Starting with the release of Strategy ONE (March 2024), dossiers are also known as dashboards.
Prior to Strategy 2021, the Working set cache RAM usage counter does not reflect the correct memory consumption by the Working Set. In fact, the data calculated by this counter is far less than the actual memory usage. With this problem, the governing setting, Maximum RAM for Working Set cache (MB), fails to work.
Let's use an example and assume the following:
Prior to Strategy 2021
Based on our in-house tests, the monitored working set memory usage by a dossier is less than 30% of the actual memory usage. In this sample scenario, let's assume the monitored working set memory usage by this dossier is only 40MB.
The actual consumed working set RAM is 390MB which has already hit the governing setting’s limit (200MB). However, due to this defect, the monitored working set RAM usage is 120MB only, far less than the 200MB’s limit. Therefore, the governing setting fails to restrict the working set’s memory consumption.
As a result, for a production environment with a lot more users and heavier dossiers, without effective restriction on the maximum allowed RAM for working set cache, the server could be consuming far more amount of memory than allowed. In the worst case, it could end up exhausting the memory in the host machine and result in no response from the Intelligence Server or a server crash.
This is a known defect in versions prior to Strategy 2021. Strategy uses the document instance estimation size to track a dossier’s memory consumption in working set. However, prior to Strategy 2021, the estimation method is not well-considered and the size of some important components are missed out.
This defect has been addressed in Strategy 2021. The estimation method is improved by adding the memory consumption of the missing components, so the ‘Working set cache RAM usage’ counter’s calculation is more accurate.
Let’s use the same sample scenario above to explain:
With the new fix, based on our in-house test, the monitored working set memory usage by a dossier is above 75% of the real usage. Let’s assume 100MB in this scenario.
With more precise working set RAM usage estimation, the governing setting ‘Maximum RAM for Working Set cache (MB)’ can correctly restrict the memory used by working set to protect the Intelligence Server from draining the host machine’s memory resources.
Therefore, after upgrading to Strategy 2021, some customers might experience performance problems if they are setting a relatively small value for the ‘Maximum RAM for Working Set cache (MB)’. This is not because Strategy 2021 is more memory-consuming, but is because the governing setting is correctly taking effect to make sure the host machine will not run out of memory resources. We recommend customers to closely monitor their system’s Working Set memory consumption and adjust the governing setting properly to get a better performance experience.
Once the governing setting’s limit is hit, you will see a notification in
DSSErrors.loglike the following:
Pool::Add: Maximum working cache limit XXXXXXKB is hit, please check Server Configuration > Governing Settings > Default > Memory Settings > Maximum RAM for working set cache setting. You need increase this setting otherwise performance may become worse”
Depending on the version installed (as a best practice, no higher than 25% of the available RAM in the server), please set the maximum working set RAM to a number between the following list:
Note: Increasing the 'Maximum RAM for Working Set cache' setting will increase the possible limit amount of RAM that can be used by the Strategy Intelligence Server. Setting this to a higher limit does not mean the memory will be set aside for immediate use by the Strategy Intelligence Server. However, if needed, that limit is available, in the same way the Maximum RAM for cache settings behave.
