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Usage Tracking Section Parameters in the Configuration File

The usage tracking parameters define default values for collection of usage tracking statistics on each logical query submitted to the Oracle Business Intelligence Server.

The following table shows the names and descriptions of columns that are added to the usage tracking table and to the stand-alone usage tracking repository.

For more information about usage tracking, see the chapter on administering the query environment in Oracle Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide.

ENABLE

Enables or disables collection of usage tracking statistics.

Valid values are YES and NO. The default value is NO. When set to NO, statistics are not accumulated. When set to YES, statistics are accumulated for each logical query.

Example: ENABLE = NO ;

DIRECT_INSERT

Specifies whether statistics are inserted directly into a database table or written to a local file.

• When DIRECT_INSERT is set to NO, data is written to a flat file.
• When DIRECT_INSERT is set to YES, data is inserted into a table.

NOTE:  This parameter is operative only if ENABLE = YES.

Direct insertion into a database table is recommended, therefore the default value is YES.

Certain other parameters become valid, depending whether DIRECT_INSERT is set to YES or to NO. These parameters are summarized in Table 24, and described following the table.

STORAGE_DIRECTORY

Specifies the full path to the directory used to store usage tracking log files. The directory listed needs to be a valid fully-qualified, writable directory pathname, with double quotes ( " ) surrounding the pathname. Specify mapped directories only. UNC path names and network mapped drives are allowed only if the service runs under a qualified user account. To change the account under which the service is running, see the corresponding topic in the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide.

Valid values are any fully qualified pathname to an existing, writable directory.

The parameter STORAGE_DIRECTORY is valid only if the parameter DIRECT_INSERT is set to NO. When usage tracking is enabled, but no storage directory is specified, the files are written to the subdirectory OracleBI_HOME\server\Log.

Example: STORAGE_DIRECTORY = "C:\Temp\UsageTracking" ;

CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL_MINUTES

Specifies how often the usage tracking data is flushed to disk. Setting this interval higher increases the amount of data that may be lost in the event of an abnormal server shutdown. Setting this interval lower incurs additional overhead.

The default is 5 minutes.

NOTE:  When the interval is set to 0, the Oracle Business Intelligence Server attempts to write usage tracking data to disk with minimal time between attempts. This can negatively affect server performance, and is strongly discouraged.

Example: CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL_MINUTES = 5 ;

FILE_ROLLOVER_INTERVAL_MINUTES

Specifies the time, in minutes, before the current usage tracking log file is closed and a new file created. For example, if this entry is set to 60 minutes, then 24 usage tracking log files are created each day.

The default is 30 minutes.

When the checkpoint interval equals or exceeds the rollover interval, only the rollover occurs explicitly; the checkpoint only occurs implicitly when the old usage tracking log file is closed.

NOTE:  When the checkpoint interval is set to 0, the Oracle Business Intelligence Server attempts to close current usage tracking log files and open new log files with minimal time between attempts. This can negatively affect server performance and result in a large number of usage tracking log files in the storage directory. Setting this interval to 0 is strongly discouraged.

Example: FILE_ROLLOVER_INTERVAL_MINUTES = 240;

CODE_PAGE

For multilingual repositories, this specifies the type of output code page to use when writing statistics to disk. Valid values include any valid code page number (such as 1252), and other globally recognized output code page types.

The default value is ANSI. The type depends upon the database loader being used. For example, to support multilingual repositories for database loaders used by Oracle and DB2, specify UTF8. Enclose the value in double quotes. USC-2 is currently not supported.

Example: CODE_PAGE = "ANSI";

PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME

Specifies the table in which to insert records corresponding to the query statistics. The table name is the fully qualified name as it appears in the physical layer of the Server Administration Tool.

The general structure of this parameter depends on the type of database being used:

• For SQL Server databases, use the following general structure:

  PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME = "<Database>"."<Catalog>"."<Schema>"."<Table>" ;

  Example:

  PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME = "OracleBI Usage"."Catalog"."dbo"."S_NQ_ACCT" ;

  In the preceding example, the structure is as follows:

  • "Oracle BI Usage" represents the database component
  • "Catalog" represents the catalog component
  • "dbo" represents the schema component
  • "S_NQ_ACCT" represents the table name
• For Oracle databases, use the following general structure:

  PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME = "<Database>"."<Schema>"."<Table>" ;

  Examples:

  PHYSICAL_TABLE_NAME = "OracleBI Usage"."S_NQ_SCHED"."S_NQ_ACCT" ;

  In the preceding example, the structure is as follows:

  • "Oracle BI Usage" represents the database component
  • "S_NQ_SCHED" represents the schema component
  • "S_NQ_ACCT" represents the table name

CONNECTION_POOL

Specifies the connection pool to use for inserting records into the usage tracking table. This is the fully qualified name as it appears in the physical layer of the Server Administration Tool.

Example: CONNECTION_POOL = "OracleBI Usage"."Connection Pool" ;

BUFFER_SIZE

Specifies the amount of memory used to temporarily store insert statements. The buffer allows the insert statements to be issued to the usage tracking table independently of the query that produced the statistics to be inserted. When the buffer fills up, then subsequent queries' statistics are discarded until the insert threads service the buffer entries.

Example: BUFFER_SIZE = 10 MB ;

BUFFER_TIME_LIMIT_SECONDS

Specifies the maximum amount of time that an insert statement remains in the buffer before it is issued to the usage tracking table. This time limit ensures that the Oracle Business Intelligence Server issues the insert statements in a timely manner even during periods of extended quiescence.

Example: BUFFER_TIME_LIMIT_SECONDS = 5 ;

NUM_INSERT_THREADS

Specifies the number of threads that remove insert statements from the buffer and issue them to the usage tracking table. The number of threads should not exceed the total number of threads assigned to the connection pool.

Example: NUM_INSERT_THREADS = 5 ;

MAX_INSERTS_PER_TRANSACTION

Specifies the number of records to group together as a single transaction when inserting into the usage tracking table. Increasing the number may slightly increase performance but also increases the possibility of inserts being rejected due to deadlocks in the database.

Example: MAX_INSERTS_PER_TRANSACTION = 1 ;