Arbortext PE sub-process pools are started during Arbortext Publishing Engine Request Context initialization. When an Arbortext PE sub-process pool starts, it reads its parameters and then launches a background work thread. The thread then launches Arbortext PE sub-processes, terminates old ones, and controls other behaviors as defined by the pool parameters in e3config.xml.

Remember that Arbortext PE sub-processes start asynchronously to the rest of initialization, so there’s no guarantee that an Arbortext PE sub-process will be initialized and ready to accept requests at any particular time. However, if an initializer calls the Arbortext Publishing Engine Request Context’s allocateE3Subprocess method, the call will block until an Arbortext PE sub-process has started and is ready to receive communication. This means that initializers can use an Arbortext PE sub-process if necessary.