High Performance FAQ

1.  Can I control the publication time for a cube?
Yes. The governing settings for Very Large Data Base (VLDB) properties allow for controlling the method of data population for Intelligence Cubes as a means to achieve query optimization.

2.  Does dashboard design affect performance?
Yes. A multitude of design criteria affect the performance of dashboard execution which include the use of filter selectors, intelligent cubes as dataset reports, number of graphs on a dashboard, on-demand interactivity, nested panels, thresholds, selectors, prompts etc.

3.  Does load balancing affect performance when there are multiple Intelligence Server nodes in a cluster?
Yes. Load balancing may be achieved through MicroStrategy Web. User and job load should be distributed across all Intelligence Server nodes. The more powerful servers should get higher loads.

4.  How does History List affect faster performance?
The History List setting on MicroStrategy Web allows users to control the 'Number of Reports and Documents to keep alive for manipulation'. This setting allows the Intelligence Server to maintain copies of the report/ documents in memory for faster access. The default setting is 10, which implies that up to 10 reports can be held in the Intelligence Server memory at any given time for instant access.

5.  Do I need to upgrade to a 64 bit JVM for better performance?
If the system or application that hosts MicroStrategy can support 64 Bit JVM and has sufficient memory to support the upgrade, upgrading a 32 bit JVM will help improve the overall performance of the web server.

6.  Does the number of warehouse threads impact performance?
Yes. Increasing the number of database connections as needed for low/medium/high priority will impact performance.

7.  How does caching affect performance of the Intelligence Server?
The Intelligence Server allows users to cache the following: objects, elements, reports, documents and device (for mobile). In general, caching helps improve the response time. There are governing settings that allows the control the extent of each of these settings and with the knowledge of how much the system can support, caching can be used as a means to control performance.

1.  What does 64-bit mean?
64-bit is a generic term given to a generation of computers with 64-bit processors. Therefore, a 64-bit computer processor has direct support for 64 bit instructions through registers that are 64 bits wide.

2.  What are the advantages of having a 64-bit system?
A 64-bit system provides the following advantages:

• Faster performance through enhanced caching and in-memory capabilities.
• Cost reductions due to superior hardware and software stability, and hardware consolidation.
• Reduced overhead and lower costs per application through virtualization.
• Higher system availability and less unplanned downtime.
• Improved self-service. Business people are able to conduct analysis quicker, take advantage of more BI functionality, and create their own reports and analysis without help from the information technology (IT) organization.

3.  Why should you move to 64-bit Universal option for your BI needs?
The top 5 reasons why MicroStrategy customers are moving to 64-bit are:

1. 64-bit BI is cost effective. The vastly improved stability inherent in 64-bit BI pays for itself in reduced staffing expenses and the ability to consolidate servers.
2. 64-bit BI delivers faster performance. The expanded computing resources of a 64-bit system, particularly memory, makes BI run faster.
3. 64-bit BI improves self-service so that business people are able to conduct analysis quicker, take advantage of more BI functionality, and create their own reports and analysis without help from the information technology (IT) organization.
4. 64-bit BI is mainstream. The risk with moving to 64-bit BI is minimal. MicroStrategy Universal offers flexible hardware and operating system options and provides a straightforward path to 64-bit BI.
5. 64-bit technology is mature, widely available, powerful, and inexpensive.

4.  What benefits have MicroStrategy customers seen when they moved their BI applications to 64-bit?
Over 40% of the MicroStrategy customer base is on 64-bit. For MicroStrategy customers, 64-bit BI means more information for more users with higher performance and higher BI system availability.

5.  How can I evaluate 64-bit BI with MicroStrategy?
MicroStrategy provides a 30-day free trial of the MicroStrategy business intelligence platform. You can evaluate MicroStrategy in two ways:

• 64-bit Windows: Download the 30-day trial version and install the software on your 64-bit Windows machine.
• 64-bit Linux: Download the MicroStrategy Evaluation Edition virtual appliance on your system (32-bit or 64-bit) and load the virtual appliance on VMware player or VMware server to evaluate MicroStrategy.

Start your free download today »

6.  What are the limitations of 32-bit systems?
32-bit systems offer up to 4 GB in addressable space leading to instability and unreliability of the system. Furthermore, this physical limitation of memory prevents users from moving large amounts of data in-memory, reducing the ability to conduct sophisticated analysis. Finally, applications that are memory intensive will most likely need their own dedicated hardware, resulting in increased hardware and software costs.

7.  How much virtual memory is available on 64-bit system?
In theory, 64-bit systems can address up to 16 Exabytes (more than 17 billion GB), compared to just 4 GB with 32-bit computing. Current BI systems typically have between 16 GB and 1 TB of memory, providing virtually unlimited memory space for today's applications.

8.  When did MicroStrategy start developing the 64-bit Universal Option?
Recognizing that 64-bit computing would be a norm in the future, MicroStrategy released MicroStrategy Intelligence Server Universal with 64-bit support in 2003. This allowed a number of MicroStrategy customers to be early adopters of MicroStrategy BI applications on 64-bit systems. These customers were able to leverage the advantages of 64-bit systems to expand the scope of BI applications from a small set to a huge number of users. The Universal Option was developed on a single code base in order to provide a smooth and transparent transition from 32-bit to 64-bit. Today, the widely available, powerful, and inexpensive 64-bit processors and memory – together with proven 64-bit operating systems – have established the era of 64-bit computing.

9.  What is a single code base?
A single code base means that close to 90% of the code is the same across all operating systems, 32-bit as well as 64-bit. There is only a thin layer of code (~10%) that is specific to each operating system. MicroStrategy implemented a single code base to ensure consistent quality and functional parity across all platforms.

10.  What 64-bit operating systems are supported by MicroStrategy Universal Edition?
Currently, MicroStrategy Universal Edition is certified to run on the following operating systems:

• Windows: Windows 2003, Windows 2008
• Solaris: Solaris 9.x, Solaris 10.x, Solaris Zones for Solaris 10.x
• IBM AIX: AIX 5.3, AIX 6.1, LPAR for AIX
• Linux: Red hat Enterprise Linux 4 & 5, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Linux SUSE Enterprise Server 9 & 10
• HP-UX: HP-UX 11i v2 & v3

11.  How easy is a typical upgrade from a 32-bit BI system to 64-bit Universal Edition?
Upgrade to MicroStrategy 64-bit is very easy and completely transparent to users. Once MicroStrategy Universal is installed, it simply needs to be pointed to the existing metadata and all reports and dashboards are immediately ready for use.

12.  How long does a typical upgrade from a 32-bit system to 64-bit system take?
MicroStrategy customers report their upgrades typically took just a few days. Some customers have even upgraded over a single weekend.

13.  Can you connect MicroStrategy desktop applications from 32-bit hardware to a 64-bit Intelligence Server?
Yes, MicroStrategy provides full compatibility between 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Your end users can continue to run MicroStrategy applications such as Desktop or Web from 32-bit hardware while seamlessly connecting to a 64-bit Intelligence Server.

1.  What are some of the use cases or Business Scenarios that would benefit from MicroStrategy In-Memory BI?

• Large numbers of people use the same report
• Multiple Dashboards use the same Intelligent Cube as a dataset
• Many different derived analytics should be created on the same report
• Make slow data sources appear to run much faster
• Save database cycles by needing many fewer jobs
• Save database cycles by needing many fewer rows
• Make the most important reports for the Executives faster
• Make the most complex and long SQL requests run against a cube

2.  What is an Intelligent Cube?
An Intelligent Cube is an In-Memory multidimensional cube of data that can serve data to many different reports.

3.  What is Dynamic Sourcing?
Dynamic Sourcing is the process of automatically selecting to use an Intelligent Cube for data, rather than querying the database.

4.  What is a Derived Element?
A Derived Element is a filter, list, or calculation derived from an attribute on an Intelligent Cube Report, or MicroStrategy Report Services dataset.

5.  Can these Intelligent Cubes work together?
Yes. If you drill from one cube to another, you never touch the database, and with Dynamic Sourcing, you don't have to use a special command to drill from cube to cube: it happens automatically.

6.  What if the data I need isn't in ANY Intelligent Cube?
If the data you need is not in any Intelligent Cube, then the report runs seamlessly against the database using MicroStrategy Intelligence Server's optimized SQL generation engine.

7.  Which Intelligent Cube should I build?
While you may have some idea of some obvious candidates, you can also use a new tool, Cube Advisor.

8.  What is Cube Advisor?
Cube Advisor is a tool that scans the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server metadata and suggests the optimal set of Intelligent Cubes to service the reports' and users' most valuable requests. Cube Advisor can use the MicroStrategy Enterprise Manager data generated from an application, as well as suggest Intelligent Cubes that are optimized for reducing total Database Time, Job Load, User Satisfaction, and Rows Required

9.  How easy is it to create a cube?
Using MicroStrategy Desktop, it is just like building a report.

10.  What happens to existing MicroStrategy OLAP Services Reports?
Existing MicroStrategy OLAP Services reports will continue to run just as they had before.

11.  Do my existing reports stay the same or do they become Intelligent Cube Reports?
Reports stay the same, but using Dynamic Sourcing they can retrieve data from the Intelligent Cubes automatically.

12.  What is an Intelligent Cube Report?
An Intelligent Cube Report is one that explicitly references an Intelligent Cube as its only source.

13.  How can we automatically re-point all of the existing reports to go against the Intelligent Cube, instead of the database?
It is not necessary to re-point existing reports to go against Intelligent Cubes. Reports will use the cubes automatically using Dynamic Sourcing.

14.  Can I control the publication time for the intelligent cube?
Yes. The governing settings for VLDB properties allow for controlling the method of data population for Intelligence Cubes as a means to achieve query optimization.