Bshells for Parallel Processing

You may divide the planning run over multiple bshells in LN, this allows parallel processing of plan items.

Each bshell has its own processing capacity, so when multiple bshells are in use, the total processing capacity for planning run increases. The bshells are assigned plan items starting from the top planning level, until the complete level has been assigned and calculated. On each pass an average of 500 plan items is assigned to a bshell. Lower level plan items are only assigned to a bshell after the above level has been fully assigned.

The number of plan items that is allocated to each bshell is set in the Workload per Server field of the Performance Parameters (cpcom0100m000) session.

Setup

To setup multiple bshells for parallel processing:

  1. Select the Parallel Processing check box in the Generate Order Planning (cprrp1210m000) session.
  2. Select the relevant session from the Session field in the Performance Boosters (tcmcs0597m000) session.
  3. In the Performance Booster field give the number of bshells that are running.
  4. To optimize performance the parameters in the Performance Parameters (cpcom0100m000) need to be set.

    • Display Time Interval

      Enter the refresh interval for the progress bar when running the Generate Order Planning (cprrp1210m000) session.
    • Workload per Server

      Enter the maximum number of plan items that is included in each batch distributed over the parallel bshells.

      If multiple bshells are used, LN uses a dynamic calculation to determine the optimal workload per server. The workload is used as the upper limit for each of the bshells. A workload of 500 plan items per bshell on average is recommended.

    • Workload Based on Operations

      If this check box is selected, the routing composition of each item is used as a parameter for workload distribution over the available bshells.

      Note The more operations a routing of an item is composed of, the more weight it has.

      If this check box is selected, performance increases in case of large differences in the number of operations between the different items. If this situation doesn't apply, this parameter should be disabled.

    • Dynamic Workload Calculation

      If this check box is selected, the total workload is equally distributed over the available bshells.
Note: The planning process can use multiple bshells, but the transfer process can only be implemented in one at a time.