Parallel and Serial Calculation

PARALLEL AND SERIAL CALCULATION

Essbase supports Parallel and Serial Calculations:

Serial Calculation is the default. With serial calculation, each calculation pass is scheduled to run on a single processor. If invoked from a calculation script, the calculations are executed sequentially in the order in which they appear in the calculation script.

Parallel Calculation breaks each calculation pass into sub-tasks. The sub-tasks that can run independently of one another are scheduled to run simultaneously on up to 64 or 128
threads. Block storage databases running on 32-bit platforms support up to 64 threads. Block storage databases running on 64-bit platforms and aggregate storage databases (whether running on 32-bit or 64-bit platforms) support up to 128 threads. Each thread may be on a different processor.

To change from the default serial calculation to parallel calculation, change, at most, two
configuration settings and restart the server, or add an instruction to the calculation script.

Checking Current Parallel Calculation Settings:

You can check either the server configuration file or the calculation script that you plan to use to see if parallel calculation is enabled.

To check whether parallel calculation has been enabled in the server configuration file:

1. Open the server essbase.cfg file with a text editor.
2. Search for the parameter CALCPARALLEL, and check its specified value.

To check whether a calculation script sets parallel calculation, look for the SET
CALCPARALLEL command. Review the script carefully, because the script may enable or
disable parallel calculation more than once.