syntax for adjusting this parameter in the
/etc/system file is shown below:
set rlim_fd_cur=16384
tcp_time_wait_interval 60000 30000
It is recommended to reduce this setting to 60,000
milliseconds, or 1 minute; this is the default value starting
in Solaris 9/10. By reducing the value of this entry,
TCP/IP can release closed connections faster, providing
more resources for new connections.
Tip: The command “netstat -a | grep TIME_WAIT | wc -l”
will count all of the TCP connections that are in the
TIME_WAIT state. As this number approaches the
maximum number of file descriptors per process, your
application’s throughput will suffer dramatic
degradations because new connection requests may
have to wait for a free space in the application’s file
descriptor table. Tip: Set using command:
ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_time_wait_interval 30000
tcp_xmit_hiwat (Solaris 9/10) / send_buf (Solaris 11) 49152 This parameter is calculated
based on the network
The tcp_xmit_hiwat (tcp_send_buf) and
bandwidth and latency. You
tcp_recv_hiwat (tcp_recv_buf) parameters control the could follow this rule to
default size of the send window and receive window calculate:
for each TCP connection. On very fast networks, you <numbers of bits per second> *
<roundtrip latency> * 8
should make sure that the values are set to at least 32K.
[bits/byte]
By default, Solaris 9 changes the default settings for
18
both parameters to 48K.
tcp_recv_hiwat (Solaris 9/10) / recv_buf (Solaris 11) 49152 (in Solaris This parameter is calculated
9/10) based on the network
The tcp_xmit_hiwat (tcp_send_buf) and
bandwidth and latency. You
tcp_recv_hiwat (tcp_recv_buf) parameters control the 128000 (in
could follow this rule to
Solaris 11)
default size of the send window and receive window calculate:
for each TCP connection, respectively. On very fast <numbers of bits per second> *
<roundtrip latency> * 8
networks, you should make sure that the values are set
[bits/byte]
to at least 32K. By default, Solaris 9 changes the default
settings for both parameters to 48K.
tcp_conn_hash_size (Solaris 9) / ipcl_conn_hash_size 512 (in Solaris 9) 1024 (in Solaris 9)

(Solaris 10/11) 0 (in Solaris In Solaris 10, the default
This parameter controls the size of a hash table that 10/11) value of 0 means that the
helps quickly locate the TCP socket’s data structure in system automatically
the kernel. If the size is too small, it will result in long sizes an appropriate
hash chains in each bucket that force the operating value for this parameter
system into a linear search for the socket entry of at boot time, depending
interest, and performance will suffer accordingly. on the available
memory.
Connection backlog 128 (max_q) 1024 (max_q)

This parameter controls the maximum allowable 1024 (max_q0) 4096 (max_q0)
number of completed connections waiting to return
from an accept call (that have completed the three-way
TCP connection handshake). You should increase this
parameter only if you notice that your system is
dropping connections.
Increase these values if you do see non-zero values for

tcpListenDrop in the output for the following
command:
netstat –s | fgrep –i listendrop
Increase the values in steps of 256 starting from the

default value
Tip: Set using commands:

ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_conn_req_max_q 1024
ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_conn_req_max_q0 4096
Important Note: It is important to keep systems up to date with Solaris patches

because the patches provide fixes for security vulnerabilities, performance, and
other improvements of the OS. Certain patches specifically target the Java platform, which
benefits WebLogic Server in regards to performance and functionalities.
19
2.2 Tune Oracle WebLogic Server (WLS) parameters
This topic describes how to tune the WebLogic Server to optimize the performance
of your Oracle® EPM System.
2.2.1 Tuning JDBC Data Sources

You can improve EPM system performance and stability by properly configuring
the attributes in JDBC data sources in your EPMSystem domain.
2.2.1.1 Increase the Number of Connection Pool

If EPM data sources are running out of connections to the relational database then
you need to set the maximum number of connections to high value for the following
EPM data sources:
Important Note: Reason why the default value initial and maximum capacity size
are set to lower value because it is important to protect database resources. So make
sure you have enough resources on the database server (available memory is a constraint). If
you increase initial / maximum capacity to very high value, you may exceed the limit of
PROCESSES / OPEN_CURSORS on Oracle database server.
EPM Data Source Name Default Value Suggested Value
EPMSystemRegistry Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 10*
Maximum Capacity: 150 Maximum Capacity: 150
*Note: Each managed server target to
EPMSystemRegistry data source creates
1 pool on start-up. Ensure you have
enough Oracle processes; refer to Oracle
Database Tuning section of this guide.
raframework_datasource Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
planning_datasource Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
financialclose_datasource (FCM) Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
eas_datasource (Essbase Admin Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
Services) Maximum Capacity: 15 Maximum Capacity: 30
calc_datasource (CalcMgr) Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
profitability_datasource (Profitability) Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
hps_datasource (HpsAlerter, Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
HpsWebReports) Maximum Capacity: 15 Maximum Capacity: 30
discman_datasource Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
(DisclosureManagement) Maximum Capacity: 15 Maximum Capacity: 30
aif_datasource (ErpIntegrator) Initial Capacity: 1 Initial Capacity: 1
Important Note: You need to determine the optimal value for the Initial and Maximum
Capacity as part of your pre-production performance testing. Once optimal values are
20
determined then set the value of Initial Capacity equal to the value for Maximum
Capacity in order to boost performance of JDBC in WebLogic Server web
applications.
Tip: Here is the example on how to size open cursors value on Oracle database, if
you have a data source with 150 connections deployed on 2 servers and if you use
default Statement Cache Size 10, you may open 3000 (150 x 2 x 10) cursors on your
database server for the cached statements. You can increase the open cursors limit in
Oracle database server. See section “Tune Oracle Database Parameters” in this guide.
Tip: To increase this value:
1. Log in to the WebLogic Server administration console.
2. Select your data source (for example “EPMSystemRegistry”), and then click on
Connection Pool tab, and then Maximum Capacity.
Tip: Monitor the EPM data source connections from Console (Deployments-
>Monitoring->JDBC) i.e. “Active Connections Count” and if “wait for connections” has a
greater than 0 value then increase the pool size.
21
2.2.2 Tune Connection Backlog Buffering
Tune the number of connection requests that a WebLogic Server instance will accept
before refusing additional requests. The Accept Backlog parameter specifies how
many Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections can be buffered in a wait
queue.
Important Note: In WebLogic Server 10.3.x, it is not required to increase Accept
Backlog as default listen thread Accept Backlog value is increased to 300 which is a
better default value.
2.2.3 Stuck thread detection behavior Tuning

WebLogic Server automatically detects when a thread in an execute queue becomes
“stuck.” Because a stuck thread cannot complete its current work or accept new
work, the server logs a message each time it diagnoses a stuck thread.
• Some operations (for example, long running large FR / WA reports, Database /
Essbase call, computation loop inside an application) can get into an infinite
loop. This can cause the thread to be stuck with that operation for whatever time
it takes to complete that operation.
• Performance of the server can degrade significantly if many such threads get
stuck.
Tip: Changing the stuck threads values will only change the detection of stuck
threads. This does not mean that there are no stuck threads any more. Only the
reporting is changing. Meaning how long usually a specific operation should take in
an EPM application. If such an operation takes longer than 600 seconds then you
should increase the stuck thread value to a higher one to prevent the reporting of a
stuck thread. The performance is not impacted or controlled through the stuck
thread detection. WebLogic Server will not "delete" or "kill" a thread in case it
becomes stuck.
Use the below Stuck Threads suggested settings as a starting point, and then, after
careful testing of your long running transactions, adjust as needed.
EPM Managed Servers Default Value Suggested Value

Planning server Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Stuck Thread Timer Interval=60 Stuck Thread Timer Interval=1200
Max Stuck Thread Time=600 Max Stuck Thread Time=1200
Foundation Services Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
server Stuck Thread Timer Interval=60 Stuck Thread Timer Interval=1200
EPMA Web & DataSync Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
22
Financial Reporting Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Web Analysis server Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Provider Services server Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Profitability and Cost Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Management server Stuck Thread Timer Interval=60 Stuck Thread Timer Interval=1200
Essbase Administration Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Services Stuck Thread Timer Interval=60 Stuck Thread Timer Interval=1200
RA Framework Web Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Calc Mgr Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
ErpIntegrator Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
FM Web Services Stuck Thread Max Time=600 Stuck Thread Max Time=1200
Tip: To configure stuck thread detection behavior, click on each EPM Managed
Server and then click on Tuning tab:
2.2.4 Enable Native IO Performance Pack

Performance can be improved by enabling native IO in production mode. WebLogic
Server benchmarks show major performance improvements when native
performance packs are used on machines that host Oracle WebLogic Server
instances.
Important Note: Always enable native I/O, if available, and check for errors at
startup to make sure it is being initialed properly.
Tip: The use of NATIVE performance packs are enabled by default in the
configuration shipped with your distribution. You can use the Administration
Console to verify that performance packs are enabled by clicking on each managed
server and click on Tuning tab.
23
2.3 Tune IBM WebSphere Server (IBM WAS) parameters
This topic describes how to tune the IBM WebSphere Server to optimize the
Required documentation to read before proceeding:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/epm_install/ch08.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-foundation/epm-websphere-
manual-deploy11122-1887166.pdf
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v7r0/topic/com.ibm.websphere.base.doc/i
nfo/aes/ae/welc6toptuning.html
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v7r0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.websp
here.express.doc%2Finfo%2Fexp%2Fae%2Ftprf_hotspot_jvm.html
2.3.1 Tuning JDBC Data Sources

You can improve EPM system performance and stability by properly configuring
the attributes in JDBC data sources in your EPMSystem domain.
2.3.1.1 Increase the Number of Connection Pool

If EPM data sources are running out of connections to the relational database then
you need to set the maximum number of connections to high value for the following
EPM data sources:
IBM WAS behavior is the following:
Each time an application attempts to access a back-end store (such as a database), it
requires resources to create, maintain, and release a connection to that data store.
To mitigate the strain that this process can place on overall application resources, the
application server enables you to establish a pool of back-end connections that
applications can share on an application server.
Connection pooling spreads the connection overhead across several user requests,
thereby conserving application resources for future requests.
Important Note: Reason why the default value initial and maximum capacity size
are set to lower value because it is important to protect database resources. So make
sure you have enough resources on the database server (available memory is a constraint). If
you increase initial / maximum capacity to very high value, you may exceed the limit of
PROCESSES / OPEN_CURSORS on Oracle database server.
EPM Data Source Name Default Value Suggested Value
EPMSystemRegistry Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 10*
Maximum connections: 10 Maximum connections: 150
24
raframework_datasource Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
planning_datasource Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
financialclose_datasource (FCM) Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
eas_datasource (Essbase Admin Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
Services) Maximum connections: 10 Maximum connections: 30
calc_datasource (CalcMgr) Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
profitability_datasource (Profitability) Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
hps_datasource (HpsAlerter, Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
HpsWebReports) Maximum connections: 10 Maximum connections: 30
discman_datasource Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
(DisclosureManagement) Maximum connections: 10 Maximum connections: 30
aif_datasource (ErpIntegrator) Minimum connections: 1 Minimum connections: 1
Important Note: You need to determine the optimal value for the Minimum and Maximum
connection as part of your pre-production performance testing. Once optimal values are
determined then set the value of Minimum connection equal to the value for
Maximum connection in order to boost performance of JDBC in IBM Websphere
Application Server web applications.
Tip: To increase this value:

3. Log in to the IBM Websphere Application Server administration console.
4. Select Resources => JDBC => Data Sources => data_source (for example
“EPMSystemRegistry”) => Connection pool properties and then input some
values in Minimum and Maximum connection boxes.
25
Tip: Monitor the EPM data source connections from IBM WAS Console (Tivoli
Performance Viewer) i.e. “Free Pool Size” and if “Wait Time” has a greater than 0
value then increase the pool size.
2.3.2 Tune Thread Pool

Each task performed by the server runs on a thread obtained from one of
WebSphere Application Server’s many thread pools. A thread pool enables
components of the server to reuse threads, eliminating the need to create new
threads at run time to service each new request. Three of the most commonly used
(and tuned) thread pools within the application server are:
Web container: Used when requests come in over HTTP.
Default: Used when requests come in for a message driven bean or if a particular
transport chain has not been defined to a specific thread pool.
ORB: Used when remote requests come in over RMI/IIOP for an enterprise bean
from an EJB application client, remote EJB interface, or another application server.
Use the below Thread Pool suggested settings as a starting point, and then, after
careful testing of your long running transactions, adjust as needed.
EPM Managed Servers Web Container Default ORB

Planning server Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Maximum Size = 300 Maximum Size = 100 Maximum Size = 50
Foundation Services server Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
26
EPMA Web & DataSync Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
server Maximum Size = 300 Maximum Size = 100 Maximum Size = 50
Financial Reporting server Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Web Analysis server Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Provider Services server Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Profitability and Cost Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Management server Maximum Size = 300 Maximum Size = 100 Maximum Size = 50
Essbase Administration Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Services Maximum Size = 300 Maximum Size = 100 Maximum Size = 50
RA Framework Web Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Calc Mgr Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
ErpIntegrator Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
FM Web Services Minimum Size =50 Minimum Size =20 Minimum Size =10
Tip: Thread pool settings can be changed in the administrative console by

navigating to Servers => Application Servers => server_name => Thread Pool
27
Tip: Monitoring Thread Pool Size using IBM WAS Console
2.3.3 Increasing JVM Size of Admin Server
In order to make sure successful deployments of several EPM web applications. It is

highly recommended to tune the Admin Server java heap size.
Tip: This can be done in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console
by navigating to Servers => Application servers => server_name => Process definition
=> Java Virtual Machine.
28
Then
Then
You will see here that you can modify Initial and Maximum heap size. (Should be
set both to 2048)
2.3.4 Tuning Servlet Caching
WebSphere Application Server’s DynaCache provides a general in-memory caching

service for objects and page fragments generated by the server. The DistributedMap
and DistributedObjectCache interfaces can be used within an application to cache
and share Java objects by storing references to these objects in the cache for later use.
Servlet caching, on the other hand, enables servlet and JSP response fragments to be
stored and managed by a customizable set of caching rules. Servlet caching can be
29
enabled in the administrative console by navigating to Servers => Application
servers => server_name => Web container settings => Web container. The URI path to
the servlet or JSP to be cached must be defined in a cachespec.xml file, which is
placed inside the Web module's WEB-INF directory.
30
2.3.5 Tuning HTTP Transport persistent connections
Persistent connections specify that an outgoing HTTP response should use a

persistent (keep-alive) connection instead of a connection that closes after one
request or response exchange occurs. In many cases, a performance boost can be
achieved by increasing the maximum number of persistent requests that are
permitted on a single HTTP connection.
SSL connections can see a significant performance gain by enabling unlimited
persistent requests per connection because SSL connections incur the costly
overhead of exchanging keys and negotiating protocols to complete the SSL
handshake process. Maximizing the number of requests that can be handled per
connection minimizes the impact of this overhead.
Also, high throughput applications with fast response times can realize a
performance gain by keeping the connections open, rather than building up and
closing the connection on each request. When this property is set to 0 (zero), the
connection stays open as long as the application server is running.
However, if security is a concern, then careful consideration should be placed on
this setting, as this parameter can help prevent denial of service attacks when a
client tries to hold on to a keep-alive connection.
HTTP transport persistent connections settings can be set in the administrative
console by navigating to Servers => Application servers => server_name => Ports.
Once there, click on View associated transports for the port associated with the
HTTP transport channel settings you want to change:
31
2.3.6 IBM WebSphere PMI (Performance Monitoring Infrastructure):
Available via IBM WAS Console, browsing to Application servers > <App Server
Name> > Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI)
2.3.7 IBM WebSphere PMI (Performance Monitoring Infrastructure):

Useful to monitor and analyze your application performances
Available here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/downloads/peformtuning.html#F
ORUM144
32
2.4 Tune 64bit Java Virtual Machines (JVM)
Newly deployed web application server instances use default memory heap
settings, which are often too small to accommodate EPM System 64bit requirements.
Optimal JVM settings can be determined only by close monitoring of application
server performance under peak realistic load.
2.4.1 Tuning 64bit JRockit JVM

In JRockit JVM (R28), the heap grows faster than before. The JVM also ensures that
the heap size grows up to the maximum Java heap size (-Xmx) before an
OutofMemory error is thrown.
This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value (depending on available
physical memory on each server), and the Oracle JRockit Java argument:
Setting Suggested Value Java Argument*

Minimum heap 1024 MB -Xms1024m
Maximum heap 4096 MB -Xmx4096m
Important Note: Ensure that the sum of the maximum heap size (-Xmx) of all the EPM JVMs running
on your server does not exceed the amount of available physical RAM. If this value is exceeded, the
Operating System starts paging and performance degrades significantly.
For SOA, increase the size of 32 GB -XXcompressedRefs:size=32GB
Compressed References to resolve native
OutOfMemory (OOM) error.
Tip: This can be done for other EPM web

components besides the SOA, only if you
encounter a native OutOfMemory error
despite memory being available.
Thread-local areas (TLA) is used for min=128k -

object allocation. This option (-XXtlaSize) preferred=512k XXtlaSize:min=128k,preferred=512k
can be used to tune the size of the wasteLimit=128k ,wasteLimit=128k
thread-local areas.
Important Note: Only apply this setting if
you see “java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: getNewTla”
error in web app logs. You may also need to
consider increasing the physical memory on
server to permanently resolve the
“getNewTla” error occurrences.
Note: It is recommended to use the default garbage collection mode i.e. -Xgc:throughput. Also large
heap reduces the garbage collection frequency and fragmentation, improving the throughput of the
application; however, a large heap increases the memory footprint of the Java process.
33
*Warning: Make sure you have enough physical memory allocated / available on
servers (deployed with several EPM 64bit web applications) and then use the
above settings as a starting point, and after load testing, adjust as needed. For a
stable / an even performance over time, you should set the initial heap size (-Xms) to
the same value as the maximum heap size (-Xmx).
2.4.2 Tuning 64bit Sun JVM

This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value, and the Sun’s Java
argument:
Important Note: Ensure that the sum of the maximum heap size (-Xmx) of all the EPM JVMs
running on your server does not exceed the amount of available physical RAM. If this value is
exceeded, the Operating System starts paging and performance degrades significantly.
Minimum permanent generation heap 256 MB -XX:PermSize=256m
Maximum permanent generation heap 512 MB -XX:MaxPermSize=512m

If you receive java.lang.OutOfMemoryError:
PermGen space errors, you may also need to
increase the permanent generation space.
Stack size for Java Threads 512 KB -Xss512k
34
2.4.3 Tuning 64bit AIX JVM
This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value, and the AIX’s Java
argument:
Important Note: Ensure that the sum of the maximum heap size (-Xmx) of all the EPM JVMs
running on your server does not exceed the amount of available physical RAM. If this value is
exceeded, the Operating System starts paging and performance degrades significantly.
Garbage collector policy gencon -Xgcpolicy:gencon
Nursery size 768 MB -Xmn768m
Stack size for Java Threads 2 MB -Xss2m
2.4.4 Tuning Oracle ADF

We can tune default Application Module settings for Application Module (AM)
pools, connection pools & data sources as per our requirements. It's mostly depends
on use or access of an Application Module.
As a performance optimization, when an instance of an AM is returned to the pool
in "managed state" mode, the pool keeps track that the AM is referenced by that
particular session. The AM instance is still in the pool and available for use, but it
would prefer to be used by the same session that was using it last time because
maintaining this so-called "session affinity" improves performance.
Application Pool Parameters to take into consideration:
1. Pool Behavior Parameters
• Failover Transaction State Upon Managed Release (jbo.dofailover)
• Row-Level Locking Behavior Upon Release (jbo.locking.mode)
35
• Disconnect Application Module Upon Release (jbo.doconnectionpooling)
• Enable Application Module Pooling (jbo.ampool.doampooling)
• Support Dynamic JDBC Credentials (jbo.ampool.dynamicjdbccredentials)
• Reset Non-Transactional State Upon Unmanaged Release
(jbo.ampool.resetnontransactionalstate))
2. Pool Sizing Parameters
• Initial Pool Size (jbo.ampool.initpoolsize)
• Maximum Pool Size (jbo.ampool.maxpoolsize)
• Referenced Pool Size (jbo.recyclethreshold)
• Maximum Instance Time to Live (jbo.ampool.timetolive)
3. Pool Cleanup Parameters
• Pool Polling Interval (jbo.ampool.monitorsleepinterval)
• Maximum Available Size (jbo.ampool.maxavailablesize)
• Minimum Available Size (jbo.ampool.minavailablesize)
• Idle Instance Timeout (jbo.ampool.maxinactiveage)
• Maximum Instance Time to Live (jbo.ampool.timetolive)
See that for more details:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E15523_01/web.1111/b31974/bcampool.htm
This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value (depending on available
physical memory on each server), and the Oracle Java argument:

Maximum Available Size 400 -Djbo.ampool.maxavailablesize=400
(jbo.ampool.maxavailablesize) The ideal
maximum number of available
application module instances in the pool
when not under abnormal load. When
the pool monitor wakes up to do
resource cleanup, it will try to remove
available application module instances
to bring the total number of available
instances down to this ideal maximum.
Instances that have been not been used
for a period longer than the idle instance
time-out will always get cleaned up at
this time, then additional available
instances will be removed if necessary to
36
bring the number of available instances
down to this size.
The default maximum available size is 25
instances. Configure this to leave the
maximum number of available instances
desired after a resource cleanup. A lower
value generally results in more
application module instances being
removed from the pool on a cleanup.
Referenced Pool Size 320 -Djbo.recyclethreshold=320
(jbo.recyclethreshold) The maximum
number of application module instances
in the pool that attempt to preserve
session affinity for the next request made
by the session which used them last
before releasing them to the pool in
managed-state mode.
The referenced pool size should always
be less than or equal to the maximum
pool size. The default is to allow 10
available instances to try and remain
"loyal" to the affinity they have with the
most recent session that released them in
managed state mode.
Configure this value to maintain the
application module instance's affinity to
a user's session. A general guideline is to
configure this to the expected number of
concurrent users that perform multiple
operations with short think times. If
there are no users expected to use the
application with short think times, then
this can be configured to 0 zero to
eliminate affinity.
Maintaining this affinity as much as
possible will save the CPU processing
cost of needing to switch an application
module instance from one user session to
another.
Best Practice: When you specify the length of time between application module pool cleanup passes,
set all application modules to use the same Pool Polling Interval value. Since there is only a single
application monitor pool monitor per Java VM, the value that will effectively be used for the
application module pool monitor polling interval will be the value found in the application module
configuration read by the first application module pool that gets created. Setting all application
modules to use the same value ensures that this value is set in a predictable way.
37
2.5 Tune 32bit Java Virtual Machines (JVM)
Newly created application server instances use default memory settings, which are
often too small to accommodate EPM System requirements. For 32bit JVM in order
to allocate a heap of more than 1024 MB, you need to use a 64bit JVM in order to
allocate more than 1024 MB of maximum heap. See section “Tune 64bit Java Virtual
Machines (JVM)” in this guide.
2.5.1 Tuning 32bit JRockit JVM

This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value, and the Oracle JRockit Java
argument:
Setting Suggested Value Java Argument
Important Note: By setting minimum heap size = maximum heap size gives you a
controlled environment where you get a good heap size right from the start and also
to minimize minor/major garbage collections.
Important Note: By default, JRockit JVM uses the dynamic garbage collection
strategy to optimize for throughput. For EPM component, it is not recommended to
change to other available dynamic strategies.
2.5.2 Tuning 32bit Sun JVM

This table lists the memory setting, the suggested value, and the Sun’s Java
argument:
Setting Suggested Value Java Argument
Minimum permanent generation heap 128 MB -XX:PermSize=128m
Maximum permanent generation heap 256 MB -XX:MaxPermSize=256m
Important Note: By setting minimum heap size = maximum heap size gives you a
controlled environment where you get a good heap size right from the start and also
to minimize minor/major garbage collections.
Important Note: Also for application servers that use Sun's Java Virtual Machine
(JVM), make sure that the size of the permanent generation heap must be increased
(as stated in above table). When the permanent area of the heap is too small, the JVM
will do a full garbage collection of the entire heap before resizing the permanent
area.
38
2.6 Tune HTTP Server parameters
This topic describes how to tune the HTTP server to optimize the performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
2.6.1 IIS 7.0+ HTTP Server Tuning
Parameters Default Value Suggested Value

Disable “Idle Time-out (minutes)” 20 0
setting for all the EPM Application
Pools.
Tip: In IIS manager, on Application Pool

page, selection an application pool and
then click on “Advanced Settings ...” to
set this configuration.
Disable “Regular Time Interval 1740 0
(minutes)” setting for all the EPM
Application Pools.
Tip: On the Application Pools page,

select an application pool, and then click
Recycling in the Actions pane and
deselect this option.
minBytesPerSecond property 240 50
How-To:
Tip: If “Timer_MinBytesPerSecond” error Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\ , Run the Command:
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/webLimits /minBytesPerSecond:"50" /commit:apphost
message noted in httperr1.log file on the
IIS server. It is recommended to reduce
or disable the minBytesPerSecond
property in IIS 7.0+ to prevent a slow
client connection from being closed
prematurely.
Connection Timeout 120 7,200
Tip: In order to avoid random
How-To:
disconnections for remote users, it is Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\, Run the Command:
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites "/[name='Default Web Site'].limits.connectionTimeout:02:00:00" /commit:apphost
recommended to increase this value.
39
Tune the following memory limits for
all the EPM (64bit) Application Pools:
Private Memory Limit (KB) = Default =0
Virtual Memory Limit (KB) = Default =0
Tune the following memory limits for

all the EPM (32bit) Application Pools:
Private Memory Limit (KB) = Default = 1048576
Virtual Memory Limit (KB) = Default = 1572864
Important Note: It is recommended to

set no memory limits (0) only for 64bit
IIS. Only force memory limits for 32bit IIS.
Tip: On the Application Pools page,
select an application pool, and then click
Recycling in the Actions pane and
deselect all the options.
ASP Session Timeout (hfm) 20 360

Tip: Set to longer than the longest consol.
ASP Response Buffering Limit (hfm) 4194304 1073741824

To allow Downloads e.g. Data Extracts which equates to 1GB
and avoid truncated files.
maxAllowedContentLength (hfm) 30 MB 1073741824

which equates to 1GB
In HFM, during loading of the files if
How-To:
you see error “HTTP Error 404.13 - Not Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\, Run the Command:
appcmd set config "Default Web Site/hfm" /section:system.webServer/security/requestfiltering /requestlimits.maxallowedcontentlength:1073741824
Found” then increase this value.
Note: You may need to further increase this value depending on the total size of all the HFM files.
Important Note: Use the above suggested settings as a starting point, and then, after careful testing, adjust as needed. To avoid potential
performance issues, values for IIS 7.0+ parameters should be set only after considering the nature of the workload and the system capacity
(i.e. CPU and memory).
40
2.6.2 Oracle HTTP Server (ohs) Tuning
Oracle HTTP Server uses directives in httpd.conf file. The directives for each Multi-
Processing Module (MPM) type are defined in the
MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/epmsystem1/httpConfig/ohs/config/OHS/ohs_component/httpd.conf file. The default
MPM type is Worker MPM.

MaxKeepAliveRequests 100 0
KeepAliveTimeout 5 100
KeepAlive On On
Timeout 300 6000
# WinNT MPM (this MPM is for Windows Only
<IfModule mpm_winnt_module>
ThreadsPerChild = 512 = 1048
ListenBackLog = 511 = 1000
MaxRequestsPerChild =0 =0
</IfModule>
#worker MPM (by default OHS use multithreaded mode in

UNIX)
<IfModule mpm_worker_module>
StartServers =2 =2
MaxClients = 512 = 1024
MinSpareThreads = 25 = 25
MaxSpareThreads = 75 = 75
AcceptMutex fcntl
LockFile "${ORACLE_INSTANCE}/diagnostics/logs/${COMPONENT_TYPE}/${COMPONENT_NAME}/http_lock"
</IfModule>
SSLSessionCache
1. Open ssl.conf and find SSLSessionCache. It will be a line like:
SSLSessionCache
"shmcb:${ORACLE_INSTANCE}/diagnostics/logs/${COMPONENT_TYPE}/${COMPONENT_NAME}/ssl_scache(512000)“
2. Update SSLSessionCache as follows:

SSLSessionCache none
Important Note: Use the above suggested settings as a starting point, and then, after
careful testing, adjust as needed. To avoid potential performance issues, values for
OHS parameters should be set only after considering the nature of the workload and
the system capacity (i.e. CPU and memory).
41
2.6.3 IBM HTTP Server (IHS) Tuning
IBM HTTP Server uses directives in httpd.conf file. The httpd.conf configuration file
is located in the conf directory of your server installation. There is also an
httpd.conf.default file, if you need to use another copy of the original file. The
product provides a sample configuration file called httpd.conf.sample that illustrates
basic IBM module directives and advanced security options.
IBM HTTP Server also provides the admin.conf.default, magic.default, and
mime.types.default configuration files. IBM HTTP Server configuration files are
located in [IBM HTTP Server installation directory]\(/)conf.
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100 0
KeepAliveTimeout 5 10 for high network
bandwidth
100 for low network
bandwidth
KeepAlive On On
Timeout 300 900
# WinNT MPM (this MPM is for Windows Only)
<IfModule mpm_winnt>
ThreadLimit = 1920 = 4096
</IfModule>
#worker MPM
<IfModule worker.c>
StartServers =3 = 10
MaxClients = 400 = 1024
MinSpareThreads = 75 = 75
MaxSpareThreads = 250 = 250
ThreadLimit = 64 = 64
ServerLimit = 16 = 16
AcceptMutex fcntl
LockFile [IBM HTTP Server installation directory]/logs/accept.lock
</IfModule>
Important Note: Use the above suggested settings as a starting point, and then, after
careful testing, adjust as needed. To avoid potential performance issues, values for
IHS parameters should be set only after considering the nature of the workload and
the system capacity (i.e. CPU and memory).
42
2.7 Tune HTTP Server Compression / Caching
Why use Web Server Compression / Caching for Oracle® EPM products?
1. Bandwidth Savings: Enabling HTTP compression can have a dramatic
improvement on the latency of responses, while improving the throughput
capacity of the system. By compressing static files and dynamic application
responses, it will significantly reduce the remote (high latency) user response
time.
2. Improves request/response latency: Caching components (i.e. images, js and css)
provide an accurate control of every cache in the proxy chain including the
browser's one. Such an accurate use of the cache makes it possible to suppress
the payload of the HTTP reply using the 304 status code. Minimizing round trips
over the Web to revalidate cached items can make a huge difference in browser
page load times.
Important Note: For only LAN based usage of Oracle EPM applications, it is not
recommended to enable compression / caching for HTTP servers. Therefore it is only
recommended to enable compression / caching when Oracle® EPM applications are used
over the WAN and remote users are accessing from high latency remote locations. Once
compression is enabled in http server, it is strongly recommended to conduct series of tests
with multiple concurrent users in test environment and during the test it is important to
evaluate how much of CPU is typically being utilization for http server.
2.7.0.1 Web Server Compression Flow
To better understand compression flow, below are the possible compression enabled
scenarios that shows handling of compressed http requests / responses on Oracle
and IIS web server.
43
Scenario 1 – Compression enabled on Oracle HTTP server (ohs) level:
HTTP VPN (WAN) HTTP HFM:80
IE / Firefox
Decompression Layer
(gizp, deflate) :19000
Compression Layer
Web Browser Rendering
(gzip, deflate)
Reporting and Analysis Web:45000

Foundations Services:28080
Planning:8300
Scenario 2 – Compression enabled on IIS HTTP server level:
44
2.7.1 Oracle HTTP Server (ohs)
This topic describes how to enable compression in Oracle HTTP Server of your
Oracle® EPM System.
Tip: The module named "mod_deflate.so" that can compress outgoing data is now added in
current Oracle HTTP Server release included in Oracle Fusion Middleware platform.
a. How to Enable Compression

1. Create file “deflate.conf” and copy & paste the following lines in this file:
<Location />
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
#Don't compress images
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \
\.(?:gif|jpe?g|png)$ no-gzip dont-vary
#Don't compress PDFs,doc,ppt,xls

SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:pdf|doc?x|ppt?x|xls?x)$ no-gzip dont-vary
#Don't compress compressed file formats

SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:7z|bz|bzip|gz|gzip|ngzip|rar|tgz|zip)$ no-gzip dont-vary
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Vary User-Agent
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
</Location>
#check whether compression ratio is working as expected

<IfModule mod_log_config.c>
DeflateFilterNote Input instream
DeflateFilterNote Output outstream
DeflateFilterNote Ratio ratio
LogFormat '"%r" %{outstream}n/%{instream}n (%{ratio}n%%)' deflate
CustomLog "|${ORACLE_HOME}/ohs/bin/odl_rotatelogs
${ORACLE_INSTANCE}/diagnostics/logs/OHS/ohs_component/deflate 43200" deflate
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
#Important Note: Above “deflate.log” can grow large in size under high users load. Logging
#degrades performance because of the (possibly significant for large file) I/O overhead. Therefore it is
#recommended to disable the generation of deflate log. To disable this log, comment the section
#“<IfModule mod_log_config.c>”.
2. Copy “deflate.conf” file to the “ohs_component” folder of the OHS folder

(path: MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/epmsystem1/httpConfig/ohs/config/OHS/ohs_component/)
3. Enable mod_deflate module, to do this add the following to “httpd.conf”

(path:MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/epmsystem1/httpConfig/ohs/config/OHS/ohs_component/) file:
LoadModule deflate_module "${ORACLE_HOME}/ohs/modules/mod_deflate.so"
45
4. Add the following line to “httpd.conf” file after LoadModule lines:
Include /Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/epmsystem1/httpConfig/ohs/config/OHS/ohs_component/deflate.conf
Important Note: In UNIX deployment, ensure the above path is correct and
update accordingly.
5. Save the changes in “httpd.conf” and Restart the Oracle HTTP Server (ohs).
6. To check that compression is enabled, open “deflate” file at

${ORACLE_INSTANCE}/httpConfig/ohs/diagnostics/logs/OHS/ohs_component
Tip: In above steps the default EPM Oracle instance location is used i.e.
“MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/epmsystem1”. Use your EPM Oracle instance
location in case if it is different.
Tip: After applying all the above steps, if OHS server isn’t starting then verify all the
paths (e.g. modules) are valid
For details about all directives in mod_deflate, see at

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_deflate.html .
46
Performance Gain Test (Oracle HTTP Server)
The test with/without HTTP compression enabled was conducted in internal lab to
measure the transactions response time / throughput for Workspace / Planning web
applications.
Below table summarizes the performance improvement for Workspace / Planning
transactions over a 1 Mbps bandwidth link for one remote user (ran with multiple
iterations for 30 minutes).
Average time Average time
(in sec) (in sec)
Transaction Name % Improvement
Before After
(Non-Compressed) (Compressed)
Workspace Logon page 56 25 55%
Workspace Home page 49 32 35%
Open Planning application 18 10 44%
*Open Planning very large web 590 200 66%
form (approx 50,000 cells).
Workspace Log off 7 5 29%
Total Throughput (bytes) 21,587,996 2,272,578 89%
(Total generated network traffic)
Average Network Delay (ms) 400 408 -
Packet Loss % 0 0 -
*Note: The large web form size used in testing does not represent the real world situation. The form is much larger than
Planning users can realistically work with. It is only used to test the maximum strength of compression ratio in OHS.
Below tables shows the total response bytes (by Content-Type) for above Workspace /
Planning web transactions with and without HTTP compression.
Non-Compressed Compressed
Content-Type
(Before) (After)
application/x-javascript: 2,679,163 Bytes 507,839 Bytes
text/css: 523,365 Bytes 58,591 Bytes
text/xml: 307,959 Bytes 59,420 Bytes
~headers: 136,104 Bytes 141,638 Bytes
text/html (Web Form): 17,624,524 Bytes 1,264,910 Bytes
image/png: 24,628 Bytes 20,891 Bytes
text/javascript: 2,602 Bytes 555 Bytes
image/gif 193,873 Bytes 193,321 Bytes
image/jpeg: 18,651 Bytes 18,651 Bytes
image/x-icon: 4,150 Bytes 805 Bytes
text/plain: 134 Bytes 60 Bytes
text/x-json: 75,835 Bytes 5,897 Bytes
Note: Testing was done using single Oracle HTTP server with an Oracle Sun Solaris SPARC 4*1.2 dual core box and 16 GB RAM. In
remote user machine testing was done using Internet Explorer 8.0 (IE cache was disabled) on Windows 7.
47
2.7.2 IBM HTTP Server (IHS)
This topic describes how to enable compression in IBM HTTP Server of your
Tip: The module named "mod_deflate.so" that can compress outgoing data is now added in
current IBM HTTP Server release.
b. How to Enable Compression

7. In file “httpd.conf” copy & paste the following lines in this file:
<Location />
SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
#Don't compress images
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \
\.(?:gif|jpe?g|png)$ no-gzip dont-vary
#Don't compress PDFs,doc,ppt,xls

SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:pdf|doc?x|ppt?x|xls?x)$ no-gzip dont-vary
#Don't compress compressed file formats

SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:7z|bz|bzip|gz|gzip|ngzip|rar|tgz|zip)$ no-gzip dont-vary
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Vary User-Agent
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
</Location>
#check whether compression ratio is working as expected

<IfModule mod_log_config.c>
DeflateFilterNote Input instream
DeflateFilterNote Output outstream
DeflateFilterNote Ratio ratio
LogFormat '"%r" %{outstream}n/%{instream}n (%{ratio}n%%)' deflate
CustomLog "/u01/IBM/HTTPServer/logs/deflate.log" deflate
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
#Important Note: Above “deflate.log” can grow large in size under high users load. Logging
#degrades performance because of the (possibly significant for large file) I/O overhead. Therefore it is
#recommended to disable the generation of deflate log. To disable this log, comment the section
#“<IfModule mod_log_config.c>”.
8. Enable mod_deflate module, to do this add the following to “httpd.conf”

(path: /u01/IBM/HTTPServer/conf) file:
LoadModule deflate_module "/u01/IBM/HTTPServer/modules/mod_deflate.so"
48
9. Save the changes in “httpd.conf” and Restart the IBM HTTP Server (IHS).
10. To check that compression is enabled, open “deflate.log” file at

/u01/IBM/HTTPServer/logs
Tip: Use your EPM Oracle instance location in case if it is different.
Tip: After applying all the above steps, if IHS server isn’t starting then verify all the
paths (e.g. modules) are valid
For details about all directives in mod_deflate, see at

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_deflate.html .
49
2.7.3 IIS 7.0+ HTTP Server
This topic describes how to enable compression and caching of your Oracle® EPM System.
Tip: IIS 7.0+ involves a new configuration system. The metabase.xml is no longer used. Now in IIS 7.0 compression settings
are configurable from IIS Manager or via “appcmd.exe” or using the Configuration Editor.
a. How to Enable Compression:

1. HTTP Compression should be enabled on the site level as performance may hindered if enabled globally. Use below
commands to enable compression at the individual site (i.e. for HFM and Workspace).
Tip: Run the following command line options to enable static / dynamic compression on the Workspace and hfm site levels:
Workspace > Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\
Run the command: Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/workspace" -section:urlCompression -doStaticCompression:true -doDynamicCompression:true
HFM > Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\,

Run the command: Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm" -section:urlCompression -doStaticCompression:true -doDynamicCompression:true
2. Only static compression is installed by default. Ensure dynamic compression feature is installed via Web Server (IIS) >
Add Role Services Wizard; for step by step details refer to IIS 7.x documentation. Increase the compression level of static and
dynamic files. Note: dynamic compression level default value is 0 and for static compression level default value is 7. As
stated below change the level of compression (in gzip) for dynamic files to 7 and for static files to 9.
Tip: Run the following command line option to increase GZip Compression Level:
Navigate to Path: C:\Windows\System32\Inetsrv\
Run the command: Appcmd.exe set config -section:httpCompression -[name='gzip'].staticCompressionLevel:9 -[name='gzip'].dynamicCompressionLevel:7
Important Note: Raise the dynamic compression level above seven only if you need more network bandwidth and have
sufficient CPU capacity to handle the extra load.
3. Restart the IIS HTTP Server.
50
b. How to Enable Caching in IIS:
1. Enable content expiration and set the expiration after to at least “30 Days”.
2. Run following commands via command line to configure the expires response header for the following directories (highlighted in bold):
• HFM
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Common/theme_tadpole/images_global" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00

Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Common/theme_tadpole/images_hfm" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Common/theme_tadpole_hc/images_global" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Common/theme_tadpole_hc/images_hfm" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Common/theme_tadpole_hc/images_hfm" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/hfm/Images" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
• Workspace
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/workspace/static/images" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
• raframework
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/raframework/img" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00

Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/raframework/images" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/raframework/wsmedia/art" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/raframework/wsmedia/images" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
Appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/raframework/wsmedia/publish" /section:staticContent /clientCache.cacheControlMode:UseMaxAge /clientCache.cacheControlMaxAge:30.00:00:00
51
c. Performance Gain Test (IIS 7.0+)
The test with/without HTTP compression enabled was conducted in internal lab to
measure the transactions response time / throughput for Workspace / HFM web
applications.
Below table summarizes the performance improvement for Workspace / HFM
transactions over a 1 Mbps bandwidth link for one remote user (ran with multiple
iterations for 30 minutes).
Average time Average time
(in sec) (in sec)
Transaction Name % Improvement
Before After
(NonCompressed) (Compressed)
Workspace Logon page 58 26 55%
Workspace Home page 51 30 41%
HFM_Open_Application 20 13 35%
HFM_Open_Large_WDEF 42 22 48%
HFM_Change_POV_Select_Entities 20 11 45%
HFM_Open_Grid 26 12 54%
Workspace Log off 8 6 25%
Total Throughput (bytes) 5,523,842 1,191,405 78%
(Total generated network traffic)
Average Network Delay (ms) 405 401 -
Packet Loss % 0 0 -
Below tables shows the total response bytes (by Content-Type) for above
Workspace/HFM web transactions with and without HTTP compression.
Non-Compressed Compressed
Content-Type
(Before) (After)
application/x-javascript: 3,662,585 Bytes 697,108 Bytes
text/css: 404,492 Bytes 48,609 Bytes
text/xml: 276,032 Bytes 56,611 Bytes
text/html: 935,452 Bytes 140,035 Bytes
image/png: 35,727 Bytes 41,227 Bytes
text/javascript: 1,130 Bytes 429 Bytes
image/gif 208,424 Bytes 207,386 Bytes
Note: Testing was done using single HFM web server (IIS 7.5) with an Intel Quad-core 3.4-GHz web server and 8 GB RAM. In
remote user machine, testing was done using Internet Explorer 8.0 (IE cache was disabled) on Windows 7.
52
2.8 Tune Oracle Database Parameters
This topic describes how to tune the Oracle Database to optimize the performance of
your Oracle® EPM System.
2.8.1 Tuning “init.ora” Database Parameters

The following table provides important “init.ora” parameters to tune for EPM
products. Consider following these basic recommendations to set the database
parameters. Ultimately, however, the DBA should monitor on periodic basis the
database health and tune parameters.
The following table provides information on some important performance-related

database initialization parameters to tune for Oracle 11g R1 or above Database (64bit):
Products (in an Oracle Instance) Database Parameter
Shared Services, Reporting and PROCESSES=1500

Analysis, Financial Management - whatever is needed to support the expected number of
(HFM), EAS, HPCM, Performance applications and application servers. Important Note: Further
Scorecard, Planning. increase this value to 2500, if you have large deployment with
many managed servers running e.g. 22 or 27.
Set OPEN_CURSORS=7000
- the default value for this parameter is too small for systems
such as WebLogic Server / HFM.
- It is important to set the value of OPEN_CURSORS high
enough to prevent system from running out of open cursors.
- Note: assuming that a session does not open the number of
cursors specified by OPEN_CURSORS, there is no added
overhead to setting this value higher than actually needed.
Set CURSOR_SHARING
- changing this parameter to the suggested value will increase
the performance, and will not impact any data results.
Important Note: Suggested setting for CURSOR_SHARING:
For all HFM releases prior to 11.1.2.2.300 – FORCE
For all HFM releases 11.1.2.2.300 and later - EXACT
Set SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS parameter.

- the default value is 50. To evaluate the accuracy of the value,
set to 50 and then evaluate if this is enough. If it’s not enough
then increase to 100.
Set OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ to 50
- setting of 50 makes the index access path look half as
expensive as normal.
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Financial Data Quality DBA must read and follow the tuning instructions included in
Management (FDM) the FDM DBA Guide. Failure to tune the database per the
FDM DBA Guide will result in poor performance.
Important Note: The FDM DBA Guide is available on the

Oracle Technology Network.
Important Note: Above are the some good minimum values for Oracle Database instance
parameters, during load testing process, adjust as needed. For more information on tuning
the Oracle database, see the Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide.
Important Note: It is highly recommended to read the section “Preparing a Database”

in Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Installation Start Here
Guide.
2.8.2 Periodic Database Monitoring

DBA to perform database monitoring and tuning on a periodic basis to ensure that
you get the best performance from your EPM applications. It is recommended that
DBA should further tune the Oracle parameters using following utilities and
commands available to perform this task:
• an Automatic Work Repository (AWR) report covering a sufficiently long

period of heavy user activity.
• an Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) report that analyzes

the data within the AWR report.
• an Active Session History (ASH) report.
• operating system Performance Monitor logs which monitor sufficient

memory and CPU objects to adequately review server performance.
54
3.0 PERFORMANCE MONITORING EPM SYSTEM
Oracle Fusion Middleware provides a Fusion Middleware Control that can be used
to monitor all elements of the farm - including deployed applications and Fusion
Middleware components such as:
• WebLogic Domain
• EPM Managed Servers
• Oracle HTTP Server
Important Note: See also "Getting Started Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion
Middleware Control" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide @
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E14571_01/admin.htm
Tip: For Enterprise Performance Management 11.1.2.3 using Oracle Enterprise

manager 12c: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-foundation/epm11123-
oem12c-monitor-1955582.pdf
Installation instructions and deployments are mentioned inside the PDF directly.
Example for Planning below:
Important Note: Each operating system has its own native tools and utilities that can
be useful for performance monitoring purposes. Native operating system commands
enable you to gather and monitor for example CPU utilization %, process memory,
paging activity, swapping, and other system activity information. For details on
operating system performance monitoring commands, refer to the documentation
provided by the operating system vendor.
55
4.0 TUNING FINANCIAL PM APPLICATIONS
This chapter includes the following sections that provide a quick start for tuning
Financial PM applications.
4.1 Hyperion Financial Management (HFM)
Performance tuning HFM is a complex and iterative process. For detailed
information about tuning the HFM, see topic "Tuning Financial Management
Applications" in HFM tuning guide at
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/financial-
management/overview/hfmperformancetuning-1934817.pdf
4.1.1 Financial Management Records and Subcubes

A record in Financial Management holds the data for all base periods for a given
intersection of dimension members, and a subcube is a collection of records that all
belong to the same Entity, Scenario, Year, and Value (currency). Within a subcube
there are a minimum of 4 dimensions: Account, ICP and Customs. (An HFM
application needs a minimum of two custom dimensions starting with 11.1.2.2.000
release down from 4 in previous releases. Also the upper limit of four has been
lifted). Because the subcube is a natural unit of data for the purposes of
consolidation, data movement and processing are carried out on a subcube basis in
many places in Financial Management.
4.1.1 Database Tuning

The following housekeeping practices are recommended when using Oracle / SQL
Server databases with Financial Management:
• For HFM tables <appname>_DATA_AUDIT, <appname>_TASK_AUDIT and
HFM_ERRORLOG, it is recommended to implement the following housekeeping
best practices:
• Quarterly - Business to review the Audit logs, archive and delete.
• Half-Yearly - Archive System Messages and truncate table.
Tip: Put alerts in place so that action can be taken if these tables grow beyond the
recommended number of records (> 500,000). Note large audit tables will have
severe impact on HFM performance.
Important Note: For detailed information about tuning the Oracle database for
HFM, see topic "Tuning Guidelines for Oracle 11g Databases" in HFM tuning guide at
https://support.oracle.com/oip/faces/secure/km/DocumentDisplay.jspx?id=1083460.1
56
4.1.2 Basic Design Considerations
1. If Data Audit feature is not part of business requirements then it is recommended
to turn off auditing of data. It has been observed degradation in performance for
HFM application with Data Audit table more than 10GB.
Tip: To turn off auditing of members, change the EnableDataAudit attribute to N
for all members in your metadata file.
2. Rules must always be tested prior to loading in a production environment to

avoid any pitfalls of poorly designed rules (may cause data explosion from
rules). So efficient rules are critical for acceptable system performance.
3. For attaching multiple documents to Data Grid / Process Unit, Oracle recommends
that you attach no more than three documents to a cell. Each document should be
smaller than 100K to limit the performance effect on the database.
Tip: You can set a size limit for document attachments and a maximum number
of document attachments by user when you create an application. You can set
the limits in the AppSettings attribute for the application metadata.
4. Make use of Consolidate All option only under appropriate circumstances. If this
option is used the system does not skip entities with NODATA, which can have a
significant impact on consolidation performance.
57
4.2 Hyperion Planning
This topic describes how to tune the Oracle Hyperion Planning to optimize the
performance of your Planning applications.
Descriptions here are referenced also into this documentation:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin/launch.html
4.2.1 Planning Properties

You can add or change application or system properties via “Administration, then
Manage Properties”
For further information on Planning properties, please see the Oracle Hyperion
Planning Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin/properts.html
4.2.1.1 Add “SMARTVIEW_COMPRESSION_THRESHOLD” system property

In order to optimize large queries performance for Smart View, the optimal
compression setting should be determined based on the load testing and set in the
Planning System Properties accordingly:
"SMARTVIEW_COMPRESSION_THRESHOLD"
Important Note: By default the SmartView compression is enabled and the

compression threshold is set to default value of 64K. Transmitting 64 Kbytes of data
over fast network is not noticeable. Reason to set default value to too low so that it
will not create unnecessary CPU overhead to server side in multi user access (with
limited server side system resources).
It is highly recommended to only adjust this to any value based on network speed,
sufficient system resources (i.e. CPU, memory) and amount of data (forms size) to be
compressed.
4.2.1.2 JDBC Connections

The JDBC connection settings are set by default to a minimum of 1 and a maximum of
10. The Planning application does not function correctly if you lower the maximum
JDBC_MAX_CONNECTIONS to less than 2.
Tip: To reconfigure JDBC connection pool parameters, change the minimum and
maximum property values:
JDBC_MIN_CONNECTIONS = 10
JDBC_MAX_CONNECTIONS = 45
Important Note: Once the connection pool is increased, you may also need to
increase the number of available connections the database allows. For example, you
may want to increase the number of processes in the Oracle Database.
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4.2.1.3 Allocate memory for supporting detail cache
You can specify the amount of memory for the supporting detail cache. This improves
performance when users change the planning unit status.
To change the default memory allocation for supporting detail cache, change the
SUPPORTING_DETAIL_CACHE_SIZE property. The default is 20. If the Supporting
Detail Detection Cache reaches 75% or greater, Oracle recommends increasing
SUPPORTING_DETAIL_CACHE_SIZE to decrease the Supporting Detail Detection
Cache to 60%.
4.2.1.4 OLAP connection settings

The OLAP connection settings are set by default to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of
10.
Tip: Set the Planning property OLAP_MAX_CONNECTIONS to 20 if you have 100

users. If you need to after careful testing, increase the setting to 100 for 500 users
4.2.1.5 About Runtime Prompts

By default, the values for processed runtime prompts in the application are stored in
the database and available for viewing from the Job Console (select Tools, then Job
Console).
Tip: If many users are running business rules with runtime prompts, tracking these
values consumes significant system resources. To improve performance, you can
turn off this function so Planning does not capture runtime prompt values.
To do so, add the CAPTURE_RTP_ON_JOB_CONSOLE property to the properties

table, with the property value of FALSE (to turn it back on again, change its value to
TRUE).
4.2.2 Application Design Considerations

For further information on Planning Application Design considerations, please see
the Oracle Hyperion Planning Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin/ch04s09.html
4.2.2.1 Clear unnecessary/historical data

Create a Historical application for archiving data after the current planning cycle has
completed to reduce db size in the Planning application.
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4.2.2.2 Separate Planning and Reporting Requirements
Identify requirements that are strictly for reporting purposes and consider moving
the reporting requirements to a separate database to reduce the database size and
improve the calculation times in the Planning application.
4.2.2.3 Dense Sparse Dimension Settings

The following is the typical Planning application dense sparse configuration. Note
that some Planning applications may not follow the typical configuration depending
on the functional requirements of the application.
• Accounts (dense) - In Planning applications, the Accounts dimension
members are usually dense due to the calculation intensive nature of the
dimension. Dense dimensions will calculate faster than sparse dimensions.
• Time (dense) - Most Planning applications have forms set up to enter data
across 12 months. Therefore, the Time periods are usually highly populated
with data and thus are a good candidate for a dense dimension.
Remaining dimensions (sparse) - The Year dimension might appear to be dense in

cases where customers plan over multiple years. However, since years can only be
added and not removed, the Year dimension is typically sparse to avoid increasing
the block size over time.
4.2.2.4 Dense Members Calculated set to Dynamic Calc

Set all Upper Level Members and members containing a formula in a Dense
Dimension to Dynamic Calc to reduce the block size and reduce the amount of data
that needs to be calculated using a script or rule. Dense dynamic calculations do not
cross blocks and have a minimal impact on retrieval times.
4.2.2.5 Dimension Order

Use Planning order for sparse dimensions for applications with large index files or if
calculations are primarily formula calculations and partial aggregations that are run
on save. In the Plannng order, dense members are in order from largest to smallest
and aggregating sparse dimensions are next (smallest to largest) then non-
aggregating sparse dimensions on the bottom (could be largest to smallest or
smallest to largest). Use hourglass order for sparse dimensions if calculations are
run in batch and are primarily full dimension aggregations using the CALC DIM or
AGG statements. In hourglass order, dense members are in order from largest to
smallest and sparse members are in order from smallest to largest.
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4.2.2.6 Typical Planning dense block size
The recommended block size ranges from 8 kb to 100 kb for 32 bit Essbase
installations and from 8 kb to 200 kb for 64 bit Essbase installations. The block size
for Planning applications is usually between 50 kb and 200 kb, although the block
size can be larger or smaller depending on the application requirements.
4.2.2.7 Currency Conversion

Use out of the box currency conversion only for customers where multiple reporting
currencies are required. In cases where only one reporting currencies are required
(e.g. all currencies converted to USD), the currency conversion functionality should
be customized to minimize the number of dimensions.
4.2.2.8 Label Only

Use label only member property wherever possible. This will reduce the number of
blocks on disk if a block is not needed as well as the block size for dense dimensions.
4.2.2.9 Recursive Formulas

Make sure there are no recursive formulas in the outline. If there are recursive
formulas it typically means the formulas are not efficient. If you cannot avoid
recursion then may need to use the CALCLIMITFORMULARECURSION
Essbase.CFG setting to limit recursion to 31 level executions.
For further information on the CALCLIMITFORMULARECURSION setting, please

see the Essbase Technical Reference Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_tech_ref.pdf.
4.2.3 Database Level Settings

For further information on Planning Database Design considerations, please see the
Oracle Hyperion Planning Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin/ch04.html
4.2.3.1 Essbase database fragmentation

Oracle recommends you to monitor Average clustering ratio on a regular basis to
see if your database, after several calculations, is not experiencing highly
fragmented situation. If so, then make sure to put in place a defragmentation
process for your database.
4.2.3.2 Uncommitted Access

Planning applications are set to Uncommitted Access not Committed Access. It is
recommended to stay away from Committed Access with Planning applications
because of the locking. The transactional overhead is too high for databases that are
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being updated constantly. For further information on uncommitted access, please
see the Essbase Database Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_db.pdf.
4.2.3.3 Buffered I/O Access

Buffered I/O, where the OS managers the cache, is typically used in Planning
applications. For further information on Buffered I/O, please see the Essbase
Database Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_db.pdf.
4.2.4 Essbase CFG Settings

Setting PIPEBUFFERSIZE in essbase CFG file to 65534, and Retrieval Buffer Size and
Retrieval Sort Buffer Size to 100k (instead of 20 by default on 64 bits platform) could
improve Web Form performances.
Tip: Check those URLs for more details:
For PIPEBUFFERSIZE:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_tech_ref/pipebuffersize.html
For Retrieval Buffer Size and Retrieval Sort Buffer Size:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_db/drpoptim.html#drpopti
m998656
4.2.5 Data Forms

For further information on Planning Database Design considerations, please see the
Oracle Hyperion Planning Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin/ch04.html
4.2.5.1 Use Grid Diagnostics

Use the grid diagnostics functionality within the Planning Tools menu to identify
long running forms that can have scalability issues in a multi-user environment.
The functionality will provide a diagnostics summary showing the forms that load
in less than one second, between 1 second and 5 seconds and greater than 5 seconds.
Forms loading in more than one second should be considered for re-design.
For further information on grid diagnostics, please see the Oracle Hyperion
Planning Administrator’s Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/planning_admin.pdf.
4.2.5.2 Use Suppress Missing Blocks

Using Suppress Missing Blocks can improve performance. Before using this feature,
it is recommended that you test the impact on performance.
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4.2.5.3 Split Larger Forms into Smaller Forms
Split single larger data forms into multiple smaller data forms with fewer rows and
columns. Organize data forms in folders.
4.2.5 Troubleshooting
4.2.5.1 Fragmentation
Recommend scheduling a defragmentation process on a regular basis, especially on
high processing applications like planning apps. During tuning exercise, run
GetDBStats for Average Fragmentation Quotient, which shows value as a % from 0 -
100%. You should monitor to gauge when defragmentation process is needed.
The following shows the fragmentation quotient levels that can cause performance
issues:
• Small Databases (<200 MB) – 60 % or greater
• Medium Databases (<2 GB) – 40 % or greater
• Large Databases (> 2GB) – 30 % or greater
For further information on the Average Fragmentation Quotient, please see the
Essbase Technical Reference Guide at
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_tech_ref.pdf.
4.2.5.2 Clear options when creating or refreshing application databases

If data forms have a large number of members, performance may be slow when
creating or refreshing applications or opening data forms. You can improve
performance by clearing the Shared Members option in the Manage Database page.
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4.3 Essbase Application Link for HFM
This topic describes how to tune Oracle Essbase Analytic Link for Hyperion
Financial Management (HFM) to optimize your applications.
4.3.1 EAL Tuning Documentation
Please review the following articles/guides:
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_analytics_link_eal_performance
4.3.2 Data Synchronization Service (DSS) Tuning
Few requirements before proceeding:
• EAL is installed on a machine in which there’s 4 to 8 cores and 5to 8 GB RAM
available.
• EAL is installed on Windows 2003 SP2 or 2008 R2 64 bits
• EAL is installed using high speed disks
When configuring DSS, as shown, below:
Important field to define for good performances:

• "Job Units" as <Number of Cores dedicated to DSS> * 1.5
• "Max Memory Size" - ~1G for each Job Unit.
N.B: If DSS machine is 32-bit - max memory size is 2600 MB.
• "Data Store Size" - depends on number of bridges and volume of HFM
applications, but in most cases 50000 MB is enough. This volume should be
available in defined "Data Store Dir" driver.
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4.3.3 Monitoring EAL DSS:
In order to monitor especially what’s going on into EAL Data Synchronization
Service, a command line is directly available onto the machine hosting EAL:
Open a DOS Command window and type the following:
hrutil help
Usage:
hrutil command [command parameters] [general options]
Any command may use the following general options:
[-host:<host>]
[-port:<portnumber>]
[-user:<user>]
[-password:<password>]
List of commands:
version
Shows the hrutil version information.
sqlquery <qid>
Print a Query Statement
queryinfo [-noconnections][-mode][-state][-sql][-dsn][-mem]
List connections and their SQL queries.
killquery <qid> [-q]
Kill a running query. If keyword 'all' is used instead of qid, then all queries will be
killed. If option [-q] is used, no questions will be asked.
updatecol <hdf>
The updatecol command tells HyperRoll that a HDFÆs column types have changed.
This feature will allow the user to update the columns names, type, and width. This
action requires setting hrcmd to the off command and then to the resume
command on the relevant cubes. Note: After column type or width has been
changed, data validation on registration layer becomes invalid.
help
Prints this help.
path hyperini hyperlog odbcini odbclog oeslog esslog.
Provides the full path of the file for each option..
debug <on|off> [facility]
Turns ON or OFF the specified debug facility. Supported debug facilities: api, select,
source, mirror, sql, sqlscan, sqlprep, reserv, grid, alg.
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printhier <HierarchyID> <FileName>
Prints the structure of the designated hierarchy. The value for <hierID> is found in
printids.
printdim <DimesionID> <FileName>
Prints the structure of the designated dimension in a file. The value for <dimID> is
found in printids
note <text note>
Inserts a note to HyperRoll Log.
printids ([all] | dbs | cubes) [-short]
When set to all, this command prints the entire path of the IDs of all objects,
including databases and cubes. When set to dbs, this command prints only the IDs
of the databases. When set to cubes, this command prints only the IDs of the cubes.
Added the option ûshort will print the name of the cube without the whole path.
getconf [K]
Provides relevant information on the configuration of HyperRoll. By default, this
information is given in MB. If [k] is added, the information is given in KB.
monitorjobs [detailed]
Status of jobs that are running in HyperRoll.
proclist
Shows a list of processes and their status.
pidof dbmanager|fbs|named|misc|auth
Display process id of a process.
start dbmanager|fbs|named|misc|auth
Start the designated process.
stop <proc>
Stops the designated process.
Examples:
Hrutil getconf should provide the following:
======= HyperRoll information =======
Memory: PhysicalRAM(8191M 3125M) HR(3988M 2862M) VMem(1015M) Query
Limit(5000M)
Res(70M) RegRes(70M)
CPU time: 1175 +1175
Calendar time: 1380115648 +1380115648
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CPU usage is 0.0% in last 1380115648 seconds
IO: 212926 reads, 5567 writes
server version: 2.2.13.155 LLP64(P64)
client version: 2.2.13.155 ILP32
Max Clients: SQL=0 QSR=0
Queries: peak=1 current=0 past=2807
Stores: id limit size avail name
1 10000 29234 14855 D:/Oracle/EssbaseAnalyticsLink/Work/Store
Maximum number of init jobs: 4
Workers:speed working mode treeSz / treeSzB vldTime
0.0000 suspend query-only 0G 0G 0
0.0000 running all-jobs 0G 0G 0
0.0000 suspend all-jobs 0G 0G 0
0.0000 suspend light-weight 0G 0G 0
0.0000 suspend light-weight 0G 0G 0
=====================================
Where,
all-jobs workers – are JOB_UNITS
query-only workers – are QUERY_ONLY_UNITS
light-weight workers – are responsible for EAL – DSS APIs execution (not relevant
in your case)
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4.3 Financial Management Analytics
This topic describes how to tune Oracle Hyperion Financial Management Analytics
(OFMA) to optimize your applications.
4.3.1 OFMA Tuning Documentation

Please review the following official documentation:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/ofma_11123000_admin/apa.html
4.3.2 Setting Caching for BI Server

Please review official documentation section:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/ofma_11123000_admin/apas02.html
4.3.3 Setting caches for BI Server in a clustered environment

4.3.4 Turn BI Server logs Off in PRODUCTION

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4.5 Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management (Standard Costing)
This topic describes how to tune Oracle Hyperion Profitability and Cost
Management (Standard Costing) to optimize your applications.
4.5.1 HPCM Tuning Documentation

Please review Appendix F of the Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management
Administrator’s Guide
(http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/hpm_admin.pdf)
4.5.2 Outline Optimization for Calculation Performance

Outline optimization for calculation performance was posted in the CEAL Blog in
June 2012 (https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/hpcm_11_1_2_x)
A few other tuning techniques can be used to optimize HPCM:
• Calculation optimization for multiple POV was posted in the CEAL Blog in
December 2011: https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/hpcm_11_1_2_optimising
• Commit Block Tuning related to HPCM was posted in the CEAL Blog in
January 2012: https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_11_1_2_commit
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5.0 TUNING FOUNDATION SERVICES
This chapter describes how to tune the foundation services to optimize the
performance of your EPM applications.
5.1 Enterprise Performance Management Workspace

This topic describes how to tune the Foundation Services to optimize the
performance of your EPM system.
• The new Foundation Services Web application consolidates to one JVM and
includes Shared Services and EPM Workspace web applications. Increase the
Foundation Services JVM memory settings as stated in section "Tuning Java
Virtual Machines (JVM)"of this guide.
• To resolve slow logon to EPM Workspace web, ensure that all integrated
applications are started or disable integrated applications that are not started, on
the Workspace Server Settings panel. To access Workspace Server Settings, select
Navigate, then Administer, and then Workspace Server Settings. See Oracle
Enterprise Performance Management Workspace Administrator's Guide.
5.2 Enterprise Performance Management Architect (EPMA)

This topic describes how to tune the following EPM Architect components to
optimize the performance of your EPM applications.
• Performance Management Architect Web application (EPMA Web) and Data
Synchronizer Web application: Increase the JVM memory settings as stated in
section "Tuning Java Virtual Machines (JVM)" of this guide.
5.2.1 Basic Performance Consideration

• EPMA creates transactions in the Performance Management Architect database.
Since the database size can increase over time, you can use the “Transaction
History Purge Utility” to remove transactions from the database and reduce the
database size. For using “Transaction History Purge Utility” refer to “EPMA
Administrator Guide” on page 118.
(http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/epma_help/epma_trans_purge.html).
Tip: Optimize EPMA relational databases size by deleting unnecessary
transactions greatly improves response time.
Important Note: Using this utility can generate a large number of native database log
entries. A large number of these entries can significantly increase the storage used by
your database. You can use a variety of methods to manage transaction logging space,
depending on your database type (Oracle, SQL Server). Note: Reclaiming logging space
is a task that should be performed by a database administrator.
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5.3 Hyperion Shared Services
This topic describes how to tune the Shared Services to optimize the performance of
your EPM system.
For 11.1.2.x:
• The new Foundation Services Web application consolidates to one JVM and
includes these Web applications: Shared Services and EPM Workspace. Increase
the Foundation Services JVM memory settings as stated in section "Tuning Java
Virtual Machines (JVM)"of this guide.
• Use the default log level <WARN> in usual circumstances and <DEBUG> only for
debugging.
• Login performance is better when the number of nesting’s within the group
membership hierarchy is less than 5. Note the performance has improved for the
native groups in the 11.1.2 release because native groups are now cached along
with external groups. There are no more extra look-ups to Native Directory for
the native group membership.
• Set up a filter to retrieve only the required users. Oracle recommends that you set
the group URL and tune the group filter to decrease the number of groups that
Shared Services must parse to build the cache. Doing so improves runtime
performance significantly.
• Use native groups, not external groups, to provision external users, and clear the
use group’s option on the groups tab of LDAP/MSAD provider configuration
panel.
• Limit the number of users with EPM System access. Always define a User URL
and set it as deep as possible and also set a user filter, if possible.
• Consider to fine tune more parameters i.e. MaximumSize, Max Connections,
settings, Cache Refresh Interval etc during "Configuring User Directories" process
(for more information refer to Oracle EPM User and Role Security Guide).
• For the first item in the search order, specify the directory from which the
greatest number of users logs in. Find an optimal starting point for searches or
create a custom group hierarchy.
• If you see error “LDAP response read timed out timeout used: 120000ms” in
SharedServices_SecurityClient.log then lower the default value of this timeout for
external providers. This can cause Essbase Agent process to hang so lowering this
timeout value may help to resolve the Essbase agent hang issue.
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For 11.1.2.3:
• Login performance is improved when users login after the EPM System is idle
for some time, by recreating the master context for the LDAP/MSAD provider
periodically. So, this connection is closed even before it is terminated at the
Firewall or Load Balancer
• Set <masterContextTimeToLive> attribute within the LDAP/MSAD provider in

the CSSConfig file. Default value is 15 minutes. Best practice is to set this value to
1 or 2 minutes less than the Firewall or Load Balancer timeout. Time is in
minutes
<ldap name=“MyLDAP”>
…
<url>ldap://myldap.oracle.com:389/dc=oracle,dc=com</url>
<masterContextTimeToLive>10</masterContextTimeToLive>
…
</ldap>
• It is possible that group cache could be empty if there is some error while
building it. Thus it is empty till the next cache refresh interval. During this time if
a user is logged in who is provisioned via groups, won’t get proper roles.
• Now group cache is attempted every time a request comes to group cache and
gets built eventually
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5.3 SmartView for Office
This topic describes how to tune the SmartView for Office to optimize the
performance of your EPM system.
• SmartView uses browser cache to store locally information in XML format. If you
are performing constantly different requests from the same Excel Sheet,
performances could slow down because the cache is growing. A quick test
should be to open a new Excel sheet, which should open a new cache area and
could improve performances, because access to cache will be quicker.
• Select the option to Use Excel Formatting. Without this option, Smart View will
reformat each cell based on the grid operations you perform. It will also mark
cells as “to calc” each time you change data values. These activities add system
overhead to all Refreshes, making them taking longer.
• The most efficient performance will result from small, focused queries on a
specific subset of data. Zooming in on extremely large dimensions will cause
slow performance. If you absolutely must zoom in on larger dimensions,
suppressing rows that have no data or zero data will help.
• Keeping the default options for displaying No Data, No Access, and Invalid cells
will decrease the time needed for a retrieve. The difference in retrieval timing is
much more noticeable when using very large (10,000+ rows) queries.
Tip: This is due to XML storage on the client browser that will be less large than
expected so the cache is locally quicker to build, and retrieve.
73
• The bigger your Excel workbook, the slower your Smart View queries will run.
This is why running a query in an Excel workbook that has many other
worksheets can take a long, long time. Retrieval performance will be optimized if
the Smart View query is the only tab in the workbook. If other worksheets are
being used, the overall size of the file itself will have the biggest impact on
performance. Queries used in larger files (over 10 MB) are very likely to run
slowly.
Tip: It is better to build links between workbooks that between Excel sheets if
you need to manage different set of information.
• Turn off the preserve formulas option when retrieving against an ASO Essbase
cube. This has been known to make retrieves taking much longer than normal. It
also can dramatically increase the size of the Excel file itself when this setting is
on.
• The Excel AutoRecover option can create performance issues or even cause the
query to crash. For example, if the AutoRecover option is set to every 3 minutes,
a query that takes longer than 3 minutes to retrieve will cause Excel to crash.
Disable this option if you are using large queries.
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6.0 TUNING ESSBASE
This chapter includes the following sections that provide a quick start for tuning
Essbase BSO / ASO applications.
6.1 Essbase Aggregate Storage (ASO) Tuning

For full design, tuning and limits details refer to the Oracle EPM Essbase
Documentation Release 11.1.2.3
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/nav/portal_3.htm
The key Essbase guides that should be reviewed for all design, tuning and limits
considerations are:
• Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide
• Oracle Essbase Technical Reference
• Oracle Essbase Administration Services (Online Help)
The following topics are additional design, tuning and limits considerations to
optimize Essbase Aggregate Storage (ASO) performance; however, for full details
see the guides referenced above.
6.1.1 Outline
See the Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide for complete details
regarding Aggregate Storage Outline design and tuning.
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_db.pdf
The following sections are to help guide with tuning areas. Only methodical
performance and load testing can determine the optimal settings for a given
application design and process.
6.1.1.1 Compacting the Outline File

It is recommended to include an ASO outline compacting process as part of a
normal maintenance process. When you delete members from an aggregate storage
outline, the corresponding records of members in the outline file (.otl file) are
marked as deleted but remain in the file.
NOTE: Compacting the outline file will not cause Essbase to clear the data.
6.1.1.2 Compression Dimension

The choice of compression dimension can significantly affect performance. A good
candidate for a compression dimension is one that optimizes data compression
while maintaining retrieval performance.
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Another consideration when choosing a compression dimension is how well it is
expected to compress the database. The size of the compressed database changes
depending on which dimension is tagged as compression.
Selecting the best compression dimension requires methodical testing to ensure the
appropriate setting is selected for a given design, process and data distribution.
NOTE: Changing the compression dimension triggers a full restructure of the

database.
6.1.1.3 Dynamic Calculations Log Messages

The Essbase ASO application log has some informative messages related to dynamic
calculations that can be helpful with tuning.
The following message indicates that the ASO optimization member needs more
memory to process the MDX member formulas. In this case, consider adding
MAXFORMULACACHESIZE configuration setting to the Essbase.cfg file.
• Not enough memory for formula execution. Set
MAXFORMULACACHESIZE configuration parameter to [xxxx] KB and try
again.
For additional information on ASO dynamic calculation log messages, see the blog
post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_understanding
6.1.1.4 MDX Outline Formulas

See the Oracle Essbase Technical Reference for complete details regarding Aggregate
Storage MDX Outline Formulas.
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_tech_ref.pdf
The NONEMPTYMEMBER and NONEMPTYTUPLE properties enable MDX in

Essbase to query on large sets of members or tuples while skipping formula
execution on non-contributing values that contain only #MISSING data. Because
large sets tend to be very sparse, only a few members contribute to the input
member (have non #MISSING values) and are returned. As a result, the use of
NONEMPTYMEMBER and NONEMPTYTUPLE in calculated members and
formulas conserves memory resources, allowing for better scalability, especially in
concurrent user environments.
Example: Tuning MDX formula using a NON EMPTY directive:

1. The measure member [Units] is a loaded value
2. The measure member [Avg. Units/Transaction] is calculated using formula
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[Avg. Units/Transaction] = [Units]/[Transactions]
3. The value of [Avg. Units/Transaction] is empty if value of [Units] is empty
4. The calculation of [Avg. Units/Transaction] can be skipped if value of [Units] is
empty
5. We can add the NON EMPTY directive for [Avg. Units/Transaction] by rewriting
the formula as
[Avg. Units/Transaction] = NONEMPTYMEMBER [Units]
[Units]/[Transactions]
The application log will contain hints on which MDX formulas could benefit with
using the NON EMPTY directives. The query performance improvements obtained
from defining NON EMPTY directives properly in each MDX outline member
formulas can be very significant. The performance improvements increase with the
complexity of the formula and sparseness of the data.

See the Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide for complete details regarding
Aggregate Storage Database Settings tuning.
6.1.2.1 Pending Cache Size Limit (MB)

Aggregate storage Pending Cache Size Limit (MB) memory is utilized during data
loads, aggregations, and retrievals. Pending Cache Size Limit (MB) is not used
during dimension building or outline restructuring. Aggregate storage Pending
Cache Size Limit (MB) is allocated on demand.
Typically, ASO databases with > 20 million input level cells, default of 32 MB cache
is sufficient. ASO databases with < 20 million input level cells, 64 to 128 MB cache
may be more appropriate. ASO databases with 1 billion cells or more, the Pending
Cache Size Limit may be set as high as 512 MB or 1 GB if the available memory
permits it. However, it is not recommended to set Pending Cache Size Limit (MB) to
more than half of the machine's total physical memory. The reason is that it is
beneficial to leave space for the operating system's file cache. Also, there is a
diminishing benefit to making the Pending Cache Size Limit (MB) larger and larger.
For example, there is a huge benefit to increasing the Pending Cache Size Limit (MB)
from the default 32 MB to 64 or 128 MB; however, beyond about 1GB, the effect of
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increasing the cache will probably not be noticeable unless running parallel data
loads.
Tuning Pending Cache Size Limit (MB) requires methodical testing to ensure the
appropriate setting is selected for a given design, process and data distribution.
6.1.2.2 Retrieval Buffer Size

The retrieval buffers are a server buffer per database that holds extracted row data
cells per user query. When the retrieval buffer is full, the rows are processed and
the buffer is reused. If these buffers are too small, frequent reuse of the area can
increase retrieval times. If these buffers are too large, too much memory may be
used when concurrent users perform queries while also increasing retrieval times.
Important Note: It is recommended to start with default values and incrementally

increase during load testing using the largest user reports. Since this setting is per
user report request, it may lead to wasted memory so only set to what is needed.
Also note the retrieval buffers are allocated per thread. Oracle recommends that you
do not exceed 100 KB, although the size limit is set at 100,000 KB.
6.1.3 Data Load

regarding Aggregate Storage Data Load tuning.
6.1.3.1 Incremental Data Updates

When performing incremental updates to an Essbase Aggregate Storage (ASO)
outline, depending on the nature of the incremental updates, could trigger either a
full or light outline restructure.
For additional information on ASO incremental data updates, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_aggregate_storage_aso_incremental
6.1.3.2 Merge Data Slices

When performing an Aggregate Storage (ASO) application copy, it is necessary to
merge all data slices first so that all data in the ASO application will be copied
properly. For additional information on ASO merging data slices before copying an
ASO application, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/merge_data_slices_before_copying
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6.1.3.3 Table Space
The ASO kernel stores data in two different table spaces, “default” and “temp.” The
“default” table space is used to store cube cells, both level zero input cells and
aggregated cells. The “temp” table space is used for intermediate storage of cells
during data load, aggregation, and large queries. There could be data load
improvement by separating the two table spaces into two difference physical drives.
6.1.4 Aggregation
regarding Aggregate Storage Aggregate Views tuning.
6.1.4.1 Aggregation Methods

The default selection of aggregate views proposed by Essbase provides excellent
performance for most ASO applications. To optimize aggregations for different
database retrieval situations, such as for generating reports or user queries, you may
need to repeat the tuning process, creating an aggregation script for each situation.
There are several aggregate view options in EAS Console and MaxL that should be
methodically tested to ensure the appropriate aggregation view option is selected
for a given design, process and data distribution.
Ref to the Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide and Oracle Essbase
Technical Reference to review these areas:
• Default Aggregation Option
• Stopping When Total_Size Exceeds a Certain Size Option
• Enable Alternate_Rollups Option
• Query Tracker Enabled Option
• ASOSAMPLESIZEPERCENT Essbase.cfg setting to control the views generated
more efficiently
6.1.5 Essbase.cfg Settings

See the Oracle Essbase Technical Reference for a complete list of configuration
settings that apply to Aggregate Storage applications.
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6.1.5.1 Suggested ASO CFG Settings to Review:

CFG Setting
AGENTTHREADS For additional information on these settings, see the blog
AGTSVRCONNECTIONS post
SERVERTHREADS https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_11_1_2_agtsvrco
nnections
NETDELAY For additional information on these settings, see the blog

NETRETRYCOUNT post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_in2
NO_HOSTNAME_LISTCON For additional information on this setting, see the blog post
NECT https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_add
ASOSAMPLESIZEPERCENT For additional information on this settings, see the blog

post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_aasosample
sizepercent
MAXFORMULACACHESIZE http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E10530_01/doc/epm.931/html_es
b_techref/config/maxformulacachesize.htm
It is strongly recommended that the default value be used than incrementally

increase the value during methodical performance and load testing to find the best
setting.
It is strongly recommended to not randomly set Essbase configuration setting values
high without understanding what the setting does and how it works. Also,
methodical testing will uncover issues with higher then needed settings. For
instances, it is recommended to set the NETDELAY / NETRETRYCOUNT timeout
settings to default values, which is 2 minutes. If need be, the max amount of timeout
that is recommended should not be above 5 minutes. The reason is because there
have been customers reporting Essbase “hangs”; However, technically there is no
“hang” until this “hang” exceeds the NETDELAY / NETRETRYCOUNT settings.
Meaning, if timeout is set to 17 minutes and the “hang” resolved in 10 minutes, this
would not be considered a “hang” until the hang was longer than 17 minutes. At
this point, an investigation into what processes are taking that long should be done.
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6.2 Essbase Block Storage (BSO) Tuning
For full design, tuning and limits details refer to the Oracle EPM Essbase
Documentation Release 11.1.2.3
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/nav/portal_3.htm
The key Essbase guides that should be reviewed for all design, tuning and limits
considerations are:
• Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide
• Oracle Essbase Technical Reference
• Oracle Essbase Administration Services (Online Help)
The following topics are additional design, tuning and limits considerations to
optimize Essbase Block Storage (BSO) performance; however, for full details see the
guides referenced above.
6.2.1 Outline
regarding Block Storage Outline design and tuning.
6.2.1.1 Sparse/Dense Configuration

Determine the best dimensions for sparse/dense configuration. Typically, the best
dense dimensions are found to be the Accounts and Period dimensions. Data
distribution and process are typically the driving force with determination the best
sparse/dense configuration.
The sparse/dense configuration drives the size of the compressed on disk and
uncompressed block size in memory. This can impact several areas of performance
including disk IO performance, which is why methodical testing is needed to
determine the best configuration.
6.2.1.2 Dimension Order

General rule of thumb for any Essbase BSO application is to start in hour-glass
order, which is dense dimensions first most to least than sparse dimensions least to
most. The “most” and “least” are typically based on total number of stored
members.
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General rule of thumb for any Planning application is to start with dense dimensions
first but then sparse dimensions with the aggregating dimensions on top than non-
aggregation dimensions on the bottom.
Dimension order is critical because it impacts calculator cache usage and determines
how parallel threads are split into independent tasks.
6.2.1.3 Member Properties

Determining the right Member Properties is critical in that it can impact both query
and calculation performance. Placing the right Member Property flag i.e. Dynamic
Calc, Label Only or Never Shares will impact the size the database thereby
impacting performance. For example, implied share is enabled by default in Essbase
so when “Never Share” is used on the parent member, this causes a parent and child
to have their own blocks, which will increase the size of the number of blocks
therefore the database size. The more blocks that are read into memory and written
back to disk, the more impact there is to performance.

regarding Block Storage Database Settings tuning.
6.2.2.1 Index Cache

If there is enough memory on the Essbase server, it is recommended to set Index
Cache to hold all of the ess*.ind files.
It is not recommended to set Index Cache higher than needed to cache all ess*.ind
files. There will be no performance improvement and only wasting memory
allocation.
6.2.2.2 Data Cache

Data Cache holds uncompressed blocks i.e. “expanded blocks”. The expanded or
uncompressed block does not include dynamically calculated cells.
For Buffered IO, at the time a block is read into Essbase memory, the block is
immediately uncompressed or expanded and put into the Data Cache.
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For Direct IO, at the time a block is read into Essbase memory, the block remains
compressed and put to the Data File Cache which will later be uncompressed and
put to the Data Cache.
Sizing Data Cache should be done based on the expanded block size, which can be
calculated from the number of dense cells that are not virtual members i.e. Actual
Block Size in GetDBStats. See Commit Blocks for another option to size Data Cache.
Sizing Data File Cache is virtually the sum of the sizes of the ess*.pag files.
6.2.2.3 Compression Type

Typically, in most Essbase BSO applications, depending on data type, bitmap works
best. The best compression type depends on the data pattern, therefore, it is
recommended methodical testing be done to find the best compression type. For
example:
Jan Feb Mar

50 50 50 <---- most likely will compress best under RLE
10 1000 200 <---- most likely will compress best under bitmap
6.2.2.4 Commit Blocks

For some BSO applications, default implicit commit setting (3,000) is not appropriate
because compressed block size is so small that transactions are committed too often,
which produces too much overhead. Given the current state of transaction, the
application log provides a hint on a better commit threshold by adjusting the
commit block intervals automatically.
Commit block adjustment interval is based on a range from 3,000 to 100,000.

Meaning, commit blocks will not adjust higher than 100,000. Adjustment intervals
can happen with any setting if the algorithm determines block size is small and
commit blocks occurs too often.
For additional information on BSO Commit Block tuning, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_11_1_2_commit
Important Note: On some Planning apps where user concurrency is high, then the
commit block setting should not be set too high in order to avoid locking issues.
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6.2.2.5 Retrieval Buffer Size
The retrieval buffers are a server buffer per database that holds extracted row data
cells per user query.
When the retrieval buffer is full, the rows are processed and the buffer is reused. If
these buffers are too small, frequent reuse of the area can increase retrieval times. If
these buffers are too large, too much memory may be used when concurrent users
perform queries while also increasing retrieval times.
Important Note: It is recommended to start with default values and incrementally

increase during load testing using the largest user reports. Since this setting is per
user report request, it may lead to wasted memory so only set to what is needed.
Also note the retrieval buffers are allocated per thread.
Oracle recommends that you do not exceed 100 KB, although the size limit is set at
100,000 KB.
6.2.3 Calculation Commands (used in calc scripts or business rules)

regarding Block Storage Calculation Commands tuning.
See the Oracle Essbase Technical Reference for a complete list of Calculation
Commands that apply to Block Storage applications.
6.2.3.1 Suggested BSO Calculation Commands to Review:

AGG vs. CALC DIM
CALCMODE
SET CACHE
SET CALCPARALLEL
SET CALCTASKDIMS
SET FRMLBOTTOMUP
SET FRMLRTDYNAMIC
SET LOCKBLOCK
SET MSG
SET NOTICE
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SET REMOTECALC
SET RUNTIMESUBVARS
SET UPDATECALC
6.2.3.2 General Best Practices for Calculation Commands

• Unary calculations are the fastest
• Calculate dense members before sparse members
• Calculate only what is needed
• Typically, IF on dense members and FIX on sparse members
• Minimize the number of passes on the database
• Best to use parallel threads on aggregations and serial on formulas. Setting all
calc scripts to parallel thread making Essbase force serial with some
formulas/calc commands adds overhead to the calculation. It is best to set
parallel threads only where it is used and not initiate the overhead when serial
thread is forced. Be aware of user concurrency when using CALCPARALLEL.
• Make sure Schedules Tasks exceed Empty Tasks at least by 50% when using
parallel threads. If Empty Tasks are close or equal to Scheduled Tasks, parallel
thread overhead is not worth initializing.
For additional information on other BSO Calculation Commands, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_11_1_2_optimisation
6.2.4 Essbase.cfg Settings

See the Oracle Essbase Technical Reference for a complete list of configuration
settings that apply to Block Storage applications.
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/essbase_tech_ref.pdf . The following
sections are to help guide with tuning areas. Only methodical performance and load
testing can determine the optimal settings for a given application design and
process.
6.2.4.1 Suggested BSO CFG Settings to Review:

CFG Setting
AGENTTHREADS For additional information on these settings, see the blog
AGTSVRCONNECTIONS post
SERVERTHREADS https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_11_1_2_agtsvr
connections
NETDELAY For additional information on these settings, see the blog

NETRETRYCOUNT post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_in2
NO_HOSTNAME_LISTCONNECT For additional information on this setting, see the blog
post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_add
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It is strongly recommended that the default value be used than incrementally
increase the value during methodical performance and load testing to find the best
setting.
It is strongly recommended to not randomly set Essbase configuration setting values

high without understanding what the setting does and how it works. Also,
methodical testing will uncover issues with higher then needed settings. For
instances, it is recommended to set the NETDELAY / NETRETRYCOUNT timeout
settings to default values, which is 2 minutes. If need be, the max amount of timeout
that is recommended should not be above 5 minutes. The reason is because there
have been customers reporting Essbase “hangs”; However, technically there is no
“hang” until this “hang” exceeds the NETDELAY / NETRETRYCOUNT settings.
Meaning, if timeout is set to 17 minutes and the “hang” resolved in 10 minutes, this
would not be considered a “hang” until the hang was longer than 17 minutes. At
this point, an investigation into what processes are taking that long should be done.
6.3 Troubleshooting
6.3.1 EAS Launching Multiple Essbase Sessions
If a job initiated from EAS takes longer than 5 minutes, a new Essbase connection
and a new Essbase session will be launched before the first session has completed.
An Essbase connection and a new session will be launched at 5 minute intervals
while the job is running in Essbase, creating multiple sessions per job and
unnecessarily creating a heavier load on the Essbase agent.
For additional information on EAS Launching Multiple Essbase Sessions, see the
blog post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/eas_jobs_taking_longer_than
6.3.2 Essbase Agent / LDAP Timeout in Shared Services

For additional information on Essbase Agent / LDAP Timeout in Shared Services,
see the blog post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_essbase
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6.3.3 Essbase Java Heap Size
Increase the Java heap size only during peak periods with a large number of
concurrent logins when Essbase agent runs out of memory or terminates
abnormally.
For additional information on Essbase Java Heap Size, see the CEAL blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/epm_11_1_2_how1
Important Note: When tuning the heap size for Essbase, there are two
JVM_OPTIONS settings available for Essbase - one for the Essbase Agent and one
for the Essbase applications that are using Custom Defined Functions (CDFs),
Custom Defined Macros (CDMs), data mining, triggers or external authentication.
For additional information on these two Essbase Java Heap Settings, see the blog
post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/jvm_option_settings_for_essbase
6.3.4 Essbase “Virtual Cube” BSO Tuning

An Essbase “virtual cube” is a specific design setup where transparent partitioning
is used and consists of multiple source databases that are partitioned to a single
target Block Storage (BSO) database.
For additional information on Essbase “Virtual Cube” BSO Tuning, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_virtual_cube_bso_tuning
6.3.5 Fragmentation on BSO Applications

regarding Block Storage Fragmentation tuning.
Recommend scheduling a defragmentation process on a regular based especially on

high processing applications like planning applications.
For additional information on fragmentation on BSO applications, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/essbase_bso_data_fragmentation
6.3.6 IMPLIED_SHARE Essbase CFG Setting

If you need to disable all implied shares in a given outline, there is an Essbase
configuration setting that can be set in the Essbase.cfg file. As part of the supported
“best practice” steps, it is recommended to rebuild the outline after the
IMPLIED_SHARE <ApplicationName> FALSE setting is in place. However, if
rebuilding the outline is challenging, there is a way to set an existing outline to have
implied share disabled; however, there are risks associated with these steps and no
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guarantee the metadata and data implied share setting are in sync. If there are any
issues after following the “unsupported” steps, Oracle Support will require that the
supported steps be followed first.
For additional information on these “unsupported” steps, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/disabling_implied_share_for_an1
6.3.7 Transaction Logging

Essbase BSO applications with high end user processing should use the transaction
logging feature as part of the disaster recovery processes.
For additional information on these Essbase BSO transaction logging, see the blog
post https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/using_transaction_logging_to_recover
6.3.8 Upgrading Existing Essbase Outline

After upgrading an existing Essbase outline to 11.1.2.3 and there are unexpected
performance issues i.e. refreshing the outline, data loads, query performance, etc.,
there could have been a migration issue with the outline after the upgrade.
For additional information on Essbase outline migration issues, see the blog post
https://blogs.oracle.com/pa/entry/performance_issues_after_upgrading_essbase
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7.0 TUNING REPORTING AND ANALYSIS
This chapter includes the following sections that provide a quick start for tuning the
performance of your reports.
7.1 Tune Reporting And Analysis Framework (RAF) Services

This topic describes how to tune the Reporting And Analysis Framework Services
(a.k.a. Workspace Service) to optimize the performance of your Oracle® EPM
System.
7.1.1 Tune RAF Properties

-Dmax_db_pool_size 50 200
Increase the DB connection pool for repository metadata
connections
Tip: To change the value to 200, for example, add “-
Dmax_db_pool_size=200” to the list of JAVA_OPTS for the
Reporting and Analysis Framework Properties. Note that
increasing this value increases the amount of memory that
the RAF Service uses, regardless of whether the connections
in the pool are used.
Reporting And Analysis Java Heap size Xms (MB) = 128 Xms (MB) = 1024
Xmx (MB) = 750 Xmx (MB) = 2048
Tip: To apply above settings, in EPM Workspace you need to Select Navigate, then
Administer, then Reporting and Analysis, and then Services. Right-click the
Reporting and Analysis Framework service and select Properties. Modify the
desired properties as per screenshot below and then click OK.
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7.1.2 Tune Max Connections
Tune maximum number of connections allowed for RAF services. When increasing
the maximum connections consider the memory allocation for the connections you
allow. You must increase the maximum number of file descriptors on some systems,
such as UNIX.
Important Note: The maximum connection to each service agent is 100 by default.
Under load, this value may not be sufficient. Use the below suggested settings as a
starting point, and then, after careful testing, adjust as needed
Service Broker 100 500
Job Service 100 500
Event Service 100 500
Repository 100 500
Tip: To apply above settings, in EPM Workspace you need to Select Navigate, then
Administer, then Reporting and Analysis, and then Services. Right-click the
Reporting and Analysis Framework service and select Properties. Increase the Max
Connections to “500” for each service highlighted in screenshot below and then click
OK.
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7.2 Financial Reporting
This topic describes how to tune the Financial Reporting to optimize the
performance of your reports.
7.2.1 Tune JVM Heap Size

The following three Financial Reporting server components have been combined
into one server component: FR Reports server, FR Web Applications server, and FR
Scheduler server. The Printer server still remains a separate server component.
Increase the FR Web Applications server JVM memory settings as stated in section
"Tuning Java Virtual Machines (JVM)"of this guide.
7.2.2 Tune Server parameters
For tuning Server parameters, see chapter “Property Information” in Oracle Financial
Reporting Workspace Administrator's Guide.
(http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fr_webadmin/ch03.html)
Especially, the following parameters had been proven in modifying concurrency on
Financial Reporting:
Name Default Value Description
The number of parallel threads that a
particular Scheduled Job will spawn to
BatchBurstingThreads 10
handle the scenario where a batch is being
burst.
Use this property to enable caching of ADM
connection (for connecting to Oracle
CacheADMConnectionBasedOnSession true Essbase, Oracle Hyperion Planning and
Oracle Hyperion Financial Management) in
a connection pool for each user session.
Specify whether all snapshots and snapshot
books produced by the scheduler generate
and cache PDFs in Workspace. This will
improve initial PDF retrieval times for
snapshots for Web viewers.
Note:
This will require additional space in EPM
Workspace.
CachePDFForSnapshots false
Note:
Regardless of this setting, PDFs are cached
in Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance
Management Workspace after the first
request for a snapshot or snapshot book in
PDF format. The default is “false”. Valid
values are “true” and “false” (case
sensitive).
Specify the number of printers available for
ClassicPrintServerPrinterPool 5
PDF output. By default the install creates 5
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printers. Additional printers can be created
by editing HRCreatePrinters.ini and
running HRCreatePrinters.exe in
financialreporting\bin.
Specify the frequency (in milliseconds) at
which the
MinimumConnectionInactiveTime cleanup
CleanUpThreadDelay 300000
thread runs. The default is to check for
inactive connections every 300000
milliseconds (5 minutes).
In Annotations, if you have a database rack
and failover happens, how long, in
DbConnRetryInterval
milliseconds, do you want to wait for a
successful attempt to the database.
In Annotations, if you have a database rack
DbMaxConnectAttempts and failover happens, how many retries to
connect should be made.
Specify, in minutes, the frequency at which
the web Application Server sends replies
back to the browser client. This is useful if
HRWebKeepAliveInterval 1
http traffic passes through a proxy server
that imposes timeouts. The default is one
minute
Proxy server hostname for any http
HTTPProxyHost connections required by Financial Reporting
Books.
Proxy server Port number for any HTTP
HTTPProxyPort connections required by Financial Reporting
Books.
Report Server Calculation Setting. Specify
the maximum number of calculation
iterations for all grids and cells. During the
calculation process of a grid, it may be
necessary to evaluate a cell multiple times
due to reference precedence. This mostly
occurs in grids with references to other
MaximumCalculationIterations 5
grids. If there are no circular references and
calculation cells are retuning Error,
increasing the value may resolve the
problem. The default is 5.
Note:
Making the number very high may degrade
grid execution performance.
Connection Manager Setting. The
Connection Manager is a subcomponent of
MinimumConnectionInactiveTime 300000
the Report Server, Web Application and
Financial Reporting Studio. The lifetime of a
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data source connection is determined by
MinimumConnectionInactiveTime. Specify
the minimum time (in milliseconds) before
an inactive data source connection is closed
by the MinimumConnectionInactiveTime
cleanup thread. The default is to close
connections that have remained inactive for
300000 milliseconds (5 minutes).
Specify the time (in milliseconds) that
completed Reports, Snapshots, Books, and
Snapshot books remain on the print server
(for generating PDF or printing) before they
PrintServerResultCacheTime 6000000 are removed (the period of time before
which uncollected, or "orphaned", results
are deleted). The default is to remove results
that run longer than 6000000 milliseconds (1
hour).
which the PrintServerResultCacheTime
cleanup thread runs. Setting this too low
PrintServerResultsCleanUpThreadDelay 36000000 could cause running requests to be
terminated and removed. The default is to
check for uncollected results every 36000000
milliseconds (10 hours).
Comma separated list of print servers
available to the report server in the
PrintServers
‘server:port’ format. For example:
printserver1:10999, printserver2:10999.
Specify the maximum number of threads
created for printing/generating PDF files at
one time. The default is based on the
number of CPUs in the host machine. Five
PrintingMaxThreads 10
threads are allowed for each CPU. For
example, the default for a system with two
CPUs is ten threads. Specifying 0 allows an
unlimited number of threads to be created
Specify the maximum number of threads
created for running reports at any time. The
default is based on the number of CPUs in
the host machine - 5 threads per CPU.
1 CPU = 5 threads
ReportServerMaxThreads 5
2 CPUs = 10 threads
3 CPUs = 15 threads
4 or more CPUs = 20 threads
Specifying 0 allows an unlimited number of
threads to be created.
ReportServerReportCacheTime 72000000 Specify the time (in milliseconds) that
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completed Reports, Snapshots, Books, and
Snapshot books will remain on the Report
Server before they are removed. (The period
of time before which uncollected, or
"orphaned", results are deleted. A result
may become orphaned, for example, if a
user requests a report, then closes his web
browser before the report finishes running.)
The default is to remove results that run
longer than 72000000 milliseconds (20
hours).
which the ReportServerReportCacheTime
cleanup thread runs. Setting this too low
ReportServerReportCleanUpThreadDelay 36000000 could cause running requests to be
terminated and removed. The default is to
check for uncollected results every 36000000
milliseconds (10 hours).
Configuration setting for the Financial
Reporting scheduler server. Specify the time
in milliseconds to retain completed batch
results. For example, to delete batch results
older than 5 days specify 432000000
milliseconds. The
ScheduledBatchCacheTime 0
ScheduledBatchCleanUpThreadDelay
property must be set to a value greater than
0 to enable this cleanup option. Pending
batches will not be removed. The default is
0 milliseconds which means that batch
results will not be removed.
Specify how often the scheduler should
check for batch results to remove (in
milliseconds). For example, to check every
ScheduledBatchCleanUpThreadDelay 0 24 hours specify 86400000 milliseconds as
the value. The default is 0 milliseconds
which means that the scheduler will not
remove batch results.
Tip: Suggestion here is to fine tune each parameter one by one starting thread
parameters first, then time-outs one, then cache and interval ones. A valid stress test
is around 4 hours in which all concurrent users are tested including all Financial
Reporting scenarios.
Tip: Database tuning (Essbase, Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion

Planning) will affect report performance. Refer to the appropriate section for each
product for proper tuning guidelines.
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7.3 Web Analysis
This topic describes how to tune the Web Analysis to optimize the performance of
your reports.
7.3.1 Tune JVM Heap Size
Increase the Web Analysis Web JVM memory settings as stated in section "Tuning
Java Virtual Machines (JVM)"of this guide.
Improving Web Analysis Studio Responsiveness

To improve the performance and applet load time of Web Analysis Studio through
Windows Control Panel, increase the maximum amount of memory allocated to the
plug-in.
a. Select Start, then Control Panel, then Java Plug-In to open the Java plug-in console.
Important Note: If multiple Java Plug-in versions are installed, select the version
that Web Analysis Studio uses.
b. Select the Advanced tab, and add these parameters to Java Runtime Parameters:
-Xms64m –Xmx256m –Xss6m
(for information on parameters, see the JRE documentation)
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7.0 TUNING DATA MANAGEMENT
performance of your data management.
7.1 Tune Data Relational Management (DRM)

This topic describes how to tune the Data Relational Management (a.k.a. DRM) to
optimize the performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
7.1.1 CPU recommendations

The DRM Application servers are generally constrained by processing power.
Multiple CPUs and higher CPU speed is essential.
All DRM Servers benefit from having multiple CPUs due to the multithreaded
nature of the engines.
In general it is recommended not to have significantly more engines than processors,
especially considering that the engines can multithread as well.
The recommended minimum number of CPUs for DRM is equal to the number of
Engines – 1
This means that for a 5 engine system there will be the following engine types:
• 1 Read Write Engine
• 1 Short Read Engine
• 1 Request API Engine (Version 9.3.2 and Higher)
• 0 to 2 long read Engines
The recommended number of CPUs would be 4. Depending on the usage you may
be able to increase the max number of engines by 1 or 2 to get more long read
engines available, especially if you are not using the Request API as that engine will
then remain idle. However there are circumstances (Long Write Operations like
import and blend and running large automates) that can prevent the LRO Engines
from running even if there is processing power available.
Note: Hyper threading processors make it look like there are more processors.
However these are not physical processors and as such they do not increase the
capability of DRM.
Due to the large amount of memory usage by DRM, hyper threading can actually
decrease performance.
7.1.2 Memory recommendations

In 32-bit mode, each engine can theoretically use up to 2 GB of RAM. Especially if
the versions in DRM contain a large amount of data or there are going to be a large
number of versions open at the same time. The memory used by an engine is
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primarily based on the number of versions opened in that engine times the amount
of memory used per version.
If the amount of memory used exceeds the physical memory of the server then
paging will occur and will severely impact performance. Even when it does not
exceed the actual physical memory the Windows OS will force some of the DRM
memory down to disk to ensure that there is physical memory available for the
operating system and other system processes.
It is recommended to have enough physical RAM for the engines to each take 2 GB
and still have an addition 2 GB of ram for IIS and an additional 2 GB for general OS
and other processes.
So for a 5 engine system that would be:
o 10 GB for the engines
o 2 for IIS
o 2 for OS and Misc
o Total of 14 GB (Rounded up to 16 usually since this is a more common
configuration)
Note: if the Request API is not being used that engine can be removed from the
equation.
7.1.3 Database recommendations

It is recommended that the network connection between the DRM server and the
database server be on a high speed LAN and not across a WAN or slow connection.
If network issues are slowing down due to the WAN between the DRM server and
the Client then, if feasible, the long operations should be done using the DRM Batch
utility on the DRM server and then the results pushed out.
7.1.4 Network recommendations

In the past there have been issues with DRM on Servers where there are dual
Network Interface Cards (NICs). There can be issues with DRM if the NICs are not
configured identically or are on different subnets.
To get past this, either disable one of the NICs, or configure them to be identical.
97
7.2 Tune Financial Data Quality Management (FDQM)
This topic describes how to tune Financial Data Quality Management (a.k.a. FDQM)
to optimize the performance of your Oracle® EPM System.
Setting Configuration Options allow you to set database performance as well as

tuning parameters.
Configuration options should be used when network infrastructure requires tuning
of the database engine I/O activity.
Please follow this link for more details:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_admin/ch04s04.html
7.2.1 Oracle DB Tuning Configuration Options:

A few options are available in order to make you quicker with Oracle DB
processing.
The most common are:
Oracle Work Pct Free
Oracle Work Table Bitmap Index Switch
Oracle Work Pct Free
Oracle Work Init Trans
Oracle Work Max Trans
Oracle Data Map Seg Pct Free
Oracle Data Map Seg Init Trans
Oracle Data Map Seg Max Trans
Oracle Data Seg Pct Free
Oracle Data Seg Init Trans
Oracle Data Seg Max Trans
For deeper explanation, please follow this link:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_admin/ch04s04s03.html
7.2.2 SQL Server Tuning Configuration Options:

Please review the following options especially:
Data Seg Table File Group
Data Map Seg Table File Group
Work Table File Group
Work Table Index File Group
For deeper explanation, please follow this link:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_admin/ch04s04s02.html
98
7.2.3 Creating applications for optimal performances:
Note:
During Application creation if override table spaces is not selected, all tablespaces
default to Users. Use of the default can severely degrade performance. See the Oracle
Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management DBA Guide for detailed tuning
instructions prior to creating the FDM application.
Make sure Data partitioning and RDBMS Disk I/O Optimization is done before
using your application.
Further more details are available on these links:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_dba/ch03.html
Specific to Oracle DB:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_dba/apas01.html
Specific to SQL Server:

7.2.4 System Options:

System options global values that control the behavior of FDM applications are used
as control and performance-tuning mechanisms. Three types of system options:
- Application settings:
- Integration settings:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_dba/ch01s04.html
- Configuration options:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E40248_01/epm.1112/fdm_dba/ch04s07s03.html
99
8.0 Web Browser optimizations
performance of your data management.
8.1 Tune Internet Explorer

This topic describes how to tune Internet Explorer to optimize the performance of
your Oracle® EPM System.
8.1.1 Registry Key changes

For more information, please follow this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc304129%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
For Internet Explorer 7 and earlier:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER)\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPERSERVER
Add iexplore.exe DWORD Value, with 16 as decimal value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER)\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPER1_0SERVER
HKEY_CURRENT_USER)\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPERSERVER
HKEY_CURRENT_USER)\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MAXCONNECTIONSPER1_0SERVER
100
For Internet Explorer 7, there are 3 registry keys: in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings
Add MaxConnectionsPerServer DWORD Value, with 16 as decimal value
Add MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server DWORD Value, with 16 as decimal value
Add KeepAliveTimeout DWORD Value, with 120000 as decimal value
For Internet Explorer 8 and 9, there are 3 registry keys in

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings
Add MaxConnectionsPerServer DWORD Value, with 16 as decimal value
Add MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server DWORD Value, with 16 as decimal value
Add KeepAliveTimeout DWORD Value, with 120000 as decimal value
8.1.2 Tools configuration

For all Internet Explorer releases mentioned above, please apply he following option
changes:
1. Turn off Phishing Filter. This feature helps to prevent your computer users to be
tricked into revealing personal or financial information through an e-mail message
or website. If you think you can live without the extra protection of IE anti-phishing,
you can disable it by starting IE and then going to:
Tools->Phishing Filter
And then clicking on Turn Off Automatic Web Site Checking. Then click OK on the
subsequent popup window:
101
2. Automatically checking for RSS feeds is reported to slow IE performance. You can
turn this off by going to:
Tools->Internet Options->Content->Feeds->Settings
And then uncheck all boxes shown:
3. Use of ClearType with IE has been reported to slow IE performance. You can
disable Cleartype in IE by going to:
Tools->Internet Options->Advanced
And then moving the slider on the right until you see Always use ClearType for
HTML*, at which point you can uncheck that option.
102
4. Use of automatic image resizing with IE has been reported to slow IE
performance. You can disable automatic image resizing in IE by going to:
And then moving the slider on the right until you see Enable automatic image
resizing*, at which point you can uncheck that option.
5. Use of page transitions with IE has been reported to slow IE performance. You can
disable page transitions in IE by going to:
And then moving the slider on the right until you see Enable page transitions*, at
which point you can uncheck that option.
103
6. Use of smooth scrolling with IE has been reported to slow IE performance. You
can disable smooth scrolling in IE by going to:
And then moving the slider on the right until you see Use smooth scrolling, at which
point you can uncheck that option.
104
8.2 Tune Firefox
This topic describes how to tune Firefox to optimize the performance of your
8.2.1 Firefox configuration changes

For HTTP pipelining:
Enter ‘about:config’ in the URL bar, and click ‘I’ll be careful’.
Search for ‘pipe’.
Enable all the pipelining options, if not already.
Set ‘network.http.pipelining.maxrequests’ to 100 or some large number.
For HTTP keep-alive:

Search for ‘alive’.
Enable all the keep-alive options, if not already (they should be).
You can increase ‘network.http.keep-alive.timeout’, but not much need on latest
Firefox versions.
105
For HTTP keep-alive:
Search for ‘network.http’.
Enable all the keep-alive options, if not already (they should be).
You can increase ‘network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy’ and
‘network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server’ to 15.
106
9.0 Disk tuning
performance of your disks.
9.1 RAID consideration for EPM

This topic describes how to tune RAID to optimize the performance of your Oracle®
EPM System. We can define EPM products as I/O intensive or more memory based.
9.1.1 I/O intensive EPM products

For I/O intensive products listed below, recommendation is to go for RAID 0, RAID
1, RAID 0+1 or RAID 1+0:
- Essbase Server
- RM1 Data folder for RAF Agent
- EAL repository
9.1.2 Memory intensive EPM products

For the rest of EPM products, recommendation is to go for RAID 1, RAID 5 could be
done especially at Web Application level.
9.2 File System consideration for EPM

This topic describes how to tune File systems to optimize the performance of your
There are 3 types of file system that can be used with EPM products, based upon the
level of integrity you would like to reach with your application.
Tip: NFS and CIFS protocols are not recommended for EPM, and especially Essbase
and R&A Framework.
9.2.1 Local File systems

Here are the quickest and most stable local file systems per OS:
- XFS for Linux.
- UFS for Sun Solaris
- NTFS for windows.
- JFS2 with NOLOG for IBM AIX.
9.2.2 Shared File systems

Here are the quickest and most stable shared file systems per OS:
- GFS2 for Linux
- QFS and ZFS for Sun Solaris
- MPFS for Windows
107
- CXFS for IBM-AIX
9.2.2 Clustered File systems

Here are the quickest and most stable clustered file systems per OS:
- OCFS2 for Linux
- VxFS for Sun Solaris
- SFS for Windows
- GPFS for IBM AIX
9.3 Recommended IOPS for EPM

This topic describes how to tune IOPS to optimize the performance of your Oracle®
EPM System.
9.3.1 Recommended RPM should be the following:

- Local Disk: minimum 7200 RPM
- SAN/NAS Disks: minimum 15000 RPM
9.3.2 Recommended latency for EPM:

- Local Disk: maximum 3 ms
- SAN/NAS Disks: maximum 2 ms
9.3.3 Recommended seek time for EPM:

- Local Disk: maximum 0.2 ms
- SAN/NAS Disks: maximum 0.1 ms
9.3.4 Conclusion: recommended IOPS

- Local Disk: minimum of around 300 IOPS
- SAN/NAS Disks: minimum of around 450 IOPS
108
10.0 Oracle Virtual Machine tuning
performance of Oracle Virtual Machines.
10.1 Considerations with OVM v3

This topic describes how to tune the network to optimize the performance of your
Oracle® EPM System hosted on OVM.
For more details, see this documentation: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-
storage/vm/ovm3-10gbe-perf-1900032.pdf
10.2 Reduce the number of dom0 CPUs

The most important change made starting OVM 3.2.2 (this has to be applied on 3.0.3)
is to make sure dom0 is assigned to 20 VCPUs MAX to provide better out of the box
performance for large systems.
Tip: To pin and change dom0's VCPUs add:
“dom0_vcpus_pin dom0_max_vcpus=X” to the Xen kernel command line, and reboot.
For example, the complete line from /boot/grub/grub.conf would be
kernel /xen.gz dom0_mem=5G dom0_vcpus_pin dom0_max_vcpus=20
10.3 Tune Guest VM

• Don’t use small memory limited VMs. Example from
/OVS/vms/your_vm/vm.conf:
memory = '102400'
maxmem = '102400‘
• Be sure to adjust Essbase throttle semaphores to correspond to OVM limited

CPU capacity. Example for OVM with 20 vCPUs:
MAXTOTALACTIVETRANSACTIONS 20
MAXACTIVEUPDATETRANSACTIONS 8
Tip: For more details on above parameters refer to the doc
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/esb_tech_ref/frameset.htm?ch04s05s98.html
10.4 Tune Process Affinity

In NUMA systems it is advisable to run interacting processes (in this case Xen’s
Netback and Netfront) on the same CPU socket. This helps reduce memory latency
for accessing shared data structures. For a VM with 2 VCPUs, choose VCPUs on the
same socket where dom0 runs, and pin the VM’s VCPUs to them. The recommended
way to do this is to use the Oracle VM 3 Utilities ovm_vmcontrol command to
obtain and change the virtual CPU settings. The Oracle VM 3 Utilities are provided
as an optional add-on to Oracle VM 3.
109
Oracle® EPM, Fusion Edition Performance Tuning Guide, Release 11.1.2.2, 11.1.2.3
Revised Edition – October 2013
Authors: CEAL Team
Customer Engineering & Advocacy Laboratory Team, BI/EPM/Cloud
Oracle Corporation
World Headquarters
500 Oracle Parkway
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
U.S.A.
Worldwide Inquiries:
Phone: +1.650.506.7000
Fax: +1.650.506.7200
www.oracle.com
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Various

product and service names referenced herein may be trademarks
of Oracle Corporation. All other product and service names
mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2013 Oracle Corporation

All rights reserved.
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Oracle® EPM, Fusion Edition

Infrastructure Performance Tuning Guide

An Oracle White Paper

Date Author Version Change Reference

03/2012 Ahmed Awan 1.5

10/2013 CEAL Team 2

1.0 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 4

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO ORACLE® EPM SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ................................. 4

2.0 TOP TUNING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EPM SYSTEM ............................. 6

2.1 TUNE OPERATING SYSTEMS PARAMETERS.................................................................... 7

3.0 PERFORMANCE MONITORING EPM SYSTEM ............................................... 55

4.0 TUNING FINANCIAL PM APPLICATIONS ....................................................... 56

4.1 HYPERION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (HFM) ......................................................... 56

5.0 TUNING FOUNDATION SERVICES .................................................................... 70

5.1 ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT WORKSPACE ....................................... 70

6.0 TUNING ESSBASE ..................................................................................................... 75

6.1 ESSBASE AGGREGATE STORAGE (ASO) TUNING ....................................................... 75

7.0 TUNING REPORTING AND ANALYSIS ............................................................. 89

7.1 TUNE REPORTING AND ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK (RAF) SERVICES ........................... 89

7.0 TUNING DATA MANAGEMENT .......................................................................... 96

7.1 TUNE DATA RELATIONAL MANAGEMENT (DRM) ................................................... 96

8.0 WEB BROWSER OPTIMIZATIONS ..................................................................... 100

8.1 TUNE INTERNET EXPLORER ...................................................................................... 100

9.0 DISK TUNING .......................................................................................................... 107

9.1 RAID CONSIDERATION FOR EPM ............................................................................ 107

10.0 ORACLE VIRTUAL MACHINE TUNING ...................................................... 109

10.1 CONSIDERATIONS WITH OVM V3 ........................................................................ 109

1.0 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction to Oracle® EPM System Performance

1.1 Introduction to Oracle® EPM System Performance

1.2 Performance Terminology

1.3 Understanding Key Performance Drivers

- Hardware Capacity - Factors such as number of servers, quantity and speed

- Technical Platforms Tuning – Fine tuning other third party software

- Business Application Design - Application design is an important factor in

Rate of user activity – A number of transactions executed by one

User concurrency—Number of users for each activity being carried

2.1 Tune Operating Systems parameters.

2.2 Tune Oracle WebLogic Server (WLS) parameters.

2.3 Tune IBM WebSphere Application Server (IBM WAS) parameters.

2.5 Tune 32bit Java Virtual Machines (JVM).

2.6 Tune HTTP Server parameters.

2.7 Tune HTTP Server Compression / Caching.

2.8 Tune Oracle Database Parameters.

2.9 Tune Reporting And Analysis Framework (RAF) Services.

2.10 Tune Oracle ADF parameters.

2.1.1 Linux Tuning Parameters

Parameter Default Value Suggested Value

Consult your Linux (OEL / RHEL / SLES) documentation for

Important Note: When you increase the soft limit, make

Consult your Linux (OEL / RHEL / SLES) documentation for

Consult your Linux (OEL / RHEL / SLES) documentation for

Important Note: cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range

Recycling of Time Wait connections (tcp_tw_recycle) 0 1

Reuse of Time Wait connections (tcp_tw_reuse) 0 1

Parameter Default Suggested Value

Important Note: If you are using firewalls to restrict traffic on

Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level normal If your user

Important Note: In Windows 2008 SP1/SP2, If you try to

Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) bcdedit bcdedit /set nx

Important Note: Available documentation is here :

Scanning mechanism for ORACLE_HOME folder Scan all Exception for

3. After applying above settings, reboot the server.