Three ways to start up Oracle HFM

The Oracle HFM configuration settings provide a lot of options. One of the more interesting options, DSStartupOption, targets the way you want HFM to start. Oracle claims in their documentation that there are two options, however there is a third one as well. What are the three options, and which option should you choose?

When Oracle released the latest version of HFM 11.1.2.4, it brought a lot of new features. Some of them were only in the background (technical), and some in the ‘consolidation management’ screen. After the 11.1.2.4.100 patch, there were even more options to choose from. (Currently the latest patch is 11.1.2.4.202.)

One of those is the option ‘Settings’, which can be found within the ‘Admin tasks’. In a series of blogs, we will explain the commonly used settings for HFM. Today, we will discuss the DSStartupOption.

DSStartupOption

Oracle claims in their documentation that there are two options. However, there is a third option as well:

• Option 0: Start the HFM application(s) when a user is asking to load it, but unload it after x period. This is the default option.
• Option 1: Start the HFM application(s) straight from a reboot/restart of Hyperion, and let it run all the time.
• Option 2: Start the HFM application(s) when a user is asking to load it, and let it run all the time.

Which option is best?

The best option really depends on the situation in your organization. Do you want your application to run at any time, all the time? You should choose option 1. The benefit of this option is that when your users want to login, there is no delay. There is no real downside, other than that the application is always loaded into memory.

However, if you have more than one application on your environment, please use this option only for the most important (production) application. All the other applications should be left on the default value. This allows your memory usage to be as low as possible and therefore available for other processes, like consolidation.

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Text: Gabor Wieringa