Optimizing the iSeries Environment for the WebFOCUS Reporting Server

By Robert Fricano

While both the WebFOCUS client and server can be installed on the IBM iSeries midrange server, we receive more requests on how to optimize the iSeries environment to run the WebFOCUS Server.

Many variables affect how jobs run on an iSeries server. In this article, I will give you some guidelines on creating and optimizing an environment for the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.

When running the WebFOCUS Reporting Server on iSeries, it is recommended that a subsystem be created for the WebFOCUS server. Below are the basic steps for creating a subsystem and a related JOBQ for a WebFOCUS server.

1. Use the CRTSBSD command to create a subsystem. With this command you can specify the attributes related to the subsystem, such as storage pool, storage size and maximum number of active jobs.
2. Use the CRTJOBQ command to create a job queue to be used in conjunction with the subsystem created in Step 1.
3. Use the ADDJOBQE command to add the job queue created in the last step to the subsystem created in Step 1.
4. Use the CRTCLS command to create a class to be used by the WebFOCUS Reporting Server jobs. This class also will be used when adding routing entries to the subsystem created in Step 1. With this command you can define the job run priority, time slice, and other job properties.
5. Use the ADDRTGE command to add a routing entry for the subsystem created in Step 1. With this command you will define the class that will be used by jobs running in the subsystem as well as other properties used for that subsystem.

The iSeries can be configured to dynamically allocate memory and activity levels depending on the setting of the QPFRADJ system value.

A QPFRADJ value of 0 means no adjustment will be performed. A value of 1 means adjustment will be done at IPL. A value of 2 means adjustment at IPL and automatic adjustment. A value of 3 means automatic adjustment will always be performed.

If you have automatic adjustment enabled, it is recommended that a subsystem with its own shared memory pool be created for the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. It is also recommended that the subsystem for the WebFOCUS reporting server have 300 megabytes allocated to it. This can be defined in a shared memory pool using the WRKSHRPOOL command. Using the shared memory pool in an environment with automatic performance adjustment will ensure that the system will not need to reassign memory to the WebFOCUS server subsystem. Any kind of memory reassignment by the system will impact the response times of your queries.

All these actions will generally result in faster execution of your requests, but bear in mind that other performance adjustments may be needed depending on the system workload.