BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

Specifying default servers

You can specify the default servers that BusinessObjects Enterprise will use to run an object, and to schedule and process instances. For report objects and Web Intelligence documents, you can specify the default servers that BusinessObjects Enterprise will use when a user views or modifies a report or Web Intelligence document. For Desktop Intelligence documents, you can specify the default servers that BusinessObjects Enterprise will use when processing and caching documents.

When specifying your servers, you have three options:

• Use the first available server

  BusinessObjects Enterprise will use the server that currently has the most available resources.

• Give preference to servers belonging to the selected group (and, if the servers from that group are not available, use any available server).

  Select a server group from the list. This option will attempt to process the object on the servers that are found within your server group. If the specified servers are not available, then the object will be processed on the next available server.

• Only use servers belonging to the selected group

  This option ensures that BusinessObjects Enterprise will use only the specified servers that are found within the selected server group. If all of the servers in the server group are unavailable, then the object will not be processed.

Depending on the type of object, BusinessObjects Enterprise uses the following servers:

• Crystal reports run on the Report Job Server.
• Desktop Intelligence documents run on the Desktop Intelligence Report, Job and Cache Servers.
• Web Intelligence documents run on the Web Intelligence Report Server.

By selecting a particular server or server group, you can balance the load on your system by processing specific objects on specific job servers. You must first create server groups by using the Server Groups management area in the CMC, before you can select servers that belong to a selected group.

Note:    

• If you choose the "Use the first available server" option, the Central Management Server (CMS) will check the job servers to see which one has the lowest load. The CMS does this by checking the percentage of the maximum load on each job server. If all of the job servers have the same load percentage, then the CMS will randomly pick a job server.
• You can also set the maximum number of jobs that a server will accept. For more information, see the following sections of Chapter 4: Managing and Configuring Servers:
  • "Modifying Cache Server performance settings" on page 109
  • "Modifying Page Server performance settings" on page 113
  • "Modifying performance settings for the RAS" on page 119
  • "Modifying performance settings for job servers" on page 120
• If you are scheduling a program object that requires access to files stored locally on a Program Job Server, but you have multiple Program Job Servers, you must specify which server to use to run the program.

To specify default servers for processing an object

1. In the Objects management area of the CMC, select an object by clicking its link.
2. Click the Process tab.

 

3. In the "Default Servers To Use For Scheduling" area, choose one of the server options.
4. If the object is a report object or a Web Intelligence document, choose one of the server options in the "Default Servers To Use For Viewing and Modification" area.

If the object is a Desktop Intelligence document, choose one of the server options in the "Default Servers to Use For Processing" area and in the "Default Servers to Use For Caching" area.

5. Click Update.