Configuring the Windows registry: Specifying TCP/IP settings (Windows Server 2003)

If the parallel engine is installed on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard or Enterprise edition, specify settings for TCP/IP in the Windows Registry to ensure that the required number of parallel processes can run concurrently. This task does not apply if the parallel engine is installed on a computer that runs Windows Server 2008.

Before you begin

  1. Log in to Windows Server as the Administrator.
  2. Start the Registry Editor, and back up the Windows Registry. If you plan to make several changes (for example, to configure the parallel engine), create a single backup before you make all the changes.

About this task

You specify TCP/IP settings by editing the following registry values in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters registry subkey:
MaxUserPort
Specifies the maximum port number for ephemeral TCP ports.
TcpNumConnections
Specifies the maximum number of concurrent connections that TCP can open. This value significantly affects the number of concurrent osh.exe processes that are allowed. If the value for TcpNumConnections is too low, Windows cannot assign TCP ports to stages in parallel jobs, and the parallel jobs cannot run.

These keys are not added to the registry by default.

Procedure

  1. In the Registry Editor, select the following registry subkey: 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
  2. Specify the following registry values: MaxUserPort and TcpNumConnections.
    1. If the registry value does not exist, click Edit > New > DWORD Value, and type the name of the registry value.
    2. In the right pane of the Registry Editor, right-click the registry value, and click Modify.
    3. In the Base area, select Decimal.
    4. In the Value data field, specify the following values:
      Registry value name Value data Valid range
      MaxUserPort 65534 5000 - 65534 (decimal)
      TcpNumConnections 65534 0 - 65534 (decimal)
    5. Click OK.

What to do next

After you make changes to the Windows Registry, restart Windows to apply your changes. If you plan to make several changes (for example, to configure the parallel engine), make all changes before you restart Windows.