Create, Configure and Use eCapture Workers

Overview: eCapture Worker

The eCapture Worker runs on individual workstations and processes tasks in the queue according to their priority status. You can add additional eCapture Workers as your workload increases. The eCapture Worker will automatically begin to discover or process without user intervention.

The Worker displays a solid circle icon in the system tray. The color of the icon changes to reflect the status of the Worker.

  • A light-green icon indicates that the Worker has started and is processing tasks.
  • A dark-green icon indicates that the Worker is ready to start processing, but that tasks are not yet available in the Queue Manager.
  • A red icon indicates that the Worker is stopped. It will not be able to accept tasks to work on.
  • A yellow icon indicates that the Worker is attempting to connect to the SQL server.

Important: A light-green icon also appears in the eCapture Controller when a job is "In Progress." However, this icon represents the job's status, rather than the Worker's status. To discover the Worker's status, either check the system tray for the circle icon, or click on the Worker Status Information tab in the eCapture Controller to view a grid displaying information about each Worker. If a job appears "In Progress," but the Worker machines are inactive, the job will not be processed.

 

Click Closedhere to view a list of the different status values that can display on the Worker Status Information tab, in the Status column.

There are some best practices when you set up and configure Enterprise Workers (also referred to as IPRO ADD workers). For more information, click Closedhere.

Important: When configuring Workers, the Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving Time option must always remain set. This option (found when you right-click the date/time on the server, click the option Adjust date/time, and then click Change time zone) improves the performance of the export interval setting when the Queue Manager and SQL server are on different time zones.

Physical vs. Virtual Workers

On startup, eCapture Workers record whether their computer is physical (one system installed on a hard drive) or virtual (emulation of a computer hosted on a server).

Note: When setting up eCapture Workers, the option “Do not allow client printer redirection” policy setting must be enabled.

Physical computers are preferred for Enterprise Streaming Discovery because they perform better than VMs under most circumstances. Enterprise Streaming Discovery tasks are distributed to physical computers before being distributed to virtual computers.

Virtual computers are still supported for Enterprise Streaming Workers, but performance could degrade based on the configuration and resources available to the computer.

Enterprise OCR Workers

Note: Enterprise tasks are referred to as IPRO ADD on the user interface. For example, assigning a Worker to accept only IPRO ADD tasks will configure the Worker to exclude all tasks except those involved with Enterprise.

Enterprise Streaming Workers can accept OCR tasks, but concurrent Enterprise Streaming Discovery and OCR tasks may affect each other’s performance due to high usage of CPU and memory in each task. Separate Workers can be configured as OCR Workers to farm OCR tasks away from the Enterprise Streaming Workers, which can improve overall performance and distribution in the Enterprise Streaming Discovery Job.

Multi-Language OCR Capabilities for Enterprise OCR Jobs and QC

Multi-language OCR capability is included with Enterprise OCR jobs and QC. This allows you to select one or more primary OCR languages within a document set. Forty-four different OCR languages are available for selection when creating a new Case, Discovery Job, Processing Job, and Data Extract Job.

To support this functionality, a new multi-language OCR worker license type was added. This license type is required to OCR in languages other than English. The IPRO Authorization Server must be authorized for at least one multi-language OCR worker license.

Note: Without this license type, the multi-language OCR functionality will be disabled throughout eCapture.

If a running Enterprise OCR job is not set to OCR in a language other than English, an Enterprise OCR worker license will be consumed and be assigned to Enterprise Exclusive; Workers will use eCapture worker licenses for English language Enterprise OCR jobs. If an Enterprise OCR worker license cannot be obtained, an attempt will be made to obtain a multi-language OCR worker license.

 

There are several tasks related to using the eCapture Worker. Click the links below to view the corresponding procedure.

ClosedStart the Worker for the First Time

The very first time you start the eCapture Worker, you will need to establish a connection with the Microsoft SQL Server by entering data in the eCapture Worker Configuration dialog box.

  1. Start the eCapture Worker by double-clicking the icon on the desktop or choosing it from the Windows Start menu. The first time you start it, the eCapture Worker Configuration dialog box appears.

  2. From the Server drop-down list, select the SQL server where the SQL database resides. If no drop-down option appears, type the name of the server into the field.
  3. Enter the name of the SQL Database in the Database field or select a SQL Database from the drop-down list.
  4. Enter a username and password.
  5. Select one, some, or all of the Printer drivers from the Printer Drivers box. Eight threads are installed with four automatically enabled by default. The remaining four threads may be enabled manually. These extra threads were designed for use on Worker machines with high-end processor and RAM specifications. Note: The Worker Bandwidth Throttle in the Queue Manager may be increased to accommodate the usage of these additional Worker threads.

  6. Click . A dialog appears with status information.

    • If the connection is not established, the dialog will present some options for you to try in order to establish the connection.
    • If the connection is successful, the dialog box will state: The connection was tested successfully. Click OK to close this dialog box.
  7. Click OK to close the dialog box.

ClosedStart the Worker

The very first time you start the eCapture Worker, you will need to establish a connection with the Microsoft SQL Server by entering data in the Input Connection Information dialog box. For more information, see Start the Worker for the First Time.

  1. To start the eCapture Worker, right-click on the eCapture Worker icon in the System Tray
  2. Click Start. The eCaptureWorker accepts new tasks and the icon color changes.

ClosedView the Worker Status

The Worker is visible in the System Tray. To view the worker status:

  1. Right-click the eCapture Worker icon in the System Tray and choose Show Status to display the eCapture Worker dialog box.

    The eCapture Worker dialog box appears and shows:

    • The Printer Drivers (Note: These printer drivers represent a working thread of activity.) The actual printer driver may not be used for all activities. For example, during discovery, the printer driver is not performing a “printing function.”

    • The activity for each driver

    • Status Bar: SQL Server, Database, and the Worker Name

ClosedModify the Worker Configuration

ClosedStop the Worker

If you stop the eCapture Worker from a workstation, no tasks will be processed. However, the eCapture Worker will still be running. To stop the worker:

  1. In the System Tray, right-click the icon.
  2. On the right-click context menu, click Stop.

    The eCapture Worker icon changes color based on its status as follows:

    • A light-green icon indicates that the Worker has started and is processing tasks.
    • A dark-green icon indicates that the Worker is ready to start processing, but that tasks are not yet available in the Queue Manager.
    • A red icon indicates that the Worker is stopped. It will not be able to accept tasks to work on.
    • A yellow icon indicates that the Worker is attempting to connect to the SQL server.

    If you are not running tasks, the Stop eCapture Worker dialog box appears with the message: "The eCapture Worker Application will not be able to accept tasks to work on. No processing will be possible from this station. Do you want to shut down eCapture Worker?"

    If you are running tasks and try to shut down, a different dialog box appears asking if you want your active tasks to complete before stopping/exiting.

    Do one of the following:

    • Click Yes to allow the tasks currently running to finish. When they conclude, no new tasks will be worked on.

    • Click No. The eCapture icon in the system tray changes color and the task is abandoned. No new tasks will be accepted.

      Note: If you stop the Worker while a task is running, and choose not to allow the task to complete, the task in the Queue Manager will continue to say "In Progress." However, it will remain "In Progress" indefinitely, until the Worker is started once again.

    • Click Cancel. (Appears only when tasks are processing.) The currently running tasks continue.

ClosedExit the Worker

Warning: Do not exit without first stopping the eCapture Worker.

  1. In the System Tray, right-click the eCapture Worker to display the context menu.

  2. On the context menu, click Exit.

    The Exit eCapture Worker dialog box appears.

  3. Click Yes.

ClosedAbout the Worker Log

This file records: each task assigned to the Worker and any subsequent status updates to that task, any errors encountered while completing the assigned tasks, and any errors encountered when communicating with the SQL server. Right-click in the system tray to display the context menu and choose Show Log File.

A sample log file follows:

Prevent Remote Desktop Printer Redirection

All Workers in the environment must be configured to prevent Remote Desktop printer redirection. The option “Do not allow client printer redirection” policy setting must be enabled. This can be accomplished via the system’s registry or the group policy (GPO) settings for that environment. Additional information about configuring printer redirection settings can be found on Microsoft’s website (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library). Once changes are applied, please reboot all Workers.

Note: When setting up eCapture Workers, the option “Do not allow client printer redirection” policy setting must be enabled.

 

Related Topics

Worker Status Descriptions