BSP's tagline of "A Passion to Inspire. A Drive to Perform." has been a pillar by which we stand upon as an organization. This motto was credentialized in January 2011 when our own Charlie Peterson threw out a challenge to the team to compete in a triathlon this year.  After scratching our proverbial heads and before we had an appreciation for just how hard a triathlon is to accomplish, it was game on! Currently a dozen of us have signed up for the Chicago Triathlon in August. Nine of us are first-timers and one doesn't yet know how to swim!  As the group works through training this summer, we'll provide updates through this newsletter. And of course, if any of you want to join us or just heckle us from the pier, we would love to see you on August 28th on the breathtaking lake shore of Chicago!

By Chris Nakian, Consultant

The question is always asked "How can I improve performance on my Cognos environment?"  Unfortunately the generic answer seems to always be "It Depends..."  Without completing a full stress test to analyze load and user behavior on your environment, there are a few configurations that can be analyzed and tested to improve performance.  This article will highlight some system configuration settings and reference some load balancing techniques.

A few basic questions that should be answered when approaching the tuning of the environment:  

1.     How many users are on the system at peak time?

2.     When are batch or scheduled reports run and how often? 

3.     Are there any reports that are run with frequency that are known to take a long time to complete?

A full analysis of the user patterns can be performed to detail specifics with regards to latency, dispatcher routing, local processing, errors, ad-hoc usage and scheduling that will more acutely estimate processing capacity.  For this article, the scope will be to detail a few configuration settings that can be modified to assist with performance or increase capacity.  Please reference the Cognos Installation and Configuration guide for more detailed descriptions on the topics referenced in this article.  

 Click here to read the full article.

To find out how BrightStar Partners can help you assess your current Cognos Environment or setup a new Cognos Environment, e-mail us at Newsletter@brightstarpartners.com. 

DID YOU KNOW...

April brings warmer weather and earthworms...

• Earthworms have no eyes or ears, but they have light-sensitive cells that help them tell the difference between light and darkness. Their bodies are sensitive to vibrations and worms may "outrun" the shovels of anglers digging worms for fish bait! 
• Worms can be good for gardens and farmland. By tunneling through soil, they drain water, bring in oxygen, and create space for plant roots. 
• At night worms often come to the surface and deposit mounds of castings("worm poop") small pellet-like piles of organic matter that have passed through the worm's digestive tract.  
• Charles Darwin was one of the first to tell about the value of earthworms to soil. He estimated that the earthworm castings on an average acre could provide 1/5 inch of new surface soil per year. 
• An acre of good garden or farm soil may be home to a million earthworms.  
• Were earthworms always here? Yes and no. During the time that glaciers covered much of North America, earthworms disappeared from the frozen soil. It would have taken centuries or longer for earthworms to become re-established on their own, but human actions speeded up the process. Farmers and gardeners brought potted plants from other places for planting, inadvertently releasing earthworms that were in that soil. And when farmers tilled the soil to make it easier for tiny roots to grow, they also made it easier for the worms to tunnel through the soil. As worms increased, so did robins. In 1932, a scientist named Frank Farley found that robins had increased 100 percent in Alberta, Canada in the 50 years since the 1880s.  
• Earthworms get their nutrition from many forms of organic matter in soil. They eat decaying roots and leaves, and tiny organisms such as nematodes, protozoans, rotifers, bacteria, and fungi. Worms also feed on the decomposing remains of other animals. An earthworm can consume up to one-third of its own body weight in just one day!