Performance Tuning Guide - EMC Community Network

Designing Reports
issues related to BAM database and audit trail database table synchronization. The following
highlights some of these potential causes:
• BAM server is not sized correctly. Events can accumulate in the audit trail faster than the BAM
server can process them (Sizing the system, page 22).
• Network has performance problems.
• Gap filling is consuming system resources (Using the gap filler, page 58).
• BAM latency settings are too low (Configuring data transfer latency, page 58).
• BAM server is down or monitoring has been deactivated in TaskSpace (Understanding server
clock synchronization, page 59).
• Business data model is being updated (Updating business data (SDTs and package objects),
page 60).
Using the gap filler
Content Server continuously writes audited data to the audit trail database table regardless of
whether the BAM server monitors the data. When the BAM server goes offline, data transfer to the
BAM database does not occur and an information gap results between the BAM database and the
audit trail database.
To fill the information gap resulting from an offline BAM server, the gap filler feature can be invoked
when the BAM server comes back online. The gap filler feature instructs the BAM server to assimilate
the backlog of data, back to the time configured by the recovery period.
The gap filler takes time to assimilate the backlog of data. During this time, the gap filler uses
a substantial amount of system resources, which can affect system performance. For scenarios
requiring frequent gap filling, conduct the gap filling during system down time or off peak hours.
Configuring data transfer latency
The BAM server queries the audit trail database table every 5 seconds for events in the audit trail
database with time stamps 30 seconds earlier. The BAM server retrieves bundles of monitored event
data, occurring within the 5-second intervals, and writes the data to the integration database. For
example, a query issued at 1:20:00 retrieves events with time stamps from 1:19:25-1:19:30.
The default 30 second offset (data transfer latency) between the time of the BAM query and the time
stamp of audited events queried for, compensates for the latency between when an audited event
occurs and when Content Server writes event data to the audit trail database table. The 30-second
data transfer latency works for conditions where Content Server writes audited information to the
audit trail database table within a few seconds of activity completion.
Note: xCP versions before 6.6 use a default data transfer latency of zero seconds, instead of 30
seconds, which can easily result in missed report data. Configure the default data transfer latency to a
value appropriate for your system requirements and capability.
In high load environments (more than 100 concurrent workflow events), the latency between activity
completion and writing of audited data to the audit trail database can exceed 30 seconds, resulting in
58 EMC Documentum xCP 1.0 Performance Tuning Guide