Improving Email activity sending performance

You can set two parameters in the EMLMSG database table that can improve performance when you use Email or Dialog activities to send marketing emails.

WebSphere Commerce ProfessionalWebSphere Commerce EnterpriseDialog activities are available only in the Professional and Enterprise editions of WebSphere Commerce.

About this task

In the PROPERTYFILE column of the EMLMSG database table, you can set the following optional parameters for an email message template:
CONTENT=GENERIC
Set this parameter if the email content is the same for all customers. For examples, if your email template does not generate content that is personalized for individual customers. As a result, the marketing services create the email JSP only one time, and the same email content is sent to all customers.
WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.3WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.5WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.2WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.1WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.4THREADCOUNT=value
WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.3WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.5WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.2WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.1WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.4Set this parameter to increase the number of threads that handle sending emails. This increase in threads can shorten the time that it takes to send many emails. The number for this value represents the number of threads. The THREADCOUNT value must be a number that ends with 0, such as 10, 20, 30.
WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.6 or laterNote: Do not set the THREADCOUNT parameter if you installed WebSphere Commerce Fix Pack 6 or later, or if you installed the interim fix for JR41894. If this fix pack or interim fix is applied, specifying this parameter no longer improves your activity sending performance.

Procedure

  1. WebSphere Commerce Developer Access the development database.
  2. Run the following SQL statement:
    UPDATE EMLMSG SET PROPERTYFILE = 
    'email_performance_parameters;' 
    WHERE EMLMSG_ID = emlmsg_id; 
    Where:
    • email_performance_parameters is any of CONTENT=GENERIC and THREADCOUNT=value.

      Each parameter must end with a semi-colon (;).

    • emlmsg_id is the numeric ID assigned to the email message.
    Here is an example SQL command that could improve performance for an email activity that
    • Sends generic content to all customers
    • Has a large distribution list, so you want to use 20 threads
    UPDATE EMLMSG SET PROPERTYFILE = 
    'CONTENT=GENERIC;THREADCOUNT=20;' 
    WHERE EMLMSG_ID = 25;