Preps Best Practices and Limitations - KMS

When Prinergy is located in an Azure environment, local workstations communicate via a Wide Area Network (WAN). Network bandwidth and latency or  the number and complexity of Templates and SmartMarks can contribute to slower than expected launch times. During the Save and Return process, Preps parses the Templates folder (not Marks) with similar performance hits.

PTSum and PMSum Solution

Once installed, the Preps client build 8.4.0.206 and higher will use the template inventory from "PrepsTemplateSummary.xml" and mark inventory from "SmartMarksSummary.json" - located in \\<PrinergyPrimary>\AraxiPreps\Resources folder. The PrepsTemplateSummary.xml and SmartMarksSummary.json will be updated whenever a template is modified, created new, or deleted from the templates folder.

Preps client will only update the list of templates when launching or when the Profile is changed in the preferences to a new templates folder. When you create a new template it will be visible in the Layouts pane. If a template is added or deleted in the Mac Finder or Windows explorer the template list in Preps will not be updated automatically. You will need to do one of the following, Restart Preps client or change the profile to a new template folder and then reselect the PrepsPrinergy profile. 

In addition, the PTSumService, PMSumService, and PryFileSyncService are added and running in Services on the Primary server. 

• PTSUMService - Scans the AraxiPreps/Templates folder and updates the "PrepsTemplateSummary.xml" (located in \\<PrinergyPrimary>\AraxiPreps\Resources folder) to improve Launch performance on a Mac or Win workstation. The list is populated in the Layouts section of the Preps UI.
• PMSUMService - Scans the AraxiPreps/Marks/SmartMarks folder and updates the "SmartMarksSummary.json" (located in \\<PrinergyPrimary>\AraxiPreps\Resources folder) to improve Launch performance on a Mac or Win workstation. The list is populated in the Marks section of the Preps UI.
• PryFileSyncService - Syncs the AraxiPreps/Templates and AraxiPreps/Marks/SmartMarks folders with local Preps Resources to improve Save and Return performance on a Windows workstation. The lists are populated in the Templates and Marks sections of the Preps UI.
• Save and Return performance for MacOS - We are developing a unified solution that utilizes a cache server to improve performance for Save and Return on Mac Workstations.  

Please contact the Customer Engagement Center for install and additional details.

Templates and Marks Clean-up

The number and complexity of Preps Templates and SmartMarks can affect performance when launching Preps. Migrating to an Azure environment is a great opportunity to revisit and clean up old Preps Resources (Templates and SmartMarks).

Tips:

• Relocate older/unused Templates or Marks to a folder outside of the AraxiPreps/Templates and AraxiPreps/Marks/SmartMarks folders. If needed, you can copy individual files back when required.
• Remove any unexpected file types. Open a file explorer window. Navigate to the SmartMarks or Templates folders. In the search field type "NOT *.smk" or "NOT *.tpl" for a list of files that are unexpected. (All folders will also populate. We are concerned with unexpected file types.)
  
  • AraxiPreps/Templates = include ".tpl" extension only
  • AraxiPreps/Marks/SmartMarks = include ".smk" extension only
• Rename any files that include illegal characters.

Known Limitations