Modify server configuration

You can optimize performance by modifying settings in the dm.cfg configuration file on the Dimensions CM server.

Considerations

When making network changes, consider what impact the change may have on other applications using the network and the server:

  • Each Dimensions CM server or client installation contains a dm.cfg file located in the %installdir% (Windows) or $installdir (UNIX) directory. If the installation is part of a larger network of Dimensions CM installations, check that configuration settings affecting communication with other installations are the same for all installations.

  • Settings in the dm.cfg file are installation-wide. Parameters that are specific to you must be set in your environment. If settings are made in the dm.cfg configuration file and in your environment, your environment takes precedence.

The configuration parameters and environment variables can be referred to as Dimensions CM symbols. Most Dimensions CM symbols are supported on all the operating systems.

Some symbols require the Dimensions CM listener to be stopped and started before the change takes effect.

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Optimize server configuration

To improve your server performance, you can edit the dm.cfg server configuration file.

To set the configuration symbols:

  1. Navigate to the dm.cfg configuration file. Default locations:

    Windows %installdir%\dm.cfg
    UNIX $installdir/dm.cfg

  2. Make a copy of dm.cfg.

  3. Open dm.cfg.

  4. Modify, add, or remove parameters to improve performance. For details, see Configuration symbols.

  5. Save and close the file.

  6. Restart the Dimensions CM listener.

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Configuration symbols

The following table describes the configuration symbols in the dm.cfg file that you can modify to improve performance:

Symbol Description

DM_SOCKET_OPTIONS

The values of the options for this parameter can be customized to optimize network throughput.

Use the following option values to configure the TCP/IP send and receive buffers:

  • SO_RCVBUF(bdp value)

  • SO_SNDBUF(bdp value)

where bdp (bytes) is set to the bandwidth-delay product (BDP).

See Optimize performance based on bandwidth.

The TCP_NODELAY option controls the turning off or on the delayed acknowledgments (ACKs).

See Disable ACKs and the Nagle algorithm.

Example:

DM_SOCKET_OPTIONS TCP_NODELAY(1),SO_LINGER(1,5),SO_REUSEADDR(1),SO_KEEP ALIVE(1),SO_RCVBUF(125000),SO_SNDBUF(125000)

DM_NETWORK_BLOCKSIZE Set to 1000 bytes or more but not exceeding the value of BDP. Makes room for the Dimensions CM message headers. File blocksize must not exceed the network blocksize.
DM_FILE_BLOCKSIZE Set to 4000 bytes or more but not exceeding the value of DM_NETWORK_BLOCKSIZE. Makes room for the Dimensions CM message headers.

DM_FILECACHE_SIZE n

All files that are not library cached go through the memory file cache. When the cache is full, the files stored in the cache are sent to the client. The memory file cache buffers data up to a maximum size.

n is equal to one of these values:

  • Default value: 4194304B (4 MB)

  • The following value may improve performance: 8388608B (8 MB)

See Memory file cache.

DM_COMPRESSION_MIN_FILELENGTH

Dimensions CM supports stream compression on file transfer using ZLIB. Specify a compression threshold. Files smaller than the threshold value are not considered for compression. The default minimum file size for compression is 2K.

See Optimize file compression levels‌.
DM_COMPRESS_FILES_ON_TRANSFER Enables file compression to speed up file transfers.
DM_DONT_PREFETCH_FROM_LIBRARY

Improves performance when getting files from a Dimensions CM server on AIX. Add this symbol and set it to y:

DM_DONT_PREFETCH_FROM_LIBRARY y

DM_RANDOMIZE_LIBRARY_PATHS y The server automatically spreads new files mapped to the same item type across X/Y/ subfolders of the corresponding item library folder, where X and Y are the first two hex digits from a cryptographically secure checksum hash of the corresponding item library path name.

For a complete list of Dimensions CM server and client symbols, see Administration.

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See also: