Maximum server memory for Planning

[wokan]

Hi all,

From what I heard, the max memory that Planning can use is within 2 GB RAM.
If there any way to increase the memory usage for Planning when then server
RAM is increased to 4 GB RAM?

Anyone have any idea?

[ykud]

Planning has 2 modules: Analyst & Contributor.
Contributor administrative tasks (data reconcilation, import\export) are performed by JHost7.exe processes, each of them not being able to capture more than 2Gb. But more than one such process is usually being created (as much as cpu's or as "max concurrent jobs" setting). So it's not uncommon for an application server to acquire more than 2 GB.
As for Analyst side, there is a Workspace size setting, which tells how much memory each session of Analyst should take (around 512Mb normally). Since Analyst usually works in multi-user enviroment, 2GB of memory acquired by Analyst is not so uncommon.
And don't forget about OS portion of main memory, which allways exists, and sometimes can be rather large.
We usually recommend 4Gb RAM on a common Planning server with 2-CPU's.

[wokan]

Void, thanks for info.

So, technically is there no other way of tuning contributor to use more than 2 GB ?

[andrewbho]

No, there isn't.  One thing that you didn't make clear is if there are other applications on the server.  If you have other applications or processes taking available ram than you should increase it.  It is incredibly rare to use 100% of 2 GB of RAM when running a Contributor job.  Most of the jobs peg the CPU but not RAM.  I hardly doubt that increasing your RAM will give you much benefit unless you are using 1 server as your application server for both Analyst and Contributor.

For Analyst, if you are using a network install, you can increase the ram of the server so more people can open up more workspace, but there is a limit of dimenishing returns.  Most complex Analyst environment that I architected was 200 Analyst users over 20 servers with 8 GBs of RAM each over Citrix.

[ykud]

Hi, CenterStone.

In the case of 200 users, what not use Network Analyst instead of 20 servers with a huge RAM amount?
We insist (where possible) to create NetWork Analyst installations, because desktop memory is cheaper than server's.

And, anyway, 200 Analyst users -- WOW! I'd like to see that too.
We've only got 300+ Contributors here in maximum. Yet that is also a rather beautifull picture, especially due to geographical distibution of those users (12 time zones;)).

[andrewbho]

Yep, it was messy.  We had to use a lot of servers because of concurrent users and the rollout was global and the latency wasn't that great.  The network install created major problems with the locking files and opening a cube was painful because of the data loss.

[craig_karr]

I'm having an argument with a guy at work. The thing is that we are planning to get a new planning server (8 cpu 20 GB ram) and I suggest that we run it on Win server 2003, while he suggest that we should install win server 2008 on this bran new server. His argument is that on the 32 bit win 2003, we can only use 4 GB of the ram, while on Win server 2008 that would not be a problem.

But if I understand you guys right, Planning can utilize up to 2 GB of ram per cpu core even on a 32 bit OS?

The reason I don't want to go with win server 2008 is that we haven't tried it and that according to the install documentation you can't use Series 7 as namespace if you have a 64 bit application server

[smiley]

standard edition 2k3 32 bits can allocate up to 4 gig memory.
standard edition 2k8 32 bits can allocate up to 4 gig memory.

Both 32 bits editions require enterprise to allocate more then 4 gig.
So you would need 64 bits to allocate more then 4 gig with the standard edition.

Cognos planning logic runs in a java servlet, which can allocate 1536mb ram max.
Jobserver processes (jhost7.exe) are also 32 bits, and ANY 32 bits proces can allocate up to 2 gig max by default.
In order to be 300% sure the model is processed correctly by the jobserver, the exe must be able to allocate 2 gig memory.
So if you have 8 cpu's, the maximum that can in theory be allocated by the jobserver at peak is 16 gig.
That leaves 2 for the OS, and 2 for the java stack.
Perfect match.

So what does a 64 bits OS bring you; nothing more then a smaller investment in OS, to allocate over 4 gig mem.

You can install your S7 directory server on any other server. It does not have to run on the cognos server itself.

[craig_karr]

are you absolutely sure about the series 7 namespace and 64 bit os? according to the documentation:

If you plan to run IBM Cognos 8 products within a 64-bit application server, you cannot configure
an IBM Cognos Series 7 namespace as your authentication source.

so they are talking about the app server, but you interpret it that as long as we have the directory server on a 32 bit os, we should be fine?

[smiley]

If C8 would no longer authenticate against any S7 when installed on a 64 bits server, they would loose a large % of their customer base.
I never tried to install S7 on a 64 bits server, but am pretty sure it should work as expected when the S7 is running on another server. If that server is 32 bits, making the total setup supported again, so be it.