Guidelines for configuring query limits

Compass sets predefined hard and soft limits on the number of rows returned when you run a query. This topic provides guidance for tuning these settings.

You might want to fine tune the query limits to achieve optimal system performance, availability, and scalability for your environment. The limits should be large enough that they do not hinder a user from running queries typical of their job function, yet small enough that performance remains high while memory consumption remains low.

For Compass Web, define a very low soft limit (for example, 1000 records) to provide maximum performance and availability of the CM Server. For other Compass client configurations, especially those with a small number of users or users with light loads, a higher soft limit (for example, 2000 to 5000 records) might yield optimal performance.

Set the hard limit using the same goals that you use to set the soft limit. Typically, you define the hard limit with a value that is two or more times that of the soft limit.

Users running a client other than Compass Web can run queries without limit constraints by locally overriding the limits using behavior flags. And all Compass clients, including the Compass Web client, can save the full result set to a file.