Unbalanced QVS Clustering

By default, a QlikView Server (QVS) cluster requires that all nodes are equal regarding CPU, cores, and RAM. You can, however, use nodes with different hardware specifications. Setting up an unbalanced cluster can be helpful in case you need to cluster machines with different performance capabilities, or if you need to handle documents of different sizes.

You enable QVS unbalanced clustering by modifying the ActivateUnbalancedCluster configuration. By enabling ActivateUnbalancedCluster, it is no longer possible to set CPU affinity and Working Set limits in the QlikView Management Console (QMC). Instead, you manage your cluster's settings by editing the QlikView Server (QVS) Settings.ini file in each individual node of your cluster.

Only full CPU Affinity is supported when using this feature (100% of cores).

The load balancing algorithm should be activated when setting up an unbalanced cluster. This can be configured to specific needs, see: Customizing the load balancing algorithm.

Setting up a QVS unbalanced cluster

The procedure for setting up a QVS unbalanced cluster varies depending on whether your cluster uses QlikView Web Service (QVWS) or Microsoft IIS (QV Settings Service).

Unbalanced QVS clustering using QVWS

Do the following :

1. Set the ActivateUnbalancedCluster configuration to true in the QVManagementService.exe.config file. By default, the file is located in C:\Program Files\QlikView\Management Service.

2. Set the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancer configuration parameter to true in the QVWebServer.exe.config file. By default, this file is located in C:\Program Files\QlikView\Server\Web Server.

3. In the QlikView Management Console, navigate to System menu, select Setup, select QlikView Web Servers from the list of services, go to the AccessPoint tab, Server Connections and select Cpu with Ram overload option in the Load Balancing field to take advantage of the algorithm for the unbalanced clustered environment.

   If you want to customize the load balancing algorithm to grant a higher weight to previous loaded documents, set UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight to a higher value than UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerCpuWeight and UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerRamWeight.

   See Customizing the load balancing algorithm for how to set the value for UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight.

Unbalanced QVS clustering using Microsoft IIS

If you are using Microsoft IIS, you need to add the following parameters to the IIS settings by using the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

Do the following :

1. Set the ActivateUnbalancedCluster configuration to true in the QVManagementService.exe.config file. By default, the file is located in C:\Program Files\QlikView\Management Service.
2. Launch the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
3. On the left navigation menu, click on the site to which the QlikView services are installed. Depending on the settings of your installation, this is either Default Web Site or another custom site.
4. In the central pane, in the ASP.NET section, double click on Application Settings.
5. In the right Actions pane, click Add... and an Add Application Setting window opens. Under Name: enter UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancer and under Value: enter true. Click OK to confirm the action.
6. In the right Actions pane, click Add... again. In the Add Application Setting window, under Name: enter UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerCpuWeight and under Value: enter 5. Click OK to confirm the action.
7. In the right Actions pane, click Add... again. In the Add Application Setting window, under Name: enter UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerRamWeight and under Value: enter 3. Click OK to confirm the action.
8. In the right Actions pane, click Add... again. In the Add Application Setting window, under Name: enter UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight and under Value: enter 3. Click OK to confirm the action.

9. In the QlikView Management Console, navigate to System menu, select Setup, select QlikView Web Servers from the list of services, go to the AccessPoint tab, Server Connections and select Cpu with Ram overload option in the Load Balancing field to take advantage of the algorithm for the unbalanced clustered environment.

   If you want to customize the load balancing algorithm to grant a higher weight to previous loaded documents, set UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight to a higher value than UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerCpuWeight and UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerRamWeight.

   See Customizing the load balancing algorithm for how to set the value for UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight.

Customizing the load balancing algorithm

You can customize the weights of the load balancing algorithm if needed. The procedure varies depending on whether your cluster uses QlikView Web Service (QVWS) or Microsoft IIS (QV Settings Service).

Customize the load balancing algorithm for QVWS

If your installation uses QVWS, edit the following settings in the QVWebServer.exe.config file, located in C:\Program Files\QlikView\Server\Web Server. The procedure requires the QVS Settings.ini file to be modified as well.

1. Set the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerCpuWeight to a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the processing power should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which QVS cluster node is used to open documents.
2. Set the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerRamWeight to a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the RAM performance should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which QVS cluster node is used to open documents.
3. Set the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight to a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the number of previous loaded documents on a QVS cluster node should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which cluster is used to open documents.
4. Make sure that no CPU Affinity settings are present in the local node's QVS Settings.ini files. By default, this file is located in C:\ProgramData\QlikTech\QlikViewServer.
   Remove the following if present:

   MaxCoreMask

   MaxCoreMaskHi

   MaxCoreMaskGrp1

   MaxCoreMaskGrp1Hi

   MaxCoreMaskGrp2

   MaxCoreMaskGrp2Hi

   MaxCoreMaskGrp3

   MaxCoreMaskGrp3Hi

5. Working Set limit Low and High will by default be set to 70 and 90 respectively (usage of RAM in percent). Remove old settings if necessary or change to customized levels in the local node QVS Settings.ini files:
   WorkingSetSizeLoPct=nn
   WorkingSetSizeHiPct=nn
   
6. Restart all systems involved.

Customize the load balancing algorithm for Microsoft IIS

To customize the load balancing algorithm for an installation that uses Microsoft IIS as web server, edit the following settings by using the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

1. Launch the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. On the left navigation menu, click on the site to which the QlikView services are installed. Depending on the settings of your installation, this is either Default Web Site or another custom site.
3. In the central pane, in the ASP.NET section, double click on Application Settings.
4. Select the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerCpuWeight setting. In the right Actions pane, click Edit... and an Edit Application Setting window opens. Under Value: enter a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the processing power should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which QVS cluster node is used to open documents. Click OK to confirm the action.
5. Select the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerRamWeight setting. In the right Actions pane, click Edit... and an Edit Application Setting window opens. Under Value: enter a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the RAM performance should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which QVS cluster node is used to open documents. Click OK to confirm the action.
6. Select the UnbalancedClusterLoadBalancerLoadedDocWeight setting. In the right Actions pane, click Edit... and an Edit Application Setting window opens. Under Value: enter a value between 0 and 10. A higher value indicates the number of previous loaded documents on a QVS cluster node should be given more weight when the load-balancing algorithm determines which cluster is used to open documents. Click OK to confirm the action.
7. Restart all systems involved.