Dashboard performance troubleshooting in MicroStrategy 10

Dashboard performance troubleshooting in MicroStrategy 10.x

Details of Document Execution Request, introduce the Performance Troubleshooting Cycle, and present links to other resources with detailed steps for troubleshooting specific components that may affect performance.

To begin, the architecture for dashboard execution is diagrammed here:

MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
When an end user makes a Document Execution Request through any client (a web browser via MicroStrategy Web, the MicroStrategy Desktop/Developer client, the MicroStrategy Mobile app, or the MicroStrategy Office client), the request is sent to the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, which processes the request and prepares the response.

The MicroStrategy Intelligence Server will execute all children datasets on the dashboard by either generating SQL and running this against the data warehouse, or by fetching data from a cache. The Intelligence Server will first analyze all the templates, then determine which datasets the metrics are from, extend these datasets with runtime relations if necessary, aggregate the metric to desired level, join these datasets on the common attributes, and generate the final view.

After final result for the grid has been assembled, the Intelligence Server will retrieve the design structure for the dashboard either by querying the metadata for the dashboard definition. Subsequently, the Intelligence Server will then generate the appropriate response type for rendering the dashboard. For Office documents, dashboards executed in DHTML view modes, and Flash dashboards, the Intelligence Server will generate XML, and for PDF documents, the Intelligence Server will generate PDF. For Mobile dashboards, the Intelligence Server will generate a binary in addition to XML.

When the response generation is complete, the Intelligence Server will send the response to different components depending on which client the original Document Execution Request was initiated from. For requests made from a web browser via MicroStrategy Web, the MicroStrategy Mobile app, or the MicroStrategy Office client, the Intelligence Server will send the response to the MicroStrategy Web Server, the MicroStrategy Mobile Server, or the MicroStrategy Web Services Server respectively for further processing. For requests made from the MicroStrategy Desktop/Developer client, the Intelligence Server will send the response to the Desktop/Developer client directly without going through an additional server.

MicroStrategy Web Server
End users may render dashboards executed through MicroStrategy Web in DHTML view modes, Flash mode, or PDF. When the MicroStrategy Web Server receives the response from the Intelligence Server for one of these requests, it will transform the Intelligence Server response to the appropriate HTTP response suitable for displaying in the end user browser.

For dashboards executed in DHTML view modes, the Web Server will transform the Intelligence Server XML response to HTML.
For Flash dashboards, the Web Server will first upload a Flash dashboard viewer component to the end user browser (called DashboardViewer.swf, by default located here on the Web Server machine: C:\Program Files (x86)\MicroStrategy\Web ASPx\swf\DashboardViewer.swf), then forward the Intelligence Server XML response to the DashboardViewer in order for the end user browser to render.
For PDF documents, the Web Server will forward the Intelligence Server PDF response to the end user browser directly.

MicroStrategy Mobile and Web Services Servers
Dashboards executed through the MicroStrategy Mobile app must go through the MicroStrategy Mobile Server, and dashboards executed through the MicroStrategy Office Client must go through the MicroStrategy Web Services server.
For dashboards executed through Mobile, when the MicroStrategy Mobile Server receives the XML and binary response from the Intelligence Server, it will forward this response to the end user mobile client for further processing.

The Performance Troubleshooting Cycle

The above chart illustrates the Performance Troubleshooting Cycle. The goal of the cycle is to improve performance by identifying which components are acting as bottlenecks, then making the appropriate modifications to these components specifically, the environment as a whole, or the dashboard itself.

Monitoring

The first step of the cycle is to quantify the performance by measuring the time spent in each of the components that are part of a Document Execution Request, as described in the preceding sections. The table below summarizes a few key modules that commonly consume the most amount of time during a dashboard execution:

MicroStrategy Component	Key Module
Intelligence Server	Query Execution
	Data Preparation
	XML generation
Web Server	Web processes
	Network
Client	Client rendering

To measure the time spent in these components, refer to the following resources:

Intelligence Server and Client

Query Execution - Reference MicroStrategy Product Documentation > System Administration Guide > Chapter 5 for a complete list on how to monitor Job Execution and system usage

Data Preparation, XML Generation and Client rendering - KB30914: Overview of Profiling MicroStrategy Documents

Web Server

Web processes - KB10211: What are MicroStrategy Web statistics and how can they be activated?

Optimizing
After bottlenecks have been identified, certain component-level settings can be adjusted to optimize performance. However, since MicroStrategy deployments will typically rely on third-party components, several component-level settings may be outside the scope of MicroStrategy Technical Support but will nonetheless effect MicroStrategy performance. An example of this is an Intelligence Server may perform slowler on a machine with relatively fewer hardware resources (RAM, CPU speed, disk read/write speed, etc.) than a machine with more resources. As another example, an Intelligence Server may also perform slower on a machine with plentiful resources but many other processes running simultaneously in the background compared to a machine dedicated for just the Intelligence Server process. As a final example, an Intelligence Server and a Web Server may generate a document body quickly but a client browser may not be powerful enough to render this document in a short time period.
To adjust component-level settings specific to MicroStrategy, refer to the following resources:

Comments

Slowly Changing Dimension Types 0, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Slowly Changing Dimension Types 0, 4, 5, 6 and 7 Ralph introduced the concept of slowly changing dimension (SCD) attributes in 1996. Dimensional modelers, in conjunction with the business’s data governance representatives, must specify the data warehouse’s response to operational attribute value changes. Core SCD approaches: Type 1 (overwrite), Type 2 (add a row), and Type 3 (add a column). Since legibility is a key component of the Kimball mantra, we sometimes wish Ralph had given these techniques more descriptive names, such as “overwrite” instead of “type 1.” But at this point, the SCD type numbers are part of our industry’s vernacular. We have written about more advanced SCD patterns, such as the 2005 article entitled “ Slowly Changing Dimensions are Not Always as Easy as 1, 2, 3. ” However, we’ve not consistently named the more advanced and hybrid techniques. With the third edition of The Data Warehouse Toolkit (Wiley, 201...

MicroStrategy URL API Parameters

MicroStrategy URL Structure The following table summarizes the root URL structure used for every request to MicroStrategy Web. Environment Main Application URL Administration URL J2EE http://webserver/MicroStrategy/servlet/mstrWeb http://webserver/MicroStrategy/servlet/mstrWebAdmin .NET http://webserver/MicroStrategy/asp/Main.aspx http://webserver/MicroStrategy/asp/Admin.aspx Every request sent to MicroStrategy Web calls a central controller. Parameters are appended to Main.aspx or mstrWeb (in a .NET and J2EE environment, respectively) to indicate to the controller how the request should be internally forwarded and handled. The following examples show a URL for accessing a MicroStrategy folder when the user does not have an existing session. The URL contains not only the parameters needed to connect to MicroStrategy Web, but also the parameters needed to log on and create a session. J2EE environment: <a href="http:...

Internationalization Design Technics

Microstrategy Internationalization Design Technics MicroStrategy supports data internationalization through two different techniques. You can either provide translated data through the use of extra tables and columns, or you can provide separate databases to store your translated data. These techniques are described below: You can support data internationalization in your database by using separate tables and columns to store your translated data. You can use various combinations of tables and columns to support and identify the translated data in your database. To support displaying the name of each month in multiple languages, you can include the translated names in a separate column, one for each required language, within the same table. Each column can use a suffix to identify that the column contains translated data for a certain language. The same LU_MONTH_OF_YEAR table with translated data for the Spanish and German langua...

Case functions Microstrategy

Ca se functions Microstrategy Case functions return specified data in a SQL query based on the evaluation of user-defined conditions. In general, a user specifies a list of conditions and corresponding return values. Case This function evaluates multiple expressions until a condition is determined to be true, then returns a corresponding value. If all conditions are false, a default value is returned. Case can be used for categorizing data based on multiple conditions. This is a single-value function. Syntax Case ( Condition1 , ReturnValue1 , Condition2 , ReturnValue2 ,..., DefaultValue ) Example Case(([Total Revenue] < 300000), 0, ([Total Revenue] < 600000), 1, 2) sum(Case (Day@DESC in (“Sat”,”Sun”), Sales, 0) {~+} Sum(Case(Category@DESC In("Books","Electronics"),Revenue,0)){~+} CaseV (case vector) CaseV evaluates a single metric and returns different values according to the results. It can be used to perfo...

Uniquely identifying data using Compound Key in Microstrategy

Uniquely identifying data in tables with Compound Key attribute: The types of keys that can be assigned to a table include: • Simple key requires only one column to identify a record uniquely within a table. • Compound key requires multiple columns to identify a unique record. . The following diagram shows how the different key structures can be used to identify a cal...

Custom Subtotal Displays in MicroStrategy

Defining custom subtotal displays in MicroStrategy By default, when users apply subtotals in a report, the name of the subtotal is displayed in the subtotal line items that appear in the report. Users can use custom subtotals to give more control over the characteristics of a subtotal. Custom subtotals allow users to define custom subtotal line items that appear on the reports U sers can make the subtotal name dynamic by typing special characters in the subtotal name field as listed in the following table. Character Description #A The name of the attribute under which the subtotal appears. #P The name of the attribute to the left of, or above the attribute under which the subtotal appears. #0 All the forms of the parent element. #1 The first form of the parent element reading from left to right or from top to bottom. #2 The second form of the parent element reading from left to right or from top to bottom. #3 The third form of th...

Configure Connection Mapping in Microstrategy

Configure Connection Mapping in Microstrategy The following steps demonstrate the second scenario where two different data warehouses are used within the same project: Create two different database connections - One that points to the data warehouse for the European users and the other that points to the data warehouse for USA users as shown below: Select Europe as the default database connection for the database Instance as seen below: Go to P...

Star schemas and aggregate (or summary) fact tables Aggregate tables can further improve query performance by reducing the number of rows over which higher-level metrics must be aggregated. However, the use of aggregate tables with dimension tables is not a valid physical modeling strategy. Whenever aggregation is performed over fact data, it is a general requirement that tables joined to the fact table must be at the same attribute level or at a higher level. If the auxiliary table is at a lower level, fact rows will be replicated prior to aggregation and this will result in inflated metric values (also known as "multiple counting"). With the above Time dimension table, a fact table at the level of Day functions correctly because there is exactly one row in DIM_TIME for each day. To aggregate the facts to the level of Quarter, it is valid to join the fact table to the dimension table and group by the quarter ID from the dimension table. Sql select DT...

OLAP features in Microstrategy

OLAP features in Microstrategy MSTR OLAP Services uses Intelligent Cube Technology—an in-memory version of report data that can 1 About MicroStrategy OLAP Services can be manipulated by the MicroStrategy Analytical Engine. MicroStrategy Desktop, Web, and Office users can slice and dice data in reports within Intelligent Cubes without having to re-execute SQL against the data warehouse. Many of the standard OLAP features that MicroStrategy provides out of the box, such as: Page-by Pivoting Sorting Subtotals Banding Aliasing Outline mode Thresholds etc.. With an OLAP Services license, user can perform additional OLAP analysis, using the following features: Displaying data on the fly: dynamic aggregation, page Creating metrics on-the-fly: derived metrics, Defining attribute elements on-the-fly: derived elements, Filtering data on the fly: view filters and metric filters, Importing data as an Intelligent Cube

Data Mart Reports in Microstrategy

Creating Data Mart Reports in Microstrategy When there is requirement to store all the report results to a database table you can use the interesting feature in Microstratgey called Data Mart Reports. To create a data mart table, you first create a data mart report that defines the columns of the data mart table. You then create the data mart table and populate it with data. The steps below walk you through the process of creating a data mart report and then executing the report to create a data mart table. The steps also include an example for most steps, based on Tutorial sample data in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project. Follow the simple steps below to create a datamart report: 1 In MicroStrategy Developer, create a new report or select an existing report to use as the data mart table. The report should contain the attributes...

Microstrategy Analytics

Search This Blog