MetaServer > Help > Server
220 MetaServer Server
Use the Server tab in the Administration client to view the status of the different MetaServer actions and manage global settings of the MetaServer.
Select Worfklows
Select one or more workflows to filter the server status list. Only the import actions of the selected workflows will be listed.
The icon turns red if not all workflows are selected to clearly indicate that not all import actions will be listed.
Select Server
A system can contain several MetaServers. Select the MetaServer you want to work with.
If the MetaServer is not on the same domain as the client, you can enter the server's name manually by pressing the arrow under the icon and by selecting "Select by Name".
You can easily find the correct Name by opening this setup window on the server.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Counters
This opens a list of all documents being processed by MetaServer.
The list shows a total document count per action and totals across all workflows.
Monitoring
When you enable the Monitoring option, MetaServer updates a “metaserver-monitoring.json” file on disk every minute.
The interval, the folder and file name can be adjusted. The monitor file contains all counters as displayed in the Counters pop-up and other server level data like SystemUpTime, MetaServerUpTime, MemoryInUse, etc.
You can use this for server monitoring systems such as Centreon.
Active Users
You can see a list of all active users and the type of client they're using on the current MetaServer.
Pause Server
Pausing MetaServer, pauses all actions.
If an action is in the middle of processing a document, it will first finish the document and only then switch to a paused state.
Only when all actions are colored yellow, the server is fully paused and will not perform any importing, processing or exporting anymore until it is resumed.
Resume Server
After pausing MetaServer, you can resume it with this function.
As soon as all actions are colored green, the server has fully resumed.
Restart Server
In the unusual event that an import action fails and turns red (error state), correct the cause of the error and Restart MetaServer. Other actions can be individually restarted with the Restart Action button.
Advanced Users: If you manually copy workflow files from one server to another, you also need to Restart MetaServer.
Import Limit
This sets the maximum number of documents that can be imported. Once this number is reached, importing of additional documents is paused (import actions will be colored yellow) until documents are exported and make place to import additional ones.
Only increase the value when you want to extract data from a lot of documents overnight to queue them up for validation during day time.
The maximum allowed number of documents in the queue is limited to 10000.
Priority Queue Limit
This sets the maximum number of documents that can be imported in priority mode. Priority documents can only overtake documents that are scheduled for processing. A document that is in the middle of being processed cannot be overtaken.
When the limit is reached, MetaServer pauses the import of more priority documents until the current imported priority documents are completely processed.
The “Priority Queue” works independently from the main import queue. If the overall “Import Limit” is not reached but the “Priority Queue Limit” is reached, priority documents need to be processed first before additional priority documents can be imported.
You can also check the number of priority documents in the queue through the Counters window.
The maximum allowed number of priority documents in the queue is limited to 250.
Load Balancing
Enable this option if you watch the same folder(s) with multiple MetaServers.
You can also specify the Load Balancing Limit. Be aware that this limit does not consider imported documents that are still in Validation or the Organizer. It also does not consider documents that have 1 or more documents after separation that are still in Validation or the Organizer.
We recommend keeping it at a low value, like the default value of 10.
Network Folders
Being a service, MetaServer runs without a logged user account under a special system account. System accounts do not have access rights to shared folders on the network, only user accounts have such rights.
The Network Folders setup makes it possible to define credentials for shared network folders.
This gives MetaServer access to import and export to these shared network folders or connect to databases located on shared folders through ODBC.
If a network drive is unavailable because the file server is switched off or because the LAN is not connected, MetaServer will retry until the drive is available again.
Import Actions from unavailable network folders will turn orange until they are available again.
By default a warning message is sent if a network drive is unavailable for more than 10 minutes (configurable).
Open Database
Open your last selected MetaServer Database with the default Windows program. Below, we opened the “simpsons_guest” MetaServer database in CSVFileView.
To open another MetaServer Database, press the “Open Database” drop-down arrow and press the “Select Database” button.
Select Database
You can select a MetaServer Database from a list.
Data Drive
By default, MetaServer’s data files are stored on the server’s C drive.
You can change the location of these data files to another fixed drive of the server.
Pause Import
If you want to process all documents in the MetaServer queue to clear the queue completely, use the Pause Import function.
All pending documents will be processed and exported without importing new ones until the queue is reduced to 0 documents.
Paused import actions are colored yellow.
Resume Import
After you paused import actions (colored yellow), you can resume them with this function.
After you have resumed import actions, they will be colored green.
Refresh Action List (F5)
The action list is automatically refreshed every 10 seconds.
You can force a refresh by pressing the Refresh List button or by pressing the F5 key.
Restart Action
Some actions can turn red (critical error) because of mistakes in the workflow definition. For example a field was deleted but still used in a separation action.
Other reasons for critical errors are issues external to MetaServer. Such as an offline SQL Server, accidental changes to external database tables or XML or CSV files by external programs such as Excel that therefore cannot be updated by MetaServer anymore.
After you have fixed the cause of the error, you can restart the action with the Restart Action button to resume processing of your documents.
The documents that initially triggered the critical error will be moved to the Errors Tab because the document itself can be the cause of the error, like a corrupt PDF file for example. Open the Errors Tab to decide what to do with the error documents.
Clients Settings
The clients settings apply to all clients connected to the MetaServer. Enable or disable these functions to hide or expose them on the client stations.
When you change any of the settings, they are automatically applied next time a client is restarted.
Document Timeout
With this you can change the document timeout time in minutes.
When an operator opens a document in the Organizer or Validation, the document is automatically locked for other users. The document will close and unlock itself automatically for other users after a certain time to avoid documents being stuck in validation or the organizer if, for example, someone went for lunch and forgot to close their document.
The action list refreshes every 10 seconds. Press the Refresh List button or press the F5 key to instantly refresh the list. The actions are color coded:
Green = running & healthy
Yellow = paused
Orange = recoverable non-blocking error, e.g. network folder offline. MetaServer will automatically retry the connection every 10 seconds.
Red = blocking error, a server or action restart is required
Columns Description
Action queue:
Short description of the action type
Activity:
Waiting for document means that the action is idle. Otherwise it describes what the action is doing. In case of an error, it will display the error message in detail. The document that triggered the error can be viewed and processed using the Errors tab.
Last activity report:
Last time that the data was refreshed for a given action.
Last time applied:
Last time that a document was processed by this action with an indication of the internal GUID of the document.
If you cannot find the cause of a critical error (red), you can contact us through our online support form. Please describe the issue as detailed as possible.
If the cause of the critical error is related to pending documents in the server, you can reset the server by following steps documented here.
Server: The name of the machine MetaServer is running on.
Started on: The date and time MetaServer was started and has run without interruption since then.
Imported: The total number of documents imported in MetaServer across all workflows. The counter does not get filtered by the Select Workflows function and always shows the total document count for both selected and unselected workflows.
For example, if you apply Separate Document / Process Page(s) actions in your workflows, this counter won’t be affected. It shows the original number of imported documents and is unaffected by other actions in your workflows.
In queues: The total number of documents in the MetaServer queue across all workflows. The counter does not get filtered by the Select Workflows function and always shows the total document count for both selected and unselected workflows.
In contrast to the “Imported” counter, this counter shows the total number of documents after your workflows’ actions have been applied. For example, if you apply Separate Document / Process Page(s) actions in your workflows, this counter will increase depending on the way your documents are split.
In organizer: Number of documents available (not locked by any user) for Organizing. The counter only shows the count of the selected workflows. See Select Workflows button.
Skipped: Number of documents available (not locked by any user) for Organizing with skipped status. The counter only shows the count of the selected workflows. See Select Workflows button.
In validation: Number of documents available (not locked by any user) for Validation. The counter only shows the count of the selected workflows. See Select Workflows button.
Skipped: Number of documents available (not locked by any user) for Validation with skipped status. The counter only shows the count of the selected workflows. See Select Workflows button.
Errors: Number of documents in error state. These documents triggered a red error. Errors and the documents that caused them can be viewed and managed in the Errors tab. The counter only shows the count of the selected workflows. See Select Workflows button.
Memory in use: the currently memory being used by the MetaServer service.
NOTE: If the current memory being used by the MetaServer service is over 1 GB, this can cause erratic behaviour. If this is the case, please check your currently active workflow for any loops or make sure you optimize the use of any memory-heavy actions (e.g. “Extract Text” with OCR).
If you’re not sure what the underlying cause is, please contact us through our online support form.
Peak memory used: the highest peak of memory used by the MetaServer service since the server has been running.