Tuning WebSphere Application Server settings to optimize Rational ClearQuest Web server performance

You must review the WebSphere® Application Server settings for the application server profile for the Rational® ClearQuest® Web Server. If you installed Rational ClearQuest into a new profile, the settings in the profile that is created during installation are optimized for best performance. If you installed into an existing profile or if the server has performance problems, the parameter values might require adjustment.

Before you begin

For information about specifying settings for WebSphere Application Server application server profiles, see these resources.

See Tuning performance WebSphere Application Server Information Center, V8.0, V8.5.
On IBM® DeveloperWorks, search for WebSphere Application Server tuning to find articles about tuning WebSphere Application Server profile settings to improve performance.

When you upgrade Rational ClearQuest web components to V8.0.1, you have the option to deploy the components on WebSphere Application Server V8.5.x. Before you can deploy the upgraded Rational web components, either upgrade the existing WebSphere Application Server to the new version or a separate V8.5.x instance.

DevOps Code ClearCase® and Rational ClearQuest V8.0.1 web components support deployment in WebSphere Application Server version 8.0.0.x and 8.5.x.

About this task

Table 1 lists the recommended settings for the WebSphere Application Server profile where Rational ClearQuest Web server is deployed. These values are applied by default when Rational ClearQuest Web server is deployed into a new profile that is created during the Rational ClearQuest installation or upgrade process.

For best performance, make sure that the JVM Heap Size and Thread pools parameters are at the recommended settings for the Rational ClearQuest Web server profile.

Table 1. WebSphere Application Server default, recommended settings for Rational ClearQuest Web server
WAS Setting	Parameter name	Optimized value	Description
JVM Heap Size	setJvmMaxHeapSize	1536 MB	Controls Java™ VM memory consumption. Setting this value too low can cause frequent out-of-memory errors.
Thread pools	setMaxSizesOfThreadPools	200	Specifies the maximum number of threads to maintain in the default thread pool. Changing this value can affect server start-up and processing time.
Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI)	disablePMI or enablePMI	`disablePMI`	Disables the PMI data collection process that collects information for diagnosing problems and tuning application performance. Disabling data collection improves server performance. You can enable PMI for troubleshooting when necessary.
JVM log file size	setSystemOutErr	20 MB	Sets the file size for the JVM SystemOut.log and SystemErr.log. The default location for these logs is Windows C:\Program Files\IBM\ClearQuest\cqweb\cqwebprofile\logs\server1 Linux and UNIX /opt/IBM/ClearQuest/cqweb/cqwebprofile
Trace log	setTraceLog	20 MB
Write timeout setting for the HTTP inbound channel	setDefaultInboundHttpChannelWriteTimeouts	300 seconds	Specifies the amount of time, in seconds, that the HTTP transport channel waits on a socket for each portion of response data to be transmitted. Setting the value too low can cause dropped connections and download failures. In this case, the Server log files might show errors such as `IOError` or `AsyncTimeoutException`.

Note:

If you select the Installation Manager to deploy the Rational ClearQuest Web into a new WebSphere profile, called 'cqwebprofile', the Installation Manager presets these default values to the optimal setting. If you select, to deploy Rational ClearQuest Web in an existing WebSphere profile, these optimal settings cannot be set. You must set them.

Modifying WebSphere Application Server application server profile settings by using the wsadmin tool

Modifying WebSphere Application Server profile settings of Rational ClearQuest Web Server profile by using the teamAdminUtils.jacl tool.

About this task

You can use teamAdminUtils.jacl tool to set the default recommended settings for a Rational ClearQuest Web profile. You can also run this command to change specific values. For example, to set the default values, use setCMRecommendedDefaults. To just change the JVM heap size, use setJvmMaxHeapSize.

For more information about the wsadmin tool, see the WebSphere Application Server Information Center: V8.5, V8.0

Procedure

Set WebSphere Application Server settings for the Rational ClearQuest Web server application profile to recommended values

Start the WebSphere Application Server administrative console, open the command window or shell and go to the WebSphere Application Server bin directory.
- Windows:
  cd C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\bin\
- UNIX or Linux:
  cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/bin/
Run the setCMRecommendedDefaults command to apply the default values to the profile that hosts the Rational ClearQuest Web Server.
- Windows:
  wsadmin.bat -profile -profileName cqwebprofile "C:\Program Files\IBM\ClearQuest\cqweb\scripts\teamAdminUtils.jacl" -c "setCMRecommendedDefaults"
- UNIX or Linux:
  ./wsadmin.sh -profile -profileName cqwebprofile "/opt/ibm/clearquest/cqweb/scripts/teamAdminUtils.jacl" -c "setCMRecommendedDefaults"
Restart the WebSphere Application Server profile for the change to take effect.
- Windows:
  stopServer.bat server1 -profileName cqwebprofile startServer.bat server1 -profileName cqwebprofile
- UNIX or Linux:
  ./stopServer.sh server1 -profileName cqwebprofile ./startServer.sh server1 -profileName cqwebprofile
Note: If your WebSphere Application Server is the 32-bit edition, the maximum JVM heap size you can have is 1536 MB. If you go over this value, you cannot start your Rational ClearQuest Web profile. For 64-bit edition, you can increase this value to over 2 GB, which can result in poor performance due to Java GC over head.

Note: The examples in this procedure assume that Rational ClearQuest Web server is deployed in the default profile cqwebprofile. If you deploy Rational ClearQuest Web server in a different profile name, use that profile name instead of cqwebprofile. This example assumes that you have WebSphere and Rational ClearQuest installed in the default directory.
During an installation or upgrade to Rational ClearQuest Web server V8.0 or V8.0.0.x, the IBM Installation Manager does not set the JVM heap size value for the WebSphere Application Server profile. By default, when a new WebSphere Application Server profile is created, the JVM value is set to 256 MB. This value is too low for Rational ClearQuest Web server V8.0 and V8.0.0.x, and must be increased to 1 GB. To increase the value:
1. In a Windows command prompt window, or a UNIX or Linux command shell, navigate to your Rational ClearQuest scripts directory. For example, on:
  - Windows:
    cd C:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearQuest\cqweb\scripts\
  - UNIX or Linux:
    /opt/ibm/RationalSDLC/clearquest/cqweb/scripts/
2. Run the following WebSphere command to set the JVM heap size for the WebSphere Application Server profile in which Rational ClearQuest Web server is deployed to 1024. For example:
  - Windows:
    C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\wsadmin.bat -profile -profileName cqwebprofile teamAdminUtils.jacl -c "setJvmMaxHeapSize 1024"
  - UNIX or Linux:
    /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/wsadmin.sh -profile -profileName cqwebprofile "/opt/ibm/RationalSDLC/clearquest/cqweb/scripts/teamAdminUtils.jacl" -c "setJvmMaxHeapSize 1024"
3. Restart the WebSphere Application Server profile for the change to take effect. For example:
  - Windows:
    C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\stopServer.bat server1 -profileName cqwebprofile
    C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\bin\startServer.bat server1 -profileName cqwebprofile
  - UNIX or Linux:
    /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/stopServer.sh server1 -profileName cqwebprofile
    /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/startServer.sh server1 -profileName cqwebprofile