""""

 

Subscribe to e-newsletter

 
   

Newsletter

TM1 Version 9.1 SP2 Update 2

Applix has released this latest version of TM1. Version 9.1 offers many additions and improvements to TM1 and we would strongly recommend you consider an upgrade from prior versions to this release.

SPF Asia Pacific is ready to help you ensure that transition to 9.1 is highly successful for you and your organisation. A handful of the additions in this release and Version 9 generally are:

  • Significantly changed locking procedure that reduces the lock time required to achieve write-back. This is an entirely new data and meta-data locking model providing greater usability/performance and overall stability.
  • Improved logging and new counters available in Windows Performance Monitor providing additional information for tuning performance.
  • TM1Top is installed by default allowing administrators to monitor and if necessary terminate threads.
  • New rules editor which may be used as an alternative to rules worksheets. This editor provides colour coding for code and a range of other rule writing support.
  • All file types can now be included in TM1 application folders.
  • New documentation system available on install as a full library in HTML format.

The significant improvements around locking and monitoring capabilities have some implications for memory usage. In our experience Version 9.1 requires 10% to 30% more RAM to operate than previous versions subject to specific models.

Care should be taken if you are looking to upgrade from earlier versions and are running close to capacity for server RAM. The article below “Considering RAM” discusses some strategies in relation to memory management and potential platform upgrade paths to overcome these issues. For further information or if you are considering upgrade please speak to your consultant or contact us directly.

Extending Your TM1 Implementation

Allowing a greater base of business users to access critical information from TM1 always leads to greater business satisfaction and recognition for TM1 champions.

If you are considering expanding your implementation of TM1 either through significant development or by increasing concurrent server ports please contact us.

SPF has the front line business experience, depth of understanding and breadth of vertical applications to give you the best advice on expanding your implementation of TM1 through to achieving mass distribution via the web.

Considering RAM

TM1’s RAM resident nature is core to the outstanding performance that users enjoy. As a result it can also become the key constraint to growth and performance. As Version 9.1 does require some additional available memory to operate, it’s timely to consider the possibilities for removing RAM constraints.

Since platform upgrade (ie hardware and software) carries an upfront and ongoing cost our advice is to first look at options for optimising and then to consider what can be done to increase platform capacity. The two articles that follow provide an overview of both.

Model Optimisation

Our best advice here is to undertake a Health Check with SPF. We regularly perform these checks which can be tailored to your needs and issues. Without exception they result in material improvements in performance as well as assisting in establishing future plans to enhance the value of your TM1 implementation.

In order of priority, the RAM optimisation components of a Health Check typically focus around:

  • Taking an objective view toward what, if any, data currently loaded on start-up is no longer current or required.
  • Focus on model design, rule construction and feeder optimisation that generally yield significant gains.
  • Consideration of dimension re-ordering. Overtime the level of sparsity in a cube can change which means the initial optimum dimension order may also change. Significant gains can be made by changing dimension order. TM1 has the capability to change dimension order without impacting spreadsheet formulas or changing the way users are presented with dimension order. There is a performance cost to this so care needs to be taken in the decision to re-order.
  • Finally two start-up parameters, VMM and VMT control how TM1 cache’s views. Caching provides performance benefit but absorbs RAM. Tuning these parameters can provide additional available RAM. Again the trade-off for performance needs to be considered and is site-specific.

Increasing Platform Capacity

After optimising the application, the next focus is platform. The points below outline the migration path to achieving greater available for RAM in the wintel environment.

  • 32 Bit standard limitation for any application including TM1 is 2Gb
  • With later server operating systems configured appropriately RAM available to TM1 increases to 3GB with the “/3GB switch”
  • Moving to an x64 operating system running 32Bit TM1 the limit rises to 4GB
  • Finally, moving to an x64 operating system and upgrading to 64bit TM1 provides for practically unlimited RAM. The actual limitation is beyond what is likely to be viable on a single platform. It should be noted that 64 bit TM1 will use significantly more RAM than the 32 bit TM1– up to 2x. In other words a 3GB 32 bit TM1 implementation may be require up to 6 GB in 64 bit TM1.

In addition to the above when moving to TM1 Version 9.1 (either 32 bit or 64 bit) from earlier versions an additional 10% to 30% more available RAM will be required.