Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide > Administering the Query Environment >

Server Configuration and Tuning

Performance is an extremely important consideration in every decision support system, but it is particularly important in systems that allow queries over the Web. This section describes some important considerations for improving query performance with the Siebel Analytics Server.

NQSConfig.INI File Parameters

The NQSConfig.INI file contains configuration and tuning parameters for the Siebel Analytics Server. There are parameters to configure disk space for temporary storage, set sort memory buffer sizes, set cache memory buffers, set virtual table page sizes, and a number of other configuration settings that allow you to take full advantage of your hardware's capabilities.

For information on the NQSConfig.INI file parameters, see Siebel Analytics Installation and Configuration Guide.

Aggregate Tables

You should use aggregate tables to improve query performance. Aggregate tables contain precalculated summarizations of data. It is much faster to retrieve an answer from an aggregate table than to recompute the answer from thousands of rows of detail. The Siebel Analytics Server uses aggregate tables automatically, if they have been properly specified in the repository.

For more information and examples of setting up aggregate navigation in a repository, see Setting Up Aggregate Navigation.

Query Caching

Enabling query caching causes the Siebel Analytics Server to store query results for reuse by subsequent queries. Caching can dramatically improve the apparent performance of the system for users. For information on query caching concepts and setup, see Query Caching.

Tune and Index Underlying Databases

The Siebel Analytics Server sends queries to databases. For the queries to return in a timely manner, the underlying databases need to be configured, tuned, and indexed correctly. You might need to work with the DBAs of the underlying databases to help identify any problem areas where database tuning is in order.

Different database products will have different tuning considerations. If there are queries that return slowly from the underlying databases, you can capture the SQL of the queries in the query log, then provide them to the DBA for analysis. For information on configuring query logging on your system, see Administering the Query Log.


 Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide 
 Published: 23 June 2003