Tuning Metric Studio connections

You can set Metric Studio parameters that control the number of established connections to the database server and how long unused connections are left open.

Unused data source connections can affect Metric Studio performance and performance of other applications on your server.

To determine the settings that you should use, monitor connections to the database server during low, typical, and high use periods. For specific instructions, refer to your data source documentation.

For example, you have 500 users. Because keeping 500 connections open all the time could affect the performance of the database server, you set the initial number of connections to 100 and the maximum number of connections to 500. You set the timeout for unused connections to 10 minutes and set the period of time between unused connection checks to 5 minutes.

You set increment connections to 10. The number of open database connections changes in increments of 10 to match the user load as it increases and decreases throughout the day.

The following parameters are available:

  • initialConnections

    The number of connections that Metric Studio service opens when a database is first accessed. These connections are never closed. They remain available to service the typical user load. Valid settings are 0 to 30,000. The default is 5. If you want all connections be closed when not in use, set to zero.

  • incrementConnections

    The number of connections that Metric Studio service opens when more than initial connections are required to handle the user load. Connections are opened and closed in a block. Connections in a block are not closed until all connections in the block are unused. Valid settings are 1 to 30,000. The default is 5.

  • maximumConnections

    The maximum number of connections that the Metric Studio service opens. The user receives an error when the maximum number of connections is reached, and all the allocated connections are processing other requests. Valid settings are 1 to 30,000. The default is 200. This setting must be greater than the initialConnections setting.

  • connectionIdleTimeout

    The time in seconds that a connection is unused before it is closed. Valid settings are 1 to 30,000. The default is 3600 (1 hour).

  • connectionMaintenanceInterval

    The time in seconds that the Metric Studio service waits before checking for unused connections that it will close. Valid settings are 1 to 30,000. The default is 3600 (1 hour).

You must have the required permissions to access IBM Cognos Administration. For more information, see Secured Functions and Features.

Procedure

  1. Follow the steps in the section Configuring advanced settings for specific services.
  2. For the MetricStudioService, in the Parameter column, type one of the parameter names described in this section. For example, type connectionIdleTimeout.
  3. In the Value column, type the associated value for the setting.
  4. Continue typing setting names and values, as required.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Restart the Metric Studio service for the new settings to take effect. For more information, see Stopping and starting dispatchers and services.