Saturday 7 March 2015

... configuring an HFM environment

One really interested task that is a crucial phase of a project and I would like to share a summary of my experience is the configuration of an Oracle HFM environment.  Before going further, I would like to clarify that I am not an expert on that field but I will do my best to describe it...

Proem
As it happens in every project after the receipt of the new environment from the OS team, the implementation team will install and configure all the Hyperion components. Based on the great improvements of Hyperion v11.1.2.3 (11.1.2.4 is out but not in production yet so…), the installation is a really quick task contrary to the configuration of the environment which needs a lot of study, preparation and communication with the different infra teams of the customer.

Main
For me the best way to discuss about configuration is
by splitting it in 5 areas: Operating system, Database, Network and Open Ports, Weblogic and OHS and last but not least HFM settings.


1. OS settings
The first set of configurations that should be performed is the OS settings and this should be done in all the servers of the environment by the OS team. 

I would assume that the most important one is the Power Option and I remember configuring this setting even in version 9.3.3.

2. Database settings
The second set of configurations that should be performed is the database settings. Regardless the choice of storage, you should make sure that you have configured all the appropriate database setting based on the performance tuning guide. 

This configuration will increase the environment’s performance and it will be beneficial not only for the end-users but also for the migration phase of the project. In order to execute this task, you may need the help of the Db-team.

3. Network settings and open Ports
The third set of configurations that should be performed is the network settings. 

Due to the big number of available options (networks are a big mystery of me), I would suggest to contact your company’s network team, supply them the default ports that Oracle requires to be open between the servers and the servers and users and ask them for suggestions.

4. Weblogic and HTTP configuarion
The next set of configurations that should be performed is the Weblogic and the OHS configuration.

It is a really important set of sttings especially when you have users in remote areas will limited network capabilities.

5. HFM registry settings
HFM allows the configuration of how to handle the HsvDatasource depending on the different requirements of the applications. This configuration is achieved with the configuration of the application's server registry settings.

Based on this and by taking into consideration the amazing processing capabilities of the new hardware, it is really important to assess the requirements of the HFM application, calculate the correct values and configure registry setting like the MaxNumCubesinRam, NumDataRecordsInRAM, MaxDataCacheSizeinMB, NumConsolThreads, NumCubesLoadedbeforeCheckingLRU and NumMaxDBConnections. 

By configuring these settings, you will be able to improve the system performance and reduce the time required for different tasks including consolidation time and  data retrieval time.

Epilogue
All the above points are just a summary of what I have studied and experienced the last three years. The most important point is that is really important to start the project with the best available system performance and for this reason I would suggest to contact an experienced consultant or consultancy to request for such services.

In any case, for more information on this topic, please refer to the great manuals that Oracle has recently released: Oracle® Hyperion Financial Management – Performance Tuning Guide and Oracle® Hyperion Financial Management – Admin guide. 

Finally, this is a really technical topic, so please leave a comment for discussion….

Cheers,

Thanos

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