Error when too many reports are requested.

[Former Member]

I have a web application, that runs in a web farm environment. Basically the application generates a report available to any employee in our company (approximately 11,000). Users have the option to generate the report in Crystal PDF format for printing. Unfortunately, we went live and on the first day, Crytal PDF access failed miserably....with the following exception

Message: Load report failed.

Inner Source: Analysis Server

Inner Message: The maximum report processing jobs limit configured by your system administrator has been reached.

at CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ClientDoc.ReportClientDocumentClass.Open(Object& DocumentPath, Int32 Options)

at CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportClientDocumentWrapper.Open(Object& DocumentPath, Int32 Options)

at CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ReportClientDocumentWrapper.EnsureDocumentIsOpened()

Some research recommended that I bump up the registry setting for PrintJobLimit from 75.

For now we increase the number on our web servers to 150. Is there a better, long term, more scalable solution to this problem? How high can this number go and what is it's impact on the web server's performance? Please suggest some alternate solutions.

[ted_ueda · Accepted solution]

Are you using CR.NET or unmanaged reporting with RAS SDK?

Those client components aren't designed for high-load applications, and with 11,000 users, you'll likely hit the max job limit.

The scalable solution, especially with so many users, would be BusinessObjects Enterprise.

Sincerely,

Ted Ueda

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I am using Crystal Reports XI, release 2 in a ASP.NET 2.0 application. Not the RAS. The web servers have the server components installed on them. Are you saying our level of Crystal will not be able to handle the volume of requests here?

[ted_ueda · Accepted solution]

Hello Chris,

With 11,000 users, you'd encounter both performance and licensing issues.

Performance issues kicks in, as you saw, with the default 75 max jobs count. You can increase this number - however, this would results in higher resource use.

License issues kicks in since CR.NET comes with a 3 Concurrent Process Licence (CPL). Every report request - open new report, get next page or report, print report, etc, is counted as a process. CR.NET handles only three simultaneously, with further requests being queued until a free process opens up, even if there are available machine resources.

Rule of thumb is that the max job count limits the throughput, and the CPL limits the minimum latency.

You'd hit both with that many users.

With BusinessObjects Enterprise, you'd be able to better manage load, since (within the license you purchase with the product) create additional servers to handle the reporting load.

Sincerely,

Ted Ueda