Better utilization of cpus and memory - Concurrent processing tier

Question

I have a three node 11.5.10.2 setup:
Node1 - Database only (10.1.0.5)
Node2 - Admin, Forms, Web
Node3 - Concurrent processing
My concurrent processing node has lot of free cpus and memory
Cpus: Average utilization 20%
Memory : Average utilization 15%
The highest spikes I've had are:
Cpus- 24% utilization
Memory - 20% utilization
What I can do on the concurrent processing tier that would make better use of the cpus/memory resources and improve performance?
I have 2 dual core Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors and 16 GB Physical memory on the concurrent processing server.
Thanks & regards,

Answer 1

Hi Asif,
You are seeing a manifestation of the old myth from the earlier part of this decade that you need many middle tier servers to effectively interact with users in a busy ERP environment. In reality, the middle tier processes which are normally web, forms, and concurrent managers typically consume only memory, and maybe10-20 percent CPU utilization of a modern quad core Xeon/Opteron Linux server. I have seen several 200 plus user single node 11i installations that handled the load just fine. In my experience, 95-97% of the ERP CPU utilization comes from database sessions, not from middle tier processes. Occasionally, a forms session goes to a runaway, or a ar60run process runs at 100% CPU while the request is running, but if you follow the Oracle recommendations of limiting fnd_concurrent_requests to 50k rows or less, you will not see much CPU utilization from FNDLIBR processes.
Most 32 GB 2 socket quad core servers can support 200 plus forms user connections plus host the concurrent manager as well. I would only add additional web/forms nodes after you start paging on the middle tier box. Having concurrent managers separated on a 10-20 percent utilized server is sort of a waste of a server.
Regards,
-Michael