Post on 02-Feb-2020
Plus Automated Cognos Testing System, MotioCI
TESTING & IMPROVING PERFORMANCE IN IBM COGNOS BI
• Quick introduction
• Sources of Performance Problems
• A Three-Phase Approach to Testing and Tuning
• About Senturus
• Other Resources
• Q & A
Today’s Agenda
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Presentation Slide Deck on www.senturus.com
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John Boyer
Proven Practice Lead
Motio
John Peterson
CEO & Co-Founder
Senturus
Introduction: Today’s Presenters
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Steve Reed-Pittman
Practice Director-Systems Integration
& Optimization Senturus
Where Is My Problem Coming From?
SOURCES OF TROUBLE
• Performance troubleshooting requires detective work
– Gather data from systems and people
– What changed, and when?
– Consider all of the possible layers
– Options for addressing performance issues vary across different Cognos versions and configurations
WHERE TO BEGIN?
Performance issues can originate from multiple layers:
• Configuration Layer
– Cognos software configuration and tuning (install/config inconsistencies, esp. in distributed environments)
• Database Layer
– Data warehouse schema design
• Metadata Layer
– Framework Manager model
• Presentation Layer
– Report Studio, Workspace Advanced, etc.
COGNOS-SPECIFIC PROBLEM AREAS
Performance issues can also originate outside of Cognos:
• Network (network speed, latency)
• Database server (concurrent query execution, contention with other databases hosted on the same db server or cluster)
• Host server architecture (CPU, RAM, disk, virtual vs. physical infrastructure)
OTHER PROBLEM AREAS
APPROACHES TO TROUBLESHOOTING
• Is your organization proactive or reactive with regard to the performance of your Cognos systems?
• When trouble strikes, quick answers can be hard to find – preventing the fire is better than fighting it!
• Tools can make this easier by providing:
• Baseline performance data
• Replicable test cases
FIRE PREVENTION VS. FIRE FIGHTING
• MotioCI as an iterative testing tool for determining changes in report execution performance (SLA testing)
• LoadRunner scripting
• Commercial and open-source application performance monitoring tools (e.g., SolarWinds, Opsview)
• Built-in OS tools (e.g., Resource Monitor, perfmon)
• Cognos Administration dashboards
SOME TOOL OPTIONS
The risk of doing this without tools or methodology:
• Lack of repeatability makes it difficult or impossible to know whether changes have made a difference
• Tools enable repeatable testing for reliable performance comparisons
WHY USE TOOLS?
Three-Phase Methodology for Performance Testing and Tuning
KEYS TO IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
Solving performance issues is like playing “Whack-a-Mole”. Every time you thought you killed the beast, it will pop up again!
The Key to Improving Performance
A three-phase approach to successfully beat performance issues in IBM Cognos
There is a need for an integrated approach in solving this problem
1. Build
2. Measure
3. Learn
Just a commodity approach?
A Three-Phase Approach to Solving Performance Issues
1. Build a) Identify all elements that can impact performance
b) Set up monitoring for capturing system performance metrics
c) Analyze user and system behavior
d) Set up test cases using MotioCI
2. Measure a) Run test cases and metrics to capture initial baseline
b) Review test results and captured metrics
c) Run load test
d) Analyze system behavior
3. Learn a) Implement tuning changes based on the results
b) Return to step 2c
c) Repeat steps until the target level of performance is achieved
A Three-Phase Approach to Solving Performance Issues
A tailor-made approach for IBM Cognos
What does your multi-disciplinary medical team look like?
1. Cognos knowledge a) Cognos Admin
b) Cognos Architect
c) Cognos Modeler
2. Infrastructure a) DBA
b) Network/firewall specialist
c) Hardware specialist
3. General roles a) Project management
b) Senturus BI specialist • Knowledge of methodology
• Knowledge of Cognos
• Knowledge of MotioCI
• Experience at different environments, organizations and infrastructure set ups
Tools, Techniques and Questions to Consider
BUILDING YOUR TEST CASE
How to Build Your Test Case
Four essential steps to being well prepared
a) Identify all elements that can impact performance
How to Build Your Test Case
Four essential steps to being well prepared
b) Set up monitoring tools for capturing system performance
metrics
How to Build Your Test Case
Four essential steps to being well prepared
c) Analyze user and system behavior
• Who is using IBM Cognos? • When are they using it? • How long, what frequency? • What do they execute? • How often? • What is used the most? • What is used during peak time? • What is taking the most time?
Running a Stress Test with MotioCI
SAMPLE TESTING
How to Build Your Test Case
Four essential steps to being well prepared
Set up test cases using MotioCI
• Define Test Cases
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
Cognos Reports
MotioCI Test Cases
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
• Configure Stress Test
Selected Stress Test
includes the
Performance Test
Cases created
above.
Configure end
condition
Configure
login options
Configure report
execution
options
Configure ramp
execution
options
• Customizing a Stress Test
– Ramped User Logins and Ramped Report Executions
– Ramped User Logins
– Ramped Report Executions
– Simulated User Interactivity
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
• Results Summary
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
Stress Test Summary and
Detail Results
• Results Summary
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
• Interactive and Non-Interactive Executions by Report
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
• Sample Reports
Cognos Stress Test with MotioCI
Concurrency vs. Test Failure
How to Build Your Test Case
Four essential steps to being well prepared
d) Set up test cases using MotioCI
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
Executing repeatable test cases with comparable results
a) Run test cases and metrics to capture initial baseline
b) Review test results and captured metrics
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
Executing repeatable test cases with comparable results
c) Run load test
d) Analyze system behavior
Analyzing Results and Making Changes
ADJUSTMENTS AND AFTERCARE
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
Examining the test case results
How to Improve and Tweak the Settings
Solve the bottleneck and retest
a) Implement tuning changes based on the
results
b) Return to step 2c.
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
Reviewing metrics from Cognos Administration server1 server2 server3
Process - Batch report service
Number of configured processes 4 4 4
Number of processes high watermark 4 4 4
Process - Report service
Number of configured processes 8 8 8
Number of processes high watermark 8 8 8
Request - Batch report service
Number of processed requests 226 210 189
Percentage of failed requests 0.00% 0.00% 0.53%
Response time high watermark 0:00:32 0:00:31 0:00:34
Seconds per successful request 0:00:26 0:00:26 0:00:27
Service time 1:36:16 1:32:13 1:24:19
Request - Report service
Number of processed requests 149 105 113
Percentage of failed requests 0.00% 0.00% 0.88%
Response time high watermark 0:00:07 0:00:22 0:00:20
Seconds per successful request 0:00:01 0:00:02 0:00:03
Service time 0:03:34 0:03:27 0:05:08
How to Measure Your Test Case and Analyze the Results
Executing repeatable test cases and viewing final results
What is so Revolutionary About This?
1. Key problem: Performance issues are hard to tackle without reliable metrics and deep knowledge of the systems in question.
2. Without a simple and repeatable approach, troubleshooting and tuning is difficult to perform effectively:
a) Unstructured troubleshooting is hard to manage, and can be both expensive and slow to produce results
b) Dependencies across multiple layers aren’t always obvious
c) Custom-made test cases often require lots of programming/scripting
3. MotioCI helps the project team focus on the core, repeatable test cases: test, analyze and measure improvement
4. Deep Cognos system expertise from Senturus provides multi-layer examination of the affected systems, interpretation of test results, recommendation of tuning changes, and implementation assistance when needed.
The right combination of tools and expertise promotes rapid results
Aftercare
Proactive monitoring of your Cognos BI environment
1. When the problems are solved, organizations need to stay healthy!
2. By constantly monitoring performance, BICC’s stay in control and on top of the quality of their BI environment:
1. Regarding performance
2. Regarding data quality
3. Regarding IBM best practices and corporate standards
Who we are
SENTURUS OVERVIEW
Our Team:
Business depth combined with technical expertise. Former CFOs, CIOs, Controllers, Directors
Senturus: Business Analytics Consultants
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Business Intelligence Enterprise Planning Predictive Analytics
700+ Clients, 1400 Projects, 13 Years
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OTHER RESOURCES
One hour consulting with Systems Integration and Optimization Team in which we
– Learn your organization’s performance challenges
– Provide high level guidance on the state of your environment
– Provide next steps toward potential resolution
– No cost, no obligation
Free Assessment and Recommendation
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More Information on www.senturus.com
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*Custom, tailored training also available*
Cognos Training Options
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For more information about the Free Assessment or MotioCI, contact
Jim Frazier
Vice-President of Client Solutions
Senturus
jfrazier@senturus.com
650 949 2921
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