This document provides a summary of the top 10 things every Symyx Notebook administrator should know. It covers documentation locations, the Notebook architecture, vault services, SSL certificates, workflow concepts, security, indexing, exporting/importing, server maintenance, and usage of global administrators. Regular server maintenance and contacting support are also discussed.

1. (ATS3-APP08) Top 10 Things Every SN
Admin Should Know
Mike Wilson
Advisory Product Manager
mike.wilson@accelrys.com

2. The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are
intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making
a purchasing decision.

3. Agenda
• For this session we surveyed Accelrys’ Customer Support
and Quality Assurance teams to find out what every
Symyx Notebook administrator should know…

4. 10. Documentation
• Symyx Notebook documentation is provided in three locations on the download center
– Vault server documentation
– Symyx Notebook client documentation
– Software Developer Kit
– Note: adapter documentation is located with each adapter
• Server Documentation
– Installation Guide
– Administration Guides (Vault and Notebook)
– Administration Console Documentation
– Pipeline Pilot Integration Guide
• Client Documentation
– Installation Guide
– Balance Integration Installation Guide
• Software Developer Kit Documentation
– SDK Developer Guide
– API References

5. 9. Notebook High-Level Architecture

6. 9. Vault Services
Vault Web Services Vault Windows Services
• Vault Public Service (IIS) • Vault Message Processing Svcs
– Handles client communication – Vault message processing service
• Vault Private Service (IIS) • Monitors vault message
– Communicates with message processor application
processing and workflow service – Vault message processor
• RAS data warehouse (Tomcat) • Manages asynchronous
– indexes object properties, processing of vault objects via
contents, structures and reaction MSMQ
• Security Token Service (Tomcat) • Workflow Service
– Authentication service – Workflow enrollment
• Query service (Tomcat) – Transition processing

7. 9. Vault Services
• Vault Service Startup Order
– Symyx Vault Server 1.0
• This service must be initialized to start the following services
• If creating batch files to automate the process, create a check for SVS initialization
– Symyx Vault Message Processing Service
– Symyx Workflow Service
• Common problems
– Users cannot log in
• Check the STS status page
• Ensure middle and client tier clocks are within 5 minutes (taking into account time zone settings)
– Documents are not being indexed
• Check RAS status page
• Check message processing service
– Documents not enrolled in workflow
• Check workflow service

8. 9. Vault SSL Certificate Tips
• SSL certificates are used for:
– Secure communication between client and server
– Issuing security tokens (STS)
• SSL certificates have a limited life span (usually 1 – 3 years)
– Failure to update certificates will lead to downtime
– Certificates must be replaced in several places
• IIS
• STS
• Tomcat
• Vault service configuration files
– Certificate update process is documented in the AVS Administration Guide
• Support can assist with any questions

9. 8. Workflow Concepts Overview
• Stages & Transitions Keep In
– Stages are boxes in a flowchart Progress
– Transitions are arrows In
Progress
• Transitions are done by Workflow Withdraw
Actors Complete Return
– Actors can be different for each user to author
– Groups are used by the system to To Be
manage assignments Witnessed
• Workflows can vary based on type of Approve & Sign
experiment
– Workflow Associations control
enrollment in workflow definitions Witnessed
– Associations can be simple or complex
as needed Key:
Author Actions
Witness Actions

10. 8. Workflow Tips
• Actors are represented by groups for each user
– Example: 5 actors x 10 users there will be 50 groups
– These groups are hidden by default
• Avoid setting security in “Keep In Progress” transitions
– Creates unnecessary load on the system
• Workflow enrollment
– Enrollment criteria should be unique – if two workflow associations can
apply to the same document you will get seemingly random enrollment
– Association criteria can be viewed in the Administration Console

11. 7. Security Overview
• Vault has a two-part security model
– Data access permissions
– Extensible application permissions
• Data access permissions
– Enforced by the server to control access to data
– Similar to a file system
• Inheritance
• Allow and Deny assignments
• Application permissions
– Used by applications to control use of application functionality
– Enforced by applications – not the server

12. 7. Permission Inheritance Hierarchy
• Vault repositories implement a file system-like folder hierarchy
– Permissions granted on a folder are inherited by objects within that folder (and sub-
folders)
– Permissions granted directly on the object over-ride those inherited from higher-level
folders in the hierarchy
• Coupled with a group inheritance hierarchy
– Permissions granted to a group are inherited by members of the group (applies to users
and groups)
– Permissions granted directly to the user over-ride those inherited from group membership
• Allow and Deny
– Allow gives access to an object while Deny prevents access
– Deny over-rides Allow (at the same level)

13. 7. Vault Data Security Permissions
Permission Description
Read Properties View an object’s properties (title, description, etc.)
Update Properties Update an object’s properties
Read Data View an object’s content
Write Data Change an object’s content
Check Out Lock an object for editing, remove the lock
Workflow Transition Allowed to change an object’s state in workflow (subject to rules in the specific
workflow definition)
Rollback Able to revert an object back to an earlier point in time
(creates a new version and resets the workflow stage if needed)
Traverse Folder Enables browsing a repository treeview if the user doesn’t have permission to
otherwise see the folder
Repository Subscription Controls whether the user is allowed to work with a repository (only applies to
repositories)

14. 7. Recommended Security Approach
• Grant default permission levels to groups at the
repository level
– Example: Read Properties, Read Data, Traverse Folders to
provide a baseline of read access to the repository
• Grant write permission at specific folder levels
• Use Workflow to set permissions as the documents move
through approval stages

15. 6. Client Caches
• SN caches data on the client to improve performance
• In some cases it will be useful to clear the cache
– When switching between deployments with cloned databases
– When disk space is a concern as client caches grow (particularly
in Citrix deployments)

16. 6. Client Caches
• Cache location
– %ProgramData%
• Cache components
– Assembly Cache
– Object Cache (per user)
• Clearing the cache
– Delete AssemblyCache or
ObjectCache folder
– Never delete LocalStorage
folder (user’s private repository
for offline use)

17. 5. Form Tips
• Forms can be used as document preview
• Consider print layout in design
– Width & length
• Consider the number of widgets per form
– Affects load time and memory use
– Impacts indexing time and memory footprint on the server
• Assign widgets to Properties for indexing
– Makes form data available for searches
– Allows forms to feed data into the existing property sets for easier searching
– Ensure that assigned Properties are marked Indexable in the Property Set Definition

18. 4. Indexing Tips
• Queue Monitoring
– Use Windows System Management to watch the queue size
• Target Quota of 100 MB
– Warning notification sent to the system administrator when quota is exceeded
– Maximum storage size for MSMQ is 1 GB
• Continued growth of message queue size typically indicates a problem in
the indexing sub-system
– Check the Vault Message Processing Service logs
– Check the Symyx Vault Service status – RAS component

19. 4. Indexing Tips: Re-Queuing Utility
• Use Re-Queuing utility to re-submit items for processing based on their message
handling status
– Replaces VaultIndexingUtility.exe in 6.6 SP3 (and Indexing Update 1)
– Utilizes the data in MessageHandlerStatus table
– Designed for automation
• Can be used to process items:
– That failed to process previously
– When message queues are purged
– For a specific message handler
– To establish their message handling state
– When a new indexing feature is added (e.g. Office 2010 documents after the upgrade to
Oracle 11g)

20. 3. Export/Import
• The ability to export SN artifacts • Configuration Objects
and import them to another – Document Templates
system was introduced in 6.6 SP1 – Section Templates
– Forms
– Operations
• Best practice is to create new – Property Set Definitions
artifacts in a development – Signature Policies
environment then promote them – Vocabularies
to test for validation and finally – Reports
to production for use – Workflow Definitions
– Workflow Associations

21. 3. Export/Import
Development Test Production
• Build configuration • Transfer configuration • Upon completion of
Transfer
Transfer
objects objects to Test Test
Build
• Templates, Section • Iterate changes approvals, transfer
Templates, Reports Test configuration to
through
• PSDs, Forms, Vocabularies, Production
Signature Policies Development
• Initial testing • Validation and User • Final verification
Test
Test
Test
Acceptance testing confirming correct
transfer from Test
Always promote configuration using Transfer capabilities
Fast, Accurate, Repeatable results

22. 2. Regular Server Maintenance Jobs
• Restart Vault server(s) every 30 days
– Automate by using windows scheduled tasks
• Archive Vault and SVS logs every 30 days
– Automate by using windows scheduled tasks
• Restart all Vault services weekly
– Automate by using windows scheduled tasks
• Check disk fragmentation every 3 months
• Review windows application and system logs every 60 days
for errors, correct errors as needed

23. 2. Log file locations (client and server) and levels
• Vault Server Logs
– C:vaultlogs
– STS, RAS Logs
• C:Program Files (x86)symyxSymyxServerTomcat6logs
• Client Logs
– C:ProgramDataAll UsersSymyx TechnologiesLogFiles

24. 1. Usage of Global Administrators
• The global administrator group is critical to system operation
• In general, do not make the global administrator group part of
workflow or apply specific document or folder level permissions to
it
– Apply permissions at the repository root
– Use dedicated administrator accounts if possible
• Be very careful with permission assignments that affect users in
the global administrators group
– It is possible to set security in a way that will deny administrators the ability
to work on an item in the system

25. And, one extra…
• How to contact Accelrys Support
• Email:
– support@accelrys.com
– support-japan@accelrys.com (for our customers in Japan)
• On the Web
– https://community.accelrys.com
• Regional Accelrys Customer Support offices
– http://accelrys.com/customer-support/contact.html

26. Summary
• There is book learning and there is the practical learning through experience – also
known as the “school of hard knocks”. We hope this session helps you avoid potential
problems and helps you run your Notebook deployment smoothly
• Other Notebook sessions that may interest you
– (ATS3-APP05) Building Symyx Notebook dashboards with Pipeline Pilot
– (ATS3-APP09) Integrating Symyx Notebook into an Enterprise Management System
– (ATS3-APP13) Tips and Tricks for Monitoring and Managing Symyx Notebook Server Performance
– (ATS3-APP14) Troubleshooting Symyx Notebook client performance
• Resources
– Notebook IT/Admin forum on the Accelrys Community
• Email support@accelrys.com to join
– Troubleshooting guidance: support@accelrys.com

27. The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are
intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making
a purchasing decision.
For more information on the Accelrys Tech Summits and other IT & Developer information,
please visit:
https://community.accelrys.com/groups/it-dev