Data Compression
The meta data compression option is intended to improve the upload and download performance of the Creo Parametric client for users accessing Windchill across a lower bandwidth network. This feature substantially improves the performance of upload and download operations for large family tables.
Creo Parametric Settings
In Creo Parametric, compression is controlled by a Creo Parametric config.pro setting (dm_http_compression_level) as follows:
dm_http_compression_level <an integer between 0 and 9 – 0 for no compression, 9 for maximum compression>
Windchill Settings
On the Windchill side, you enable the compression filters provided by the web-servers (for example, mod_gzip for Apache1.3.x and mod_deflate for Apache2.0.x).
Additional SOAP Compression Filter
Additionally, out of the box, the Windchill SOAPCompressionFilter is configured for compressing HTTP response data for special client (for example, Creo Parametric ) interactions, such as downloading the contents of a model.
The following additional property settings that control data compression behavior are applicable only to the SOAPCompressionFilter.
To use these property settings, add them to the wt.properties file:
• wt.compression.threshold=<size_in_bytes> -- Sets a threshold for which HTTP responses are to be compressed. The default value (0) specifies that all responses are compressed.
• wt.compression.off.contentEncodings=<encoding_types> --Identifies HTTP response encoding types (case insensitive) for which compression is switched off. The default encoding types are (space delimited): identity gzip deflate lws-deflate. Setting the value to asterisk (*) switches off compression for all encoding types.
• wt.compression.off.contentTypes=<content_type> --Identifies HTTP response content types (case insensitive) for which compression is switched off. The default content types are (space delimited): image/jpeg image/gif application/zip.
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While data compression can provide a benefit in a slow network, using compression puts an extra load on CPU resources. Conseqently, if network speed is not an issue, the use of compression may decrease performance and is not recommended.
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Additional Considerations
If the Windchill compression filter is configured and dm_http_compression_level preference is set in the Creo Parametric config file (config.pro), this setting also applies to any interaction between the Creo Parametric embedded browser and the server. That is, a non-zero value of the preference ensures that not only the meta-data of Creo Parametric models but even the content/UI pages are sent in the compressed form reducing the overall network traffic.
Also note that the Creo Parametric configuration option dm_http_compression_level needs to be set before registering the server through Creo Parametric or before connecting to a registered server (if already registered). Any change in the value after the server is registered or connected, does not apply to the running Creo Parametric session.