COGNOS Business Intelligence Series 7

Chapter 3: Control Processes
Example 3: Daisychaining
In the configuration depicted below, a cube can be processed on any of the three computers,
depending on how busy each processor is.
The cube is configured with a source and a mirror reference. The mirrored cube is in turn
configured with another mirror reference. By setting the Maximum Processes property for each
cube to suit your processing needs, you can prevent queues on any of the computers. This
configuration also establishes an order of preference for processing the cube, which always starts
with the local computer.
There are many custom configurations for mirror references that you can take advantage of to
control processing. Consider experimenting with typical cubes and reports and monitoring the
processes before moving to a full production environment.
To manage your processing requirements effectively, remember that the processing of the cube or
report takes place on a computer with a query or report processor, regardless of where the actual
source resides. The .ppx or .mdc file may reside on another computer. However, requests are
returned faster when the cube or report resides on the same computer that processes them.
Monitor Processes
PowerPlay Enterprise Server processes cubes with the query processor, and processes reports with
the report processor. A new instance of a processor is started when all of the following conditions
exist:
• all available processors are busy handling requests
• an additional request is received
• the maximum number of processes set has not been reached
In addition, connections from a PowerPlay Windows application can start another instance of the
query processor depending on the value of the Scheduling Threshold (p. 88) setting.
Windows
In Windows, use the Windows Task Manager to monitor processes. The query processor is named
Ppdsweb.exe, and the report processor is named Pprp.exe.
You can also use the Performance Monitor to obtain more status and performance information.
For information about the Performance Monitor, see the Microsoft Windows documentation.
Do not use Windows Task Manger to end PowerPlay processes. Disable the associated cube using
PowerPlay Enterprise - Server Administration or the ppadmtool command-line interface.
UNIX
In UNIX, use the monitoring tool for your version of UNIX or use one of the following
commands to monitor processes:
• ps -ef | grep process (on IBM AIX and HP-UX)
• ps -ax | grep process (on Sun Solaris)
The query process is named ppdsweb, and the report process is named pprp.
PowerPlay Enterprise Server records server activity which can help you track processor usage over
time.
Enterprise Server Guide 31