Configuring Remote File Servers
To perform content replication, you must complete these steps for the master site and File Server sites.
Following are the major post-installation steps for the master site and File Server. For detailed a detailed procedure for any of these steps, refer to the corresponding section below.
1. Do one of the following:
◦ Option A—Register the File Server with the master site.
◦ Option B—Create a remote site representation on the master site.
2. Create remote hosts, vaults, and folders.
3. Mount and enable the folders.
4. Start the remote site.
Following these steps, a troubleshooting section appears to help resolve configuration errors.
Step 1, Option A: Register the File Server with the Master Site.
Register the File Server using the
File Server Management utility, available from > > . For more information, see
Registering a New File Server with the Master Site.
Step 1, Option B: Create a Remote Site Representation on the Master Site
1. On the master site, select > > , available from
Site 
,
Libraries 
, and
Products 
. The
Site Management window appears.
| The label (This Installation) appears after the site name in the Site Management window for the site to which you are currently connected. System software ensures that the automatically generated site labeled (This Installation) can continue serving its role in the event of a change in the value of the wt.httpgw.url.anonymous property in the wt.properties file. This automatically generated site’s URL is the value of the wt.httpgw.url.anonymous property in the wt.properties file. If the value changes, the system assigns the new URL to it, and a warning message is displayed on the master site console. You can configure this site by clicking Update. |
2. In the Site Management window, click New. The New Site window opens.
3. Enter the following information:
Field | Description |
Site Name | The site name must be unique. The string is not case-sensitive and cannot include spaces. A File Server site must be known by the same name to all master sites. The label (This Installation) appears after the site name in the Site Management window for the site to which you are currently connected. |
URL | Enter the URL. The URL must allow the master site to access the file server site. The URL is the value of the wt.httpgw.url.anonymous property in the wt.properties file of the site that you are creating. It is the URL of the anonymous gateway for the Windchill site. If this URL is the same as the URL of the Windchill site to which you are currently connected, the label (This Installation) appears following the site name in the Site Management window. |
Site Type | Select the File Server checkbox. The Master andFile Server options determine which roles the site uses for replication. You can select one, both, or neither of these options. |
Context | Click Select to access the Pick Context window, which lists all possible contexts. Select a context and then click OK. | This field is for the site and organization levels only. Once selected context cannot be updated. |
|
Description | Enter a description of the site. You can use up to 200 characters. |
Principal | Click Select to access the Select Principal window. Use the fields on the Groups and Users tabs to select a principal for the new site. |
Site Proximity | You can move the sites into the order of proximity to the current site being created or updated. The left box contains a list of all the sites. You can move the sites from this box to the right box using >> and <<. The box on the right side indicates the proximity of the other sites to the new site. The site at the top of the list has highest proximity to the new site. You can move a site up or down the list with Move Up, Move Down, Move Top, and Move Bottom. |
4. Click OK.
| The new site appears in List of Sites table in the Site Management window. |
If you need to update an existing site, select the site in the Site Management window and then click Update.
Step 2: Create Remote Hosts, Vaults, and Folders
You create hosts, vaults, and folders for replication. You must create a host first, then a vault, and then folders.
Before you create and mount folders, you must manually create a folder on the remote site. The master site must be able to read from and write to the folder. Before you begin this step, you must create at least one folder for each file vault that will be created in the following procedure. Create this folder now.
| Each folder must be mounted to a unique physical location. If this is not done, permanent data loss will occur. |
You create remote hosts, vaults, and folders from the
Vault Configuration window. To access this window, select > > , available from
Site ,
Libraries , and
Products .
Creating a Remote Host
Creating a host associates a site with a host on the network.
A host is a machine on your network, on which Windchill Method Server is running, that can be used to store content files. Since method servers may run on different hosts, each folder should have a different mount for each host. If this is not done, the paths might not be identical. However, the location for all mounts for a folder should be the same.
| The system does not check that the DNS name that you enter for the host is a valid DNS name. |
To create a host:
1. From the Vault Configuration window, select > > . The New Host window opens.
2. Enter the unique DNS name for the host in the Host Name field. (There cannot be any blank values in the name.) This hostname can be determined in one of two ways:
◦ Consult the ServerManager or MethodServer log for a line that looks like this:
ServerManager log
<DATE> INFO [main] wt.server.manager.startup - java.rmi.server.hostname:
<Host Name>
MethodServer log:
<DATE> INFO [main] wt.method.server.startup - java.rmi.server.hostname:
<Host Name>
◦ Execute the following command to retrieve the java.rmi.server.hostname value:
windchill wt.util.jmx.WTPropEval java.rmi.server.hostname
| The system does not verify that the DNS name that you enter is valid. |
3. Select the remote site from the Site list.
4. Click OK.
Creating a Remote Vault
A vault is a logical context for folders, each of which represents a storage location on a host machine. A remote vault is a vault on a File Server rather than master site. PTC recommends one vault for each remote server for content replication.
| Creating a cache vault on the File Server site is preferable because remote users can upload content to this vault much faster. However, the existence of a cache vault on a Windchill File Server is not a necessity for replicating contents to that site. |
To create a remote vault:
1. From the Vault Configuration window, select > > . The New Vault window opens.
2. Enter the following information:
Field | Description |
Site | Select the File Server from the list. |
Name | Enter a vault name. The name you specify must be unique among the vaults defined for all sites. |
Vault type | Select one of the following: • Master Vault—Stores (revaulted) master copies of content files. • Replica vault—Stores replicated content files. • Cache vault—Stores uploaded files until they are revaulted to their permanent storage locations. If you select this vault type, the vault is used as the local cache vault for the site. Only one cache vault is allowed for each site. • All vault types are supported on both main sites and File Server sites. | Vaults are enabled by default at creation. |
|
Default system target (for a master vault) or Default target for site (for a replica or cache vault) | You can select this checkbox, but you cannot directly clear it. Because there must always be a default target for the site (replica or cache vault) or default system target (master vault), the checkbox is cleared automatically when you designate another vault as the default target. Every site must have one vault that is its default target. Only master site can have default system target vault. When a master vault is designated as the default system target, and when the wt.fv.useVaultsForAllContent property is true, the vault becomes the destination for revaulting operations for content not covered by revaulting rules. When a replica or cache vault is designated as the default target for a site, it becomes the target of replication operations when the target vault has not been explicitly specified. |
Read only | Do not select this checkbox. If you do, the vault is not available for storing uploaded or replicated content files. |
Automatic folder creation | Leave this checkbox selected. When this checkbox is selected, a folder is automatically created when an existing folder reaches its capacity (number of files). This checkbox is selected by default. | For this option to work, you must have manually created and mounted a root folder. |
|
Automatic cleanup of older content | This option is available only for replica and cache vaults. |
| Select this checkbox if appropriate. When this checkbox is selected, automatic cleanups are performed on this vault according to the rules and schedule that are specified in the Automated cleanup of replica vaults window. |
3. Click OK.
| You can create only one cache vault per Windchill File Server for replication. |
Creating a Remote Folder
Creating a folder establishes a storage location and associates the location with a vault.
| Creating a cache vault on the File Server site is recommended because remote users can upload content to this vault much faster. However, the existence of a cache vault on a Windchill File Server is not a necessity for replicating contents to that site. |
To create a folder:
1. From the Vault Configuration window, select > > . The New Folder window opens.
2. Enter a unique name for the folder in the Name field.
3. Select a vault from the Vault list.
| Do not select the Read Only checkbox. If you do, the folder is not available for storing uploaded or replicated content files. |
4. Click OK.
Step 3: Mount and Enable the Folders
After you have defined vaults and folders for the site and specified its hosts, you must specify the location of the storage partition to which content will be replicated. You do this by defining the mount for each combination of folder and host for the site.
To mount a folder:
1. In the left pane of the Vault Configuration window, expand a cabinet that holds folders and then select the folder.
2. Select > . The New Mount window opens.
3. Select a host from the Host list.
4. Specify the path to the folder path in the Path field.
5. Click OK.
6. Select the folder and then select > . The Update Folder window opens.
7. Select the Enabled checkbox and then click OK.
Step 4: Start the Remote Site
Starting a remote site server is similar to starting a standard Windchill server.
To start the remote site:
1. Start the web server, servlet engine, and method server on the remote site computer.
2. Start Windchill in one of the following ways:
◦ Using an MS-DOS command prompt, in the <Windchill>/bin directory, enter the following:
windchill start
◦ On the Windows Start menu, select > > .
Troubleshooting the Configuration
This section describes both the properties and services in the wt.properties file that are relevant to Windchill content replication. If replication configuration contains an error, log files created by the services provide information for troubleshooting. The log files show all the interactions between master sites and remote sites. In the case of some errors, the log files list suggestions to solve the problem.
To Check the Configuration:
1. Enable verbose logging for wt.fv and wt.fv.master (wt.fv.verbose=true wt.fv.master.verbose=true) packages on the master site and wt.fv.replica package (wt.fv.replica.verbose=true) on the remote site.
2. Ensure that the replica folders are not read–only and that they are enabled.
3. Restart the remote site method server.
Immediately following startup, you should see a line in the log files stating that the remote site has requested configuration from the master site. Several lines below, there should be a response message specifying the received configuration. Verify that this configuration makes sense.
4. Restart the master site method server.
Immediately following startup, you should see a line in the log files stating that the master site has attempted to refresh the configuration of the remote site. Check the remote site MethodServer.log file to verify that the configuration was received.
Manually Configuring Services
In File Server remote sites, the remote Windchill site does not have access to an Oracle instance and runs with a minimal set of services. Only the services required for content replication are started.
Rather than the usual 67 or more services, only the 5 services pertaining to replication are configured. Verify that the services section contains the following:
wt.services.service.1=wt.fv.replica.ReplicaService/wt.fv.replica.StandardReplicaService
wt.services.service.2=wt.fv.replica.ReplicaServiceSvr/wt.fv.replica.StandardReplicaService
wt.services.service.3=wt.wrmf.delivery.ShippingService/wt.wrmf.delivery.StandardShippingService
wt.services.service.4=wt.wrmf.delivery.ReceiverService/wt.wrmf.delivery.StandardReceiverService
wt.services.service.5=wt.wrmf.transport.GenericTransportService/wt.wrmf.transport.StandardGenericTransportService
The method server and server manager should now launch successfully. The POM messages that normally appear when the method server starts are not displayed, and registering with the server manager is significantly quicker than in a full Windchill installation.
