In this menu item of the main menu of the PPD Toolbox Collection, various applications can be accessed. To do this, click on Applications in the main menu of the PPD Tools Collection. The applications are described below.

Figure 1: The Applications menu

This tool [1] can be used to open log files and other text files and filter the content according to certain criteria. The filtering should only display the information from a file that is really relevant. This should make the files more readable overall and a little clearer.

Clicking on this menu item [2] opens the File Analyzer with a PostGres query window.

This tool offers an alternative for simple tasks, as the PGAdmin that is included in the PostGreSQL installation can often be a bit sluggish.

To use PostGres Query, proceed as follows:

1. Server [16] – select or check the server and port. Use "+" to save a server in the server list and "-" to remove it.
2. Filter and Order [17] – optionally, filters and sorting options can be set here (the query is automatically updated).
3. All executed queries are stored in the drop-down menu below the SQL query text field [18] and can be loaded directly. The "<>" buttons can be used to quickly switch back and forth between queries.
4. With Load Query and Save Query [19] – the queries can be saved as a text file or reloaded later or on another machine. The queries that have been executed are saved in the list below the query text field. The saved queries can be displayed using the buttons "<" and ">".
5. Database [20] – select database (usually pms)
6. Table [21] – select the desired table to be displayed. This automatically creates a select query.
7. Cols [22] – optionally, the columns that should be displayed can be selected here (the query is automatically updated)
8. The button "File Refs from ID" [23] displays all files from the file management of an entity ID. To do this, a table must be selected and the ID entered in the text field (next to the button).
9. The “Open File Refs From” button [24] opens the file list associated with an entity. The entity ID is to be entered in the text field next to it.
10. Run Query [25] – the query is triggered and the result is displayed in the File Text field of the File Analyzer.

Figure 2: The PostGresQuery tab

The PostGresQuery > Analyze Tools menu is also available in the PostGres Query tab and is structured as follows:

• Get Table Sizes [26] – determines the sizes of the database's tables
• Get all Table Columns [27] –  searches for all column names in all tables. This is useful if you know the name of a column but not the name of the table.
• Vacuum DB [28] – starts database compression
• View DB-Deployment Table [29] –  displays the migration table
• Delete DB-Deployment ERROR [30] – migration errors are deleted
• Find DB Errors in a Table [31] – this can be used to find database errors. This function may be very slow!
• Get Tables File Info [32] – this shows in which file in the file system a table is stored
• FileManagement-DataBase Check [33] – the FileManagement-DataBase Check tool is started

Figure 3: The Analyze Tools menu item in PostGresQuery

As the name suggests, ZuniComm requests can be analyzed in ZuniCommRequest Analyzer [4]. It often happens that identical jobs that were processed on different machines, or even on the same machine, differ. With this tool, the ZuniComm calls can be compared.

ZuniComm requests from the PMS log can be evaluated here [5].

This function is used to manage exported jobs [6]. In addition, a summary of the most important key data of the job is displayed after loading an export. All the files in the export can be opened directly here and then analyzed.

This feature [7] can be used to compare licenses and extract the most important information. It is often the case that functions are not displayed in Workflow, are deactivated or do not work. However, they may work on another system or another version. It is therefore necessary to compare the license with the functioning reference and determine whether the problem could be related to the license.

This tool [8] can be used to compare the application.properties of PMS between different systems. The function helps with PMS troubleshooting.

ZuniComm Config Compare [9] is used to compare the ZuniCommConfig.txt of ZuniComm between different systems. This function helps with ZuniComm troubleshooting.

Occasionally, it is necessary to terminate Windows processes. This is normally done in the task manager, but this can only be used to end one process at a time, which can be quite troublesome if there are many processes with the same name. Kill Processes [10] can be used to delete all processes with the same name at once.

With Remote Desktop, the Windows password can no longer be inserted via the clipboard. A password can be copied into the Send Keys form via the clipboard. Send Keys [11] then writes the password into the activated window. Ideally, this should then be the password field of the remote desktop.

The following functions are offered here [12]

DW Services Manager

All Workflow services can be started and stopped here. Furthermore, the various frontends of the services can be opened here. For debugging purposes, it is possible to start a service in the console here.

In addition to the DW Services Manager, the services can also be started and stopped directly from the menu:

PMS:

• Start
• Stop
• Restart
• Open Swagger: the Swagger opens in the browser
• Open Workflow: Workflow opens in the browser

ZuniComm:

• Start
• Stop
• Restart
• Open ZuniComm Frontend: ZuniComm opens in the browser

SMC:

• Start
• Stop
• Restart
• Open SMC Frontend: the Service Management Console opens in the browser

PostGres:

• Start
• Stop
• Restart
• Open PGAdmin

Masterdata

This tool is modeled on the master data from Workflow. Here, the individual tables of the PMS database can be read and edited.

Ngnix (Reverse Proxy für den HTTPS Support)

• Start: starts Ngnix
• Stop: stops Ngnix
• Restart: restarts Ngnix
• Open Workflow: the Workflow is opened in the browser with https
• Configuration: setting up and configuring Ngnix

 DW Update and Update History

This displays the update history of the locally installed Workflow. This only works if the Postgres database is started.

Manual Setup (Serivces, Firewall, Path)

Here a DW setup can also be done manually, step by step. A requirement for this action is that a file backup with PMS_DATA\Filemanagement, PMS_DATA\PMSDataBase12 and c:\program files\ppd is available.

Reload Masterdata (with PMS Restart)

This function is used to reload the delivered master data with a PMS restart.

Backup

If critical changes should be made to the database or file management, where the effects are not foreseeable, then a backup can be created before the change. The backup can also be created without production jobs and Print Items, which minimizes the size of the backup. Workflow can then be started with this backup and the changes tested. If the tests are successful, the productive instance can be started again and the same changes can be made there.

This function must not be used as a backup strategy on production machines and should be used with great care.

Tail Current PMS Log

Opens the current local pms.log with the PPTC tail function.

Tail Current ZuniComm Log

Opens the current local ZuniComm.log using the PPTC Tail function.

Set PMS VM Memory Size

The maximum RAM that PMS (Java) can use can be configured here.

License V2

• Enable /Disable: License V2 can be switched on and off here. PMS will be restarted.
• License V2 is supported from DW version 1.15.1. From version 1.16.0, V2 is automatically activated.

Figure 4: The Local Workflow application with all the contained functions

Under Open local Config Files [13] all configuration files of the DW can be opened and edited in the File Analyzer.

In Find and solve [14] different features for error analysis are accessed.

• Status, Cleanup and Integrity check: This feature should be started first when there are fundamental problems with a Workflow installation. The feature provides an overview of the status of the DW services, hard disk utilization, and RAM and CPU utilization. Furthermore, the system can be cleaned up and unnecessary files and folders deleted. The Integrity Check verifies the existence of the most important files and folders of a DW installation and checks whether the services have been started. If the button text is green, the system should be running correctly. If the text is orange, an error has occurred in the integrity test. If the text is red, a serious error has been detected.
• FileManagement-Database Check: This can be used to determine whether the database and file management match. That is, you can determine whether all files from the file management are referenced in the database and, conversely, whether all files referenced in the database are present in the file management. In addition, you can search for large files in the file management. The cleanup of unused Print Items can also be triggered here.
• DW Process Monitor: Overview of the current RAM usage of all DW services and the system's CPU utilization.
• Check SMB Connections: This can be used to check which SMB version can be used to access a share (CIFS, SMB2)
• Test Network Performance: Advanced network speed tests. This tool is still under development.
• Check Server Connections: This can be used to open the UA Server and Approval Server directly in the browser.
• Check TCP Ports: This tool can be used to find out which services are using TCP ports. This can help with port conflicts.
• View DB Deployment Table: Migrations errors often occur during Workflow updates. These can be displayed using this function.
• Delete DB-Deployment ERROR: If an error occurs during a migration, the error must be deleted from the database. This can be easily done with this function. However, the reason for the error must be found and fixed first.
• View DB-ZuniComm Log: Displays the ZuniComm log of the database.
• Find Files with String: This tool can be used to search for files containing a defined string. This is particularly useful when searching for a log file in which a particular job has been processed.

Figure 5: The Find and Solve application with all contained

You can find shortcuts for all Windows configurations, settings and information under Windows Shortcuts [15]. If PPDTC is started as an administrator, a password usually no longer needs to be entered here to make changes to the system.

Artikel update: 12/2024