Configuring the High Performance Option

Note    The following task applies to Meridian 32-bit editions when run on a Windows 32-bit operating system only. For information about running Meridian 32-bit and 64-bit editions on a Windows 64-bit operating system, see BlueCielo support for 64-bit Windows operating systems in the BlueCielo knowledge base.

After you have enabled the Physical Address Extension for the server operating system as described in About the High Performance Option. you can enable the High Performance Option (HPO) for individual Meridian vaults by configuring the amount of extended memory that each vault should use in the HPO memory size setting and reducing the MaximumCacheSize (lower memory) setting accordingly.

The optimal value of HPO memory size for a particular vault can be calculated with this formula:

HPO Memory Size = DB size - MaximumCacheSize

Where:

• DB size is the total size of the database file.
• MaximumCacheSize as described in Configuring the MaximumCacheSize setting.

The exception to this rule is with SQL Server where the database is already cached by the database server. In these cases, 50% or more of the database size is sufficient for Meridian's purposes. When more of the database can be cached by Meridian, performance will improve. The formula then becomes:

Minimum HPO Memory Size = (DB size/2) - MaximumCacheSize

As an example, consider a vault with a database size of 6 GB and a server with the default of 2 GB of lower memory available for applications. Without the HPO, you would maximize the database cache to get optimal performance from the hardware (for example, 1.5 GB, effectively caching only 25% of the Hypertrieve database size, slightly more for SQL Server or Oracle). Subtracting 1.5 GB from the default 2 GB of memory provided by Windows for applications (without the /3GB switch enabled) would leave 500 MB of memory for user sessions. This limits the number of concurrent users in all vaults on the server to 20 if the minimum ObjectsCacheDepth setting of 200 is used. The performance of the server would probably not be adequate under all conditions.

With the HPO enabled and sufficient physical memory, you can significantly reduce the database cache size in lower memory (with the MaximumCacheSize setting) without a noticeable difference in performance. We recommend a minimum size of 100 MB if HPO Memory Size is large enough to hold the remainder of the database and there is enough extended memory available. This effectively relegates all caching to the HPO extended memory cache as described in Understanding the effects of physical memory) and reserves 100 MB for swapping memory compartments to the HPO cache, which is required in all cases.

Note    The MaximumCacheSize setting should never be set lower than 100 MB or excessive paging with the HPO cache could occur. In some configurations, 100 MB might not be large enough, for example, vaults with very large numbers of security role assignments and other configurations. If lower memory is still available after configuring HPO and the maximum number of expected simultaneous users, MaximumCacheSize should be set higher to between 250 MB and 600 MB.

Then, the HPO memory size evaluates to: 5900 MB (6000 MB extended memory - 100 MB lower memory cache). For the same size SQL Server or Oracle vault: 2900 MB (6000/2 - 100). Subtracting 100 MB from the default 2 GB of lower application memory would leave 1.9 GB of memory for approximately 76 user sessions at the minimum ObjectsCacheDepth setting, assuming only a single vault is used. The performance of the server should be optimal under all but the most extreme conditions.

Note    The preceding examples assume that only one vault is active on the Meridian application server. If multiple vaults are active, you should calculate the HPO memory size and MaximumCacheSize setting for each vault separately and distribute the available extended memory among all vaults accordingly. But under no circumstances should the sum of all HPO memory size settings exceed the available extended memory. If sufficient extended memory is not available to accommodate all HPO memory size settings, you must reduce the settings either by equal amounts or according to vault priority until they all fit.

To configure the HPO memory size:

1. Open Meridian Enterprise Administrator and select EDM Server in the left pane. The list of active vaults appears in the right pane.
2. Select the vault for which you want to enable the HPO in the right pane.
3. On the Action menu, select Properties.
4. Click the Advanced button. The Advanced Vault Properties dialog box appears.
5. Type 100 in Maximum cache size.
6. Leave the Relative cache size setting at its current value. It is ignored when the HPO is configured.
7. In HPO memory size type the amount calculated using the preceding formulas or the amount of available extended memory above 2 GB (3 GB if the /3GB switch is enabled), whichever is lower. If multiple vaults are active, type the amount to allocate for the current vault.

Note    To disable HPO, set HPO memory size to 0.

8. Click OK to close the Advanced Vault Properties dialog and click OK again to close the vault’s Properties dialog.
9. Open the Control Panel. Select Administrative Tools, and open Local Security Policy.
10. In Local Security Policy, select Local Policies, and click User Right Assignments.
11. Make sure that the account under which the AutoManager EDM Server service runs has the Lock Pages in Memory privilege.

Note    The Local System account has this privilege by default.

If the HPO is configured correctly, it will report the amount of memory allocated for each vault when the vault is first opened. This normally occurs directly after the AutoManager EDM Server service starts. The allocation is reported in the Windows Application Event Log on the computer running the AutoManager EDM Server service.