Docu47730 Whitepaper Configuring and Troubleshooting EMC Documentum Content Transformation Services for D2 Widgets

White Paper

Abstract

This white paper describes the various products involved in rendering the D2 Thumbnail and D2 Preview widgets. It explains the steps to configure Documentum Content Transformation Services. It also details troubleshooting mechanisms. February 2014

CONFIGURING AND TROUBLESHOOTING EMC DOCUMENTUM CONTENT TRANSFORMATION SERVICES FOR EMC DOCUMENTUM D2 WIDGETS

2 Documentum D2 4.1 Architecture

Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. Part Number h11903


Table of Contents

Executive summary.................................................................................................. 4 Audience ............................................................................................................................ 4

Part 1 Introduction and Configuration.................................................................... 4 D2 Workspace and Widgets ................................................................................................ 4 Content Transformation Services ........................................................................................ 5 Thumbnail Server ............................................................................................................... 6 Installing CTS and Thumbnail Server................................................................................... 6 Verifying the CTS installation .............................................................................................. 6 Verifying the Thumbnail Server installation ........................................................................ 7

To verify that Thumbnail Server is running: ..................................................................... 7 Configuring CTS for Automated Transformations ................................................................ 8 Editing Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions ................................................................... 9 Creation of new D2 Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions ............................................... 13 Verifying Renditions ......................................................................................................... 13

To view the list of renditions: ........................................................................................ 13

Part 2 Troubleshooting ....................................................................................... 14 Guidelines ........................................................................................................................ 14 D2 Thumbnail and preview widget do not display any image ............................................ 14 D2 Thumbnail widget appears with the default image ...................................................... 15 D2 Preview widget does not display the images ............................................................... 17

Part 3 Appendix .................................................................................................. 18 Contents of register_d2.xml .............................................................................................. 18 Contents of document_registration_d2.xml ...................................................................... 22 Contents of pdf_processing_d2.xml ................................................................................. 23 Contents of msg_registration_d2.xml ............................................................................... 24 Contents of tiff_registration_d2.xml ................................................................................. 25

Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 26


Executive summary EMC Documentum D2 provides a configuration driven, modern user interface on top of the Documentum content repository. D2 consists of two components: D2 Configuration and D2 Client. The D2 Client provides the ability to interact with content in one or more repositories and also offers a powerful user interface that users can personalize using widgets and workspaces. The D2 Client provides repository widgets such as Thumbnail Widget and Preview Widget to help view content. The Content Transformation Services (CTS) and Thumbnail server installations must be configured for these widgets to render content.

This white paper provides configuration and troubleshooting steps for CTS and the Thumbnail server so that the D2 Thumbnail and Preview widget render content correctly.

Audience

Part 1 of this white paper provides a general introduction to the two D2 Widgets: Thumbnail and Preview, and the products CTS and Thumbnail server. This section also covers the process of verifying the installation of these products and configuring them for generating renditions. . This section is useful to anyone trying to understand and troubleshoot the D2 Thumbnail and Preview widgets. Part 2 provides details about the troubleshooting steps when the Thumbnail and Preview widget do not render content in D2.

Part 1 Introduction and Configuration

D2 Workspace and Widgets

A D2 workspace is a container of widgets that allows you to personalize functionality for availability and convenience. A D2 widget is a graphical user interface (GUI) element that you use to construct a workspace. You select and change widgets to personalize workspace templates to suit your needs.

There are internal and external widgets. An internal widget has core functionality pertaining to content management and workflow. An external widget uses third-party web applications, and administrators can configure them to communicate with content properties.

D2 Preview and Thumbnail Widgets are internal widgets. The Thumbnail widget enables you to use thumbnail previews to browse content. A thumbnail is an image used to represent an object in client applications. Thumbnails provide a visual cue for browsing media and enable users to identify objects quickly. The Preview widget displays the selected content as a slideshow. D2 Thumbnail widgets depend on the thumbnail renditions generated by the CTS server. D2 Preview needs low resolution renditions generated by the CTS server to generate the slideshow.


Content Transformation Services

Content Transformation Services (CTS) is a Documentum server-side product that performs transformations and analysis on repository content. The Content Transformation Services functionality is available through Documentum clients applications such as D2 and Webtop.

Transformation of content using CTS refers to the conversion of Microsoft Office files to PDF and HTML formats. Transformations take place either as part of the registration process (called as Automated transformations), or as per user request (called as User transformations).

Documentum client applications connect to Content Server for metadata analysis and content transformation. Content Transformation Services checks transformation requests stored as queues in the Content Server and acts upon the requests. It is recommended to have the CTS installed in a different machine and not on the Content Server machine.

Figure 1 illustrates CTS processing the request queue on Content Server and generating PDF and HTML renditions for the Microsoft Word document.

Figure 1: CTS Overview


After generating the relevant renditions based on the transformation profile, the CTS server updates the object in the repository with the renditions and removes the queue item from the queue.

Thumbnail Server

Thumbnail Server serves graphic files from a thumbnail file store on the Content Server host. It provides these thumbnails to Web client applications such as D2 and Webtop. Thumbnails are renditions created by Content Transformation Services when a file is imported or checked in to the repository.

Thumbnail Server must be installed on the same host as the Documentum Content Server. The Thumbnail Server is installed as a service.

The Thumbnail Server serves two types of thumbnails:

Preview images created by Content Transformation Services when an applicable file type is imported or checked in to the repository. These thumbnails are saved in the thumbnail store on Content Server.

Default thumbnail images per type or format. These are icons that can be specified for folders or unknown file types. These thumbnails are stored in the repository, and can be viewed or updated when necessary.

Installing CTS and Thumbnail Server

Please refer to the installation instructions mentioned in the EMC Documentum Thumbnail Server Installation Guide and EMC Documentum Content Transformation Services Installation Guide.

Verifying the CTS installation

There are two ways to check the installation of CTS Server. The simplest way is to connect to the Content Server using the web client: Documentum Administrator. After logging in, select Administration > Content Transformation Services > CTS instances. This lists the CTS instances attached to the Content Server. Right-click the instance to view the properties. The state of the CTS server is displayed as up and running as illustrated in Figure 2.


Figure 2: CTS installation verification

An alternate way to verify the CTS installation is to log in to the host machine where CTS is installed. Select Windows > Administrative Tools > Services to access the Windows Services utility, ensure that Documentum Content Transformation Services is started. After verifying the CTS services are running, import a test file to the repository. The CTS server must generate renditions for the imported file. This test is necessary to ensure that the CTS server is generating renditions successfully.

Verifying the Thumbnail Server installation After logging in to the Content Server host, navigate to the Windows > Administrative Tools > Services to access the Windows Services utility, ensure that EMC Documentum Thumbnail Server is started.

When the Thumbnail Server is started, you can verify that it is successfully serving default thumbnails through a web browser.

To verify that Thumbnail Server is running: 1. Open a web browser.

2. Enter the following address, based on your configuration:


http://:/thumbsrv/getThumbnail?

A default icon is displayed in the web browser.

Configuring CTS for Automated Transformations It is possible that the CTS and Thumbnail servers are running but the D2 widgets, thumbnail and preview, appear without any thumbnail and preview as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3: D2 Thumbnail and Preview Widget

In this scenario, remember to view the Renditions tab in D2. In Figure 3, the Renditions tab does not show any other rendition generated for the specific document. This clearly shows that the CTS did not generate the required renditions because of missing configurations in the CTS server. To configure CTS to render the renditions automatically during file creation, import and checkin of files, follow the below instructions: 1. Set the richmedia_enabled flag to "1 for the format by running the following DQL:

update dm_format object set richmedia_enabled = 1 where name=format_name


Example: update dm_format object set richmedia_enabled = 1 where name in ('excel8book','msw8', msw10)

2. Add the required renditions to one of the XML files that follow the flow of register.xml. This can be done by either creating a new profile file for D2 or by appending required renditions to existing profile files. That is either create a new register_D2.xml or append the entries to register_xcp.xml if xcp profile is the selected as the forClients in the CTSProfileService.xml. For editing existing profile information: refer to Editing Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions . For new profile information: refer to Creation of new D2 Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions

Editing Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions

Each clients register.xml file (though it is named as register_xcp or register_legacy or register_mobile, we refer to it as register.xml from now on) creates a series of steps to be called, each one adding the steps to create the relevant rendition. In general, CTS uses the pdf rendition of the source document to generate the various other renditions. It is recommended to add the required rendition after the pdf rendition is generated for the document. These PDF renditions may be temporary files and may not exist after the target rendition is generated. Hence, it is required to add the pdf generation as a step in the register.xml as illustrated here. In register.xml, add the inner profile for document_registration as shown below.

NOTE: All entries are added into .

The document_registration.xml file contains the document_to_pdf profile that generates the pdf rendition. As this entry is always available do not add it. It is good to verify that it is present by opening the document_registration.xml.


When document_registration generates the pdf, add the pdf_processing as a step in the register.xml file as follows:

The pdf_processing step is called as part of the register.xml. The last step is to add the required renditions in pdf_processing_xcp.xml/ pdf_processing.xml. All changes to register.xml may not be required if the register.xml already follows the specified sequence: document_registration > document_to_pdf > pdf_processing. In an out-of-the-box installation, this sequence is already available. In such a case, only entries for thumbnails renditions and low resolution images must be added to the pdf_processing.xml. In the pdf_processing.xml, ensure that the following entries are available or add them if they are not available:


These entries are required to generate the various renditions required for the D2 Thumbnail and Preview widgets. After adding the entries, checkin the files that have been modified. If register.xml and pdf_processing.xml already have the required information, there are no changes to check in. After checking in the files, restart the CTS services on the host machine where CTS is installed. When you import a new file or checkin a new version of a file, new renditions are created.


Creation of new D2 Profile Configuration for D2 Renditions

In order to create a new profile configuration for the D2 application, there are 3 steps to be followed as mentioned below 1. The following new files need to be created. The contents of each of these files are listed in

the Appendix sections. a. register_d2.xml b. document_registration_d2.xml c. pdf_processing_d2.xml d. msg_registration_d2.xml e. tiff_registration_d2.xml

2. The CTSProfileService.xml should be edited to serve the D2 profile (register_d2). This can be

done by editing the as below:

D2

3. The register.xml file which holds the entries for other clients should include the entry for D2

client. This is shown as below:

4. After checking in the files, restart the CTS services on the host machine where CTS is installed.

Verifying Renditions You can view the list of renditions generated for the document in any of the Documentum client applications such as Document Administrator or Webtop.

To view the list of renditions: a. Select a document.

b. Select View > Renditions.


The Renditions page appears.

Figure 4: Verification of Rendition

Note: The JPEG thumbnails [small, medium, large] refer to images displayed in the Thumbnail widget. The JPEG Low Resolution refers to the image rendered in the Preview widget.

Part 2 Troubleshooting

Guidelines The first step in troubleshooting issues is to check if the CTS server has generated the necessary renditions by verifying the renditions described in the Verification of Renditions section. If there are no renditions, verify if the CTS server is in the RUNNING state as described in the Verification of installation of CTS section. If the CTS server is running and the required renditions are not generated, verify the sequence and the entries in the XML files as listed in the Configuration in CTS section.

D2 Thumbnail and preview widget do not display any image The D2 thumbnail and preview widget appear as below.


Figure 5: D2 Thumbnail and Preview Widgets without content

Verify if the D2 Renditions tab displays only the default renditions such as MS Word and MS Excel. If other renditions are not displayed it indicates that the renditions have not been generated for this document. Checkout the document and check it in to ensure that the renditions are generated.

D2 Thumbnail widget appears with the default image The thumbnails are rendered in D2 and other Documentum clients. Verify if the thumbnail is rendered in other clients such as Documentum Administrator. Select the thumbnail view in the client application to view the thumbnail.


Figure 6: Thumbnail in other Documentum Clients

If only D2 thumbnails are not rendered, check whether the request is fired to the Thumbnail server. These requests occur in the /thumbsrv/getThumbnail format. Use a sniffer tool such as Fiddler. Copy the GET request that is fired to get the thumbnail from the Thumbnail server as illustrated in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Fiddler capturing the request to Thumbnail server


After getting the request, fire the request in a new browser window and check if a thumbnail is rendered as illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Request to Thumbnail Server for Thumbnail

If the request does not yield a valid thumbnail, the host-name does not map to the corresponding IP of the thumbnail server. Check the DNS setting or manually map the host-name to IP for the thumbnail server.

D2 Preview widget does not display the images The D2 preview widget may fail to display images if the rendition is not generated. Check for the availability of renditions as explained in the Verification of rendition section. If the rendition is available and is not rendered in the Preview Widget, then use Fiddler to capture the request. Note that for generating the preview, the request goes to the Thumbnail server. These requests occur in the /thumbsrv/getThumbnail format. Copy the GET request that is fired to get the preview from the Thumbnail server. After getting the request, fire the request in a new browser window and check if a preview image of the file is rendered as illustrated in Figure 9.


Figure 9: Request to Thumbnail Server for Preview

Part 3 Appendix

Contents of register_d2.xml


Contents of document_registration_d2.xml


Contents of pdf_processing_d2.xml


Contents of msg_registration_d2.xml


Contents of tiff_registration_d2.xml


Conclusion This white paper has presented a high-level understanding of the various products involved in generating the preview and thumbnails for D2 Preview and Thumbnail widgets. For more details, see the EMC Documentum D2 User Guide, EMC Documentum Thumbnail Server Installation Guide, and EMC Documentum Content Transformation Services Installation Guide.

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Docu47730 Whitepaper Configuring and Troubleshooting EMC Documentum Content Transformation Services for D2 Widgets