Setting up instances of InDesign Server in Enterprise Server 10

InDesign Server installations can be used for handling background tasks for Enterprise Server such as generating previews for articles and layouts.

Multiple InDesign Servers can be defined in Enterprise Server, and any tasks that need to be performed (referred to as 'Jobs') can be distributed across these instances as needed. When multiple InDesign Server instances exist, each instance can be set up to only handle Jobs of a specific priority (see About InDesign Server Jobs). All Jobs have a default priority assigned but this can be manually overruled when needed.

Each InDesign Server instance that Enterprise Server needs to be able to make use of needs to be defined in Enterprise Server. This article explains how to set this up.

Layout preview generation requires matching versions of InDesign and InDesign Server

The process of generating layout previews requires the same version of InDesign Server to be defined in Enterprise Server as the version of InDesign with which the layout was created.

When this is not the case, no preview is generated for the layout.

This is because opening a layout in a newer version of InDesign (Server) would not make it possible anymore to open the layout in an older version of InDesign. To prevent this situation from happening, the Enterprise Server job that handles the preview generation is therefore not processed when Enterprise Server detects such a scenario,

This means that even with a correctly configured system, it may occur that no layout previews are generated.

As an alternative method, InDesign can be used for generating the layout previews. However, this can be a time consuming process and may affect the waiting time for an end user.

For more information about delegating processing tasks to InDesign or to InDesign Server, see Setting up InDesign Server Automation in Enterprise Server 10.

Setting up InDesign Server instances in Enterprise

Step 1. In Enterprise Server, access the Overview of InDesign Servers page.

Figure: The Overview of InDesign Servers page.

Step 2. Click New InDesign Server.

The InDesign Server Maintenance page appears.

Figure: The InDesign Server Maintenance page.

Step 3. Enter the following settings:

• Host Name (IP address). Defines the address on which the SOAP interface of InDesign Server is available.

Note: This is an http address; enter either the host’s IP address or its DNS name.

Example: http://myidserver.

• Port Number. The port on which InDesign Server is started.
• Application Version. The version of InDesign Server.

Tip: Click the Auto Detect Version button (  ) to automatically detect the installed version.

• Description. (Optional) A short description.
• Active. For enabling or (temporarily) disabling the instance of InDesign Server.
• Job Priorities. (Requires Enterprise Server 9.6.0 or higher). Select the check boxes for the Job Priorities that the server instance needs to process, and clear the check boxes for the Job Priorities that it should not process.

Step 4. Click Update.

The Overview of InDesign Servers page appears with the newly created InDesign Server instance added to the list.

Step 5. (Optional, only when multiple InDesign Server instances are used and each instance is set up to handle specific Job Priorities. Requires Enterprise Server 9.6.0 or higher.) All Jobs have a default priority assigned (which is hard-coded in the job implementation):

1 (very high)

2 (high)

3 (medium)

4 (low)

5 (very low)

Increase or decrease this priority by using the following option:

• File: configserver.php file
• Name of option: INDESIGNSERV_JOBQUEUES
• Possible values: Use the format 'job type name' => job prio number
• Example: The job type for the InDesign Server Automation feature is named 'IDS_AUTOMATION' and has a default priority of 4 (Low). Because this job type runs in the background, it can be changed to any value in the range of 2 - 5.

define( 'INDESIGNSERV_JOBQUEUES', serialize(array(
	// job type name => job prio number
	'IDS_AUTOMATION' => 3