Considerations for selecting a report interval

Choose the smallest value possible for the report interval. This provides the most accurate count of concurrent users and, for most users, does not create any performance problems in terms of network traffic or server CPU usage.

If you are not sure what report interval to choose, the following considerations might help you to decide:

• In most cases, set the report interval to a value that is less than the average amount of time that the typical user is connected to the Z and I Emulator for Web server. If your server has plenty of bandwidth or if you do not have many sessions running concurrently, this is your only consideration and you should set the report interval to the minimum value allowed.
• If your network is severely constrained for bandwidth or your Z and I Emulator for Web server is constrained by its processor, you might want to increase the report interval time. Each client workstation that downloads and uses any part of Z and I Emulator for Web provides a check-in signal to the server once at each report interval. The longer the interval, the less network and server traffic is generated.

  At the end of each report interval, the Z and I Emulator for Web server counts all the workstations that have reported. The reports and the CPU resources required to count the number of workstations are very small.

• Any client recognized at the report interval is recorded as having accessed the Z and I Emulator for Web server at some point during the report interval, even though the client is no longer connected when the count is made.