I have recently upgraded to 11.1.2.2 and wanted to take advantage of some of the new Essbase.cfg features in this release. One of which is running multiple calculation/data loads at the same time. I am familiar with the CALCPARALLEL and CALCTASKDIMS settings, but I am not sure how to call multiple calcs/load rules from a MaxL script to run simultaneously instead of in sequential order. Is this possible?

You can use the multiple threads for the loading from a single source as in the following example:

import database Sample.Basic using max_threads 12
data from data_file '/nfshome/data/foo*.txt'
using rules_file '/nfshome/data/foo.rul'
on error write to 'nfshome/error/foo.err';

MaxL runs sequentially, therefore you need to execute multiple MaxL scripts at the same time to achieve what you are trying to do.

So there is no way within a MaxL script to call multiple calcs or load rules at the same time?

Not that I am aware of. There was no way to do it in prior versions and to my knowledge, as of the last release, there was no new functionality added to do this. They would need to enhance the execute statements to allow you to call multiple scripts, which they have not done.

We create multiple MaxL scripts and use a scheduler to structure the workflow.

The only thing I know of is to run multipe SQL loads at the same time using the syntax
import database AsoSamp.Sample data
connect as TBC identified by 'password'
using multiple rules_file 'rule1','rule2'
to load_buffer_block starting with buffer_id 100
on error write to "error.txt";

You can read the full text at http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/esb_tech_ref/maxl_imp_data_as.html

As for running multiple calcs at the same time, you could have your MaxL or your bat/Sh file spawn off multiple MaxL files to run the calcs.

Thank you for the info Glenn! Your syntax worked for parallel data loads on an ASO cube. I am not very familiar with the load_buffer_block command though. Do I need to identify which load buffers were loaded to and then run the following command?

import database 'Capital'.'Capital' data from load_buffer with buffer_id xxx;

Is there a way to do this same type of load to a BSO cube? Based on the link you attached above it doesn't appear that there is, but sometimes the documentation doesn't contain all the information needed.

Thanks!

I'm not sure if you're trying to do it against an ASO or BSO database, but per the subject line, load buffers are not valid for BSO.

FWIW, Bob (the palindrome?) is correct in the tip he gave you re 11.1.2.2's multiple file data loads. You can read about in the docs as well:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/esb_tech_ref/maxl_imp_data.html

Take a look at the max_threads keyword.

Regards,

Cameron Lackpour

P.S. From reading the docs, the act of making the BSO import parallel is the usage of wildcards in the data_file specification. There must be more to it than that, but that's all that I can see and I haven't kicked the tires on 11.1.2.2 so I don't have real world experience.

Looks like I spoke too soon. I am receiving the following essbase error when trying to run a parallel load.

multiple load syntax

import database 'Capital'.'Capital' using max_threads 8 data connect as "$(DWUser)" identified by "$(DWPswd)"
using multiple rules_file 'LdAllow','LdAlowEF' to load_buffer_block starting with buffer_id 100 on error write to 'c:\\process\\logs\\errorlogs\\Capital_Allowance_EF.err';

Error from logs

[Wed Jun 06 12:46:55 2012]Local/Capital/Capital/admin@Native Directory/6476/Info(1003040)
Parallel dataload enabled: [1] block prepare threads, [1] block write threads.

[Wed Jun 06 12:47:09 2012]Local/Capital/Capital/admin@Native Directory/10964/Info(1021025)
SQL driver [SQLSRV32.DLL] for [EQUITYDW] is in use already and does not allow multiple connections. Please try later

[Wed Jun 06 12:47:09 2012]Local/Capital/Capital/admin@Native Directory/10964/Info(1021022)
Failed to access SQL driver

[Wed Jun 06 12:47:09 2012]Local/Capital/Capital/admin@Native Directory/10964/Error(1021038)
SQL driver for [EQUITYDW] is in use already and does not allow multiple connections. Please try later

[Wed Jun 06 12:47:09 2012]Local/Capital/Capital/admin@Native Directory/10964/Error(1003050)
Data Load Transaction Aborted With Error [2]

as you see Parallel data load is applicable to ASO only. As for the load bufferes, This command automatically commits the buffers