How to maximize performance of the Palo Web Client

  

 

   Overview:

   I.   Design of OLAP Databases and Views in Palo Web Client

   II.  Client Browser

   III. Client Hardware

   IV.  Tomcat Configuration

   V.   Server Hardware

 

   I. Design of OLAP Databases and Views in Palo Web Client

 

   The Palo Web Client can internally handle very large dimensions, databases

   and cubes but browsers need some time to show a huge number of elements

   in a combo box or in a table. Especially the dimensions dropped to fill

   the horizontal or vertical axis in the 2-dimensional table area of a view

   should be designed or structured in a way so that not too many dimension

   elements are shown at one time.

   This can be done by structuring the original OLAP dimension with enough

   consolidated elements so that not too many elements appear directly on

   the root level and as children after expanding a consolidated element.

   But it can also be done by using subsets or local filters for a dimension

   in the Web Palo Client so that you get the same useful result in the table

   - not too many root elements or child elements directly below a parent.

   If necessary simply add a new root level with one element called 'All' and

   consolidate all other elements below this one or create a local filter in

   Web Palo Client GUI where you select only needed elements.

 

   II. Client Browser

 

   The speed of different browsers concerning script execution varies a lot.

   For example IE7 and IE6 are very slow but IE8 behaves fine.

   Firefox 3.5 is faster than Firefox 3.0 and Safari 3.0.4 is fast as well.

  

   Still, for views with a large number of displayed table cells the time

   for the script execution may appear to be too long for the used browser.

   In this case the browser shows requests asking if you want to continue

   executing the script or stop it. If you stop it, only this specific view

   remains in an undefined state and you need to reopen it. You can confirm

   these dialogs every time they appear or you can modify the default value

   of the script timeout for your browser.

 

   In any browser it is possible to set this default value for script timeout:

 

   Firefox

   You can modify the time how long Firefox waits before a warning appears:

   a. Type ‘about:config in Firefox's address bar

   b. Filter down to the value for ‘dom.max_script_run_time

   c. Change the value (in seconds) to something higher than the default

      (which is 10 seconds)

   d. Filter down to the value for ‘dom.max_chrome_script_run_time’ helps

      to set the same value for applications with chrome rights

 

   Internet Explorer

   Please find the information to modify the script timeout for IE here:

   (based on the total number of executed script statements)

   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175500  (in your browser’s language)

   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/175500/en-us/  (in English)

 

  

 III. Client Hardware

      As the performance of the script engine of a browser also depends on the

      CPU speed of the client machine a faster processor is helpful.

      For views with a lot of displayed data cells the browser needs some RAM.

 

  IV. Tomcat Configuration

      The default value for "Maximum memory pool" of the tomcat server is low

      after installation. Set it to a higher value suitable for your system.

      We recommend 1024MB. You can do this on a windows system within the

      "Apache Tomcat Properties" or on a linux system within the file:

      /tomcat/bin/catalina.sh

      with a line like:

      CATALINA_OPTS="$CATALINA_OPTS -Xmx1024m"

 

   V. Server Hardware

      The tomcat server can simply be run on a workstation for testing purpose,

      but for better performance it should be run on a server machine.

      For example, Tensegrity runs the online demo on a linux machine with only

      one single core processor. For a production system we recommend at least

      dual core and/or multi processors. We also recommend 2GB RAM or more.