KB16035: How to determine processor affinity for MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server

In general, there are two licensing schemes for Strategy Narrowcast Server -- one based upon the number of named users and the other based upon the number of Central Processing Units (CPUs) and Clock Speed.   This technical note details how to determine processor affinity for Strategy Narrowcast Server.
 
 
In Strategy Narrowcast Server, users can choose the particular processors that the Strategy Narrowcast Server Distribution Engine and Execution Engine will use on the machine where it is installed. This choice can be made for the Distribution Manager by opening Service Manager, selecting 'Distribution Manager' from the Services drop down list, then selecting Options > Distribution Manager Options. Similarly for the Execution Engine, this choice can be made by opening Service Manager, selecting 'Execution Engine' from the Services drop down list, then selecting Options > Execution Engine Options.
 
 
Users can choose from the list of the available CPUs (by checking the appropriate boxes) up to the number of licensed CPUs as shown below. On this screenshot, the number of available processors on the machine is four, the number of processors licensed is two, and users have chosen to use Processors 0 and 2 for the Strategy Distribution Manager and Execution Engine.
 

Users could have chosen any other combination of processors, for example, Processors 0 and 1, Processors 0 and 3, Processors 1 and 2, Processors 1 and 3, and Processors 2 and 3.
 
NOTES:
 

1. It is possible to configure this four-processor machine to only use one processor. Likewise, a license for more than four CPUs would allow users to allocate from one to four processors on a four-processor machine.
2. By default, the first n processors are used for Strategy Narrowcast Server starting from Processor 0 to Processor (n-1), if no selections are made for Processor usage, where n is the number of licensed processors.
3. If the processor usage options are changed while Strategy Narrowcast Server is running, then Strategy Narrowcast Server 8.x will have to be stopped and re-started for the changes to take effect.