The CONVERTTHREADS configuration parameter

The CONVERTTHREADS configuration parameter sets the number of convert threads for each file I/O device. The convert threads run on the convert VPs.

If you are doing a convert-intensive job, increasing CONVERTTHREADS can improve performance on multiple-CPU computers. For convert-intensive jobs, set CONVERTTHREADS to 2 or 3 as a starting point for performance tuning. Except for computers with many CPUs, the useful maximum number of CONVERTTHREADS is almost always less than 10.

The total number of convert threads that onpload uses is as follows:

CONVERTTHREADS * numdevices

where numdevices is the number of devices in the current device array.

Having more than one converter per thread, in general, allows the conversion phase to run faster given that CPU resources are available. Conversion can be a CPU-intensive phase if complex conversions are being performed.

Default value: 1
Range of values: Minimum: 1
Maximum: depends on computer configuration
See: Assess information for loading or unloading external data