Configuring Time-Outs for the Worker Helper
A time-out is the length of time that processing is assumed to continue without the generation of a prompt or message. If a worker hangs or prematurely exits without generating an error message, the time-out represents the maximum amount of publishing time that will be lost waiting for a prompt or error message.
There are two types of time-outs that affect the server-controlled (worker) publishing and there is a different way to control each type:
• WVS (Windchill Visualization Services) Publisher Controlled Timeouts—This type defines the time-out values that the WVS Publisher uses to monitor the activity of the worker, by detecting messages returned by the Worker Agent from the worker. The time-out values are configured using the publish.cadtimeout.<Type> properties that are defined in the wvs.properties file on the Windchill server. Time-out values are in seconds, and define the time during which the publisher waits for a message from the Worker Agent, when processing the different types of data. Each time the publisher receives a message from the Worker Agent, it resets the time-out to the configured publish.cadtimeout.* value and waits for messages about further progress. The publishing process includes all activities, including download, retrieval, conversion, thumbnail generation, postprocessing, and so on. The types of publish.cadtimeout.<type> properties, along with the default value of each property follow:
◦ publish.cadtimeout.component–600 seconds
◦ publish.cadtimeout.assembly—3600 seconds
◦ publish.cadtimeout.drawing—600 seconds
You can also set publisher time-outs that are specific to an application. To do so, append the name of the authoring application as a suffix to the generic property name prefix: publish.cadtimeout.<Type>.<AuthApp>. For example, the following out-of-the-box property is defined to control just the Arbortext Publishing Engine worker time-out:publish.cadtimeout.component.ARBORTEXT=3600.
To set the publisher time-out just for Creo Parametric Drawings 1200 seconds: publish.cadtimeout.drawing.PROE=1200.
• Short and Long Helper Timeouts—This type defines the time-out values for worker activities and are categorized as being short or long. These time-outs are controlled by the helper process that runs alongside each worker on the worker machine. They control the following types of worker activities:
◦ Short activities, such as viewable generation
◦ Long activities, such as download or retrieval
The worker knows if a short or long activity is about to occur and notifies the helper of the length of time to wait for the completion of the activity, based on the configured time-out setting for the activity.
◦ Short Timeout—Click > and type a value in to the Short Timeout (sec) box. Set the short time-out value to approximately 5 minutes (300 seconds). This is enough time for a reasonably performing short activity to complete. It wastes only 5 minutes of publishing time, if it is exceeded.
◦ Long Timeout—Click > and type a value in to the Long Timeout (sec) box. If the long time-out value is exceeded then a longer amount of publishing time is wasted. Consider the following steps when deciding on a value for the long time-out:
1. On the worker machine when converting the largest assembly or drawing, determine approximately how long it takes to load. You can use the command-line publisher with the -vT argument for delta timestamps to function on the log.
2. Add 10% to allow for load conditions and set the long time-out to this value.
3. Monitor and adjust the time-out accordingly with the benefit of production publishing experience.
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The publish.cadtimeout.* properties determine the maximum time allowed for each phase of publishing, even when the worker time-outs are not exceeded. It is important, therefore, that the values for publisher time-out properties are set higher than the values for the worker log time-out.
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