Oracle Business Intelligence Infrastructure Installation and Configuration Guide > NQSConfig.INI File Reference >

Server Section Parameters in the Configuration File

The parameters in the Server section define defaults and limits for the Oracle Business Intelligence Server.

SERVER_NAME

A logical name identifying the Oracle Business Intelligence Server.

About the SERVER_THREAD_RANGE and MAX_SESSION_LIMIT Parameters

The size of the connection pool determines the number of available Oracle Business Intelligence Server connections and the number of available threads for processing physical queries. A logical query may generate multiple physical queries, each of which could go to different connections.

Oracle Business Intelligence Server creates a number of server threads up to the specified maximum using the parameter SERVER_THREAD_RANGE. All the threads available at any time are used to process queries from one or more sessions as needed.

Typically, the number of sessions specified by MAX_SESSION_LIMIT is higher than the number of available threads specified by SERVER_THREAD_RANGE.

In summary:

• MAX_SESSION_LIMIT specifies the number of sessions that can be connected to Oracle Business Intelligence Server even if inactive. The sessions and the corresponding queries are queued to the threads for processing as they become available.
• Connection pool size specifies the number of threads and connections that process physical queries.
• SERVER_THREAD_RANGE specifies the number of threads that process the logical queries—the number of queries that can be active in Oracle Business Intelligence Server at any time.

READ_ONLY_MODE

Permits or forbids changing the Oracle BI repository (.rpd) file in Online mode.

The default is NO, meaning that repositories can be edited online.

When this parameter is set to YES, it prevents the Oracle Business Intelligence Administration Tool in Online mode from making any changes to the repository. When the Administration Tool connects in Online mode, a message informs the user that the repository is read-only. If this parameter is set to NO, the online Administration Tool can make changes to the repository.

The Oracle BI Server must be stopped and restarted in order for changes in this parameter to take effect.

MAX_SESSION_LIMIT

Specifies the maximum number of connections allowed by the server. When this number is exceeded, the server refuses the connection request.

The limit is 65,535 connections.

Example: MAX_SESSION_LIMIT = 2000 ;

MAX_REQUEST_PER_SESSION_LIMIT

Specifies the maximum number of logical requests per session. This is how many open requests there are, per session, at the same time.

The limit is 65,535 logical requests per session.

NOTE:  Usually, individual users have only one open request per session at the same time. Application programs and Oracle BI Presentation Services, however, typically have more than one request open at the same time. In general, the default value of 500 should be sufficient for most environments, but this parameter should be tuned based on the application environment and the client tools in use.

Example: MAX_REQUEST_PER_SESSION_LIMIT = 500 ;

SERVER_THREAD_RANGE

For each Oracle Business Intelligence Server request, SERVER_THREAD_RANGE specifies configuration information for thread allocation. The lower number in the range specifies the number of threads initially allocated, and the higher number in the range specifies the maximum number of threads to be allocated. The thread pool grows and shrinks in 5 thread increments until the upper or lower bound is reached. If there are fewer threads than sessions, sessions share the available number of threads on a first come-first served basis.

Set both values the same to maximize the benefits of thread pooling.

Example: SERVER_THREAD_RANGE = 100-100 ;

SERVER_THREAD_STACK_SIZE

Specifies the memory stack size allocated for each server thread. The value of 0 sets the stack size as 256 KB per server thread.

The default is 256 KB.

Example: SERVER_THREAD_STACK_SIZE = 256 ;

DB_GATEWAY_THREAD_RANGE

Specifies the minimum and maximum number of threads in the Oracle Business Intelligence ServerDatabase Gateway thread pool, as per SERVER_THREAD_RANGE.

Default is 40-200.

Example: DB_GATEWAY_THREAD_RANGE = 40-200

DB_GATEWAY_THREAD_STACK_SIZE

Specifies the memory stack size allocated for each Oracle Business Intelligence Server Database Gateway thread. The value of 0 sets the stack size as 256 KB per server thread.

The default is 256 KB.

Example: DB_GATEWAY_THREAD_STACK_SIZE = 0 ;

MAX_EXPANDED_SUBQUERY_PREDICATES

Controls the maximum number of values that may be in an IN value list populated by a subquery. The default is 8,192 values.

Example: MAX_EXPANDED_SUBQUERY_PREDICATES = 8192;

NOTE:  The default values are set to 1024 by default for the following parameters:
  MAX_QUERY_PLAN_CACHE_ENTRIES
  MAX_DRILLDOWN_INFO_CACHE_ENTRIES
  MAX_DRILLDOWN_QUERY_CACHE_ENTRIES
These values should not be raised without consulting Oracle Support.

MAX_QUERY_PLAN_CACHE_ENTRIES

Controls the number of cached logical query plans. The query plan cache is an internal performance feature that increases the speed of the query compilation process by caching plans for the most recently used queries.

Example: MAX_QUERY_PLAN_CACHE_ENTRIES = 1024 ;

MAX_DRILLDOWN_INFO_CACHE_ENTRIES

Controls the number of cached Action Link drill down information entries per repository. This increases the speed of computing Action Link information by caching the Action Link information for the most recently used queries.

Example: MAX_DRILLDOWN_INFO_CACHE_ENTRIES = 1024 ;

MAX_DRILLDOWN_QUERY_CACHE_ENTRIES

Controls the number of cached Action Link query entries per repository. This increases the speed of drilling down by caching the Action Link drill down results for the most recently used queries.

Example: MAX_DRILLDOWN_QUERY_CACHE_ENTRIES = 1024 ;

INIT_BLOCK_CACHE_ENTRIES

Controls the number of initialization block result sets that are cached with respect to row-wise initialization. The cache key is the fully instantiated initialization block SQL.

The default value is 20. Because this parameter affects internal operations for localized versions of the Oracle BI software, it is recommended that you do not change this value unless instructed to do so.

Example: INIT_BLOCK_CACHE_ENTRIES = 20 ;

CLIENT_MGMT_THREADS_MAX

Specifies the number of management threads to allocate for managing Oracle Business Intelligence Server client/server communications. The default client/server communication method for Oracle Business Intelligence Server is TCP/IP.

The default value of 5 is sufficient for server communications with the Server Administration Tool and when Oracle BI Presentation Services is the only main client process.

To support this method, a Port field has been added to the Enter Logon Information screen in Oracle Business Intelligence ODBC Wizard. (Oracle BI D/COM support is limited; it is recommended that you use TCP/IP by default.)

Each client process consumes a management thread. If you plan to run multiple Oracle BI Presentation Services client instances or multiple third-party client instances, increase the number of management threads to match the number of client instances. When the number of running client instances exceeds the number of management threads allocated, worker threads are consumed.

Example: CLIENT_MGMT_THREADS_MAX = 10 ;

RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT

Specifies the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service or TCP/IP port the Oracle Business Intelligence Server should use for client/server communications.

The default is 9703.

NOTE:  Do not disable the RPC Service. If you attempt to start Oracle Business Intelligence Server on a machine where the RPC services or processes are not running, the application does not start and a log is not generated.

When using the Oracle BI ODBC Installer to set up ODBC data sources for the Oracle Business Intelligence Server, the port number specified in the Port field on the Enter Logon Information screen should match the port number specified here. If you change the port number in the configuration file, remember to reconfigure any affected ODBC data sources to use the new port number.

Example: RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT = 9703 ;

SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES

The value of this parameter is the name or IP of the location on which the Cluster Controller is running. The default value is ALLNICS. The parameter SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES is related to the parameter RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT field and to the environment variable NQUIRE_PORT.

There are two conditions under which you need to specify a value for SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES:

• If you decide to use an IP address instead of a hostname.
• If the hostname for the machine is a fully-qualified hostname.domain.

The hostname or IP can be specified with or without a port number.

• If a port number is specified, the server listens to the specified port number, overriding the settings in RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT field and in the NQUIRE_PORT environment variable.
• If a port number is not specified, take the port number from RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT field or from the NQUIRE_PORT environment variable.

If the client specifies the hostname of the server (in odbc.ini on UNIX platforms or in instanceconfig.xml on Windows platforms), make sure that the BI Server is listening to the hostname or IP address bound to the hostname.

The following table shows the relationship between the value for RPC_SERVICE_OR_PORT and the value for SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES.

The following table shows the relationships between the Oracle BI Server listening method and the client communication methods.

Examples:

• SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES = "hostname.domain" ;

  Listen to all NICs.

• SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES = "hostname.domain":9715 ;

  Listen to all NICs on port 9715.

• SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES = "IP1","IP2":port 9715;

  Listen to IP1 and IP2 on port 9715.

• SERVER_HOSTNAME_OR_IP_ADDRESSES = "hostname.domain":9715,"IP":9717 ;

  Listen to hostname on port 9715 and IP address on port 9717. If the hostname is equivalent to the IP address, then the server listens on both ports.

ENABLE_DB_HINTS

Enables optional hints to be passed along with an SQL statement to an Oracle database. Database hints are discussed in Oracle Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide.

The default is YES.

PREVENT_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO

Controls the behavior for when a division by zero occurs. When set to YES, then a NULL value is returned. When set to NO, then the query is terminated and an appropriate error is returned to the user.

CLUSTER_PARTICIPANT

Specifies whether the Oracle Business Intelligence Server that is using this configuration file is a member of an Oracle Business Intelligence Server cluster.

Valid values are YES and NO. The default value is NO.

If the server is to be a member of an Oracle Business Intelligence Server cluster, uncomment the parameters REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY and REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY, and supply valid values for them.

When CLUSTER_PARTICIPANT is set to YES, this server must have a valid, configured NQClusterConfig.INI file in the subdirectory OracleBI_HOME\server\Config. For more information, see the NQClusterConfig.INI File Reference in the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide.

Example: CLUSTER_PARTICIPANT = YES;

REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY

When the parameter CLUSTER_PARTICIPANT is set to YES, REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY specifies the location of the repository publishing directory shared by all Oracle Business Intelligence Servers participating in the cluster. There is no default value for this parameter.

When a repository is updated in online mode, it is published to this location. All clustered servers examine this location upon startup for any repository changes. This needs to be a valid location visible to all servers in the cluster even if you anticipate that no repositories are updated in online mode.

The directory should reside on a shared file system. The directory needs to be a valid fully-qualified directory pathname, with double quotes ( " ) surrounding the pathname. Both UNC and mapped directories are supported. Do not specify a relative path name, or the Repository subdirectory (located in the Oracle BI software installation directory) as the location of the repository publishing directory.

This REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY parameter is required on every Oracle Business Intelligence Server that is to participate in the cluster. The Oracle Business Intelligence Server designated as the master server for online repository changes (from the MASTER_SERVER parameter in the NQClusterConfig.INI file) needs to have read and write access to this directory. The Oracle Business Intelligence Servers in the cluster (from the SERVERS parameter in the NQClusterConfig.INI file) need to have read and write access to this directory as well. All entries need to reference the same actual directory, although different names can be specified to accommodate differences in drive mappings.

These are examples:

REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY = "z:\OracleBI\Publish" ;
REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY = "\\ClusterSrv\Publish" ;

REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY

When the parameter CLUSTER_PARTICIPANT is set to YES, REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY specifies that the repository publishing directory (from the parameter REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY) needs to be available in order for this Oracle Business Intelligence Server to start up and join the cluster.

This parameter is commented out by default.

When set to YES, if the publishing directory is not available at startup or if an error is encountered while the server is reading any of the files in the directory, an error message is logged in the NQServer.log file and the server shuts down.

To allow this Oracle Business Intelligence Server to start up and join the cluster even if the publishing directory is not available, set this value to NO. When set to NO, the server joins the cluster and a warning message is logged in the NQServer.log file. Any online repository updates are not reflected in the server's Repository directory (located in the Oracle BI software installation directory). This could result in request failures, wrong answers, and other problems. However, this could be useful in situations where online repository editing is done infrequently and the goal is to keep the cluster operational even if some servers have stale repositories.

Example: REQUIRE_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY = YES;

DISCONNECTED

When Oracle Business Intelligence Server is being run as part of Oracle BI Disconnected Client, the DISCONNECTED parameter must be set to YES. The default is NO.

When DISCONNECTED is set to YES, only Mobile Clients running on the same machine as the Mobile Oracle Business Intelligence Server are able to connect to it. Any Mobile Client running on a different machine is unable to connect to the Disconnected Oracle BI Server.

Example: DISCONNECTED = NO ;

AUTOMATIC_RESTART

Specifies whether the Oracle Business Intelligence Server should be automatically restarted after a crash. Automatic restart is applies only to an Oracle Business Intelligence Server platform; it does not apply to a clustered Oracle BI Server environment, or to an Oracle BI Disconnected server. The default is YES.

Example: AUTOMATIC_RESTART = YES ;