We have a two server Windows cluster. We have noticed at times that multiple pageserver.exe processes are running in the background. The processes are running in excess of an hour. Is this normal? Should these processes “die” after a certain timeframe?
unds 
(BOB member since 2006-12-09)
The Page Server is a Multi threaded application. It will spawn more services as more reports are viewed on demand.
This is normal operation.
In the Management Console you will notice for the Page Server it has a setting ‘Minutes Before an Idle Report Job is Closed:’ set to 60 minutes by default.
This is why you see them sometimes for about a hour.
blair (BOB member since 2006-11-17)
In our environment, we don’t have any reports that are on demand, but only report instances are viewed after a report has been scheduled. I assume this is the same scenario?
Also, is there a way to control the maximum number of pageserver.exe’s that get spawned on each server? Could we be hitting a limit?
A symptom we sometimes have is the viewer locks up from time to time and the report is not able to be opened with either a grey or white screen only displayed. Could this be related? *Note - we use the ActiveX Viewer to view reports.
unds (BOB member since 2006-12-09)
The Page Server is also used to create cache pages (.epf, .etf) when users view the results of a previous scheduled report.
You can limit the number of threads it spawn, in the CMC pageserver - 'Maximum Simultaneous Report Jobs: '. You should also set the same number for the ‘Maximum Simultaneous Processing Threads:’ on the Cache Server.
Your lock up issue may be caused by some other factors. Are you running R2, SP1 with current hot fix?
blair (BOB member since 2006-11-17)
We are running R2, with CHF13. We have not yet installed CHF14, but soon.
unds (BOB member since 2006-12-09)