Often we deploy a single workspace to FME Server that carries out too many separate tasks. These workspaces can over (or under) utilize resources and cause troubleshooting headaches, along with a variety of other performance and organizational challenges. To make our lives easier, FME Server Automations provides a variety of tools to address these stumbling blocks! In this presentation, we’ll be discussing advanced Automation tools like the Automations Writer and Split-Merge Block that can optimize processing tasks, both large and small.

1. Level Up with Parallelism in
FME Server

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Presenters
Mark Warren
Technical Support
Specialist, FME Server
Sanae Mendoza
Technical Support
Specialist, FME Server

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Parallel
Processing
Divide and conquer with

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Parallel processing
divides large problems
into smaller ones,
which can then be
solved at the same time.

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Agenda
● Parallel Processing: A Workflow Solution
● Parallelism: Desktop vs Server
● FME Server Automation Tools
● Workflow Considerations: Lessons
Learned
● Real Life Examples

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Parallel Processing: A Workflow Solution

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Let’s face it…
We are all guilty of authoring
massive workspaces…

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The True Cost of Large Workspaces
Large workspaces happen because of
convenience. Most people like to see
everything in one place.
But, before you know it, the canvas has a
dozen readers/writers and hundreds of
transformers…
Deploying large workspaces into production can have huge
performance and organisational overhead.

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Runtime is only as long
as the longest task.
Split and merge tasks,
then summarize the
results.
Pipeline Vs. Parallel Processing
Pipeline processing run
tasks in sequence,
parallel processing can
run tasks
simultaneously.

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5 Good Reasons To Break-Up With Your Workspace and Data
1. Performance. Hardware resources are
often over or underutilized.
2. Troubleshooting. Where to start?
3. Sharing. Even the most well documented
workflows can be hard to decipher.
4. Functionality. Don’t limit the workflow
to desktop tools.
5. Efficiency. Reduce, reuse, recycle
smaller workflows.

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Parallelism in Desktop and Server

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Parallelism in FME Workbench
• Used to be a workspace option
• Now, Custom Transformers distribute
tasks across multiple worker processes.
• Limited to a single system’s resources.

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Parallelism in FME Server
An automation can distribute tasks across
all available engines.
+ Better performance by maximizing all
system(s) resources
+ Granular control over those resources
(Queue Control)
+ Highly scalable
+ Flexible and Dynamic
Blog: Enterprise Integration Wins:
5 Reasons to Add Automation

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FME Server Automation Tools

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Automation Tools
1. Output Keys: The Automations
equivalent of “attributes” to dynamically
fill in parameters.
2. Automations Writer: Output port to
route data between Automation actions.
3. Dynamic Workspace Action: Defines
and runs the workspace at runtime.
4. Split-Merge Block: Treats a group of
actions as one event.
1
2
Webinar: Automation Keys: What They
Are and Why You Should Use Them
3

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FME Server Automations Writer
The Automations Writer routes data to downstream actions and includes
the attributes as keys. Connected actions run once per feature.
Each writer creates a custom output port on the workspace action.
Tip: There is NO limit to the number
of Automations writers you can use
in a workspace!
Article: Routing Data Between
Workspaces in Automations

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Split-Merge Block
The split-merge block is both an organizational and performance tool for Automations.
Organizational
• Treat a group of actions as one
• Control downstream actions
Performance
• Run jobs in parallel across
multiple FME Server Engines
Article: Getting Started with
the Split-Merge Block

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Workflow Considerations: Lessons Learned

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Preparation
● Identify groups and
distributions
● Filter and simplify
● Read it once
● Reference instead of read
Know your Data
Tools
● When to use FME, or
another tool
● Workbench vs. Server
● Find the right transformer
for the job
Article: Tutorial: Let the
Database Do the Work

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Deployment
● Deployment: Express
vs. Distributed
● OS: Windows vs. Linux
Know your Systems
Storage
● Database
● Formats
Design
● Spatial vs. Non-Spatial
● Queue Control
● Move data in small
packets
Article: Performance Tuning
FME
Article: FME Server - Host
System Sizing

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The path of least resistance

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Real Life Examples

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Automated Work Order Fulfillment
1. Users submit work orders to run later in the day
2. Helper Workspace
• Determine workspace based on order type
• Output the orders to an Automations Writer
3. Processing Workspaces
• Dynamically run each workspace as defined by the keys
4. Split-Merge Block waits for all
jobs before an email notification

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Automated Work Order Fulfillment

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Divide and conquer your data with multiple Engines!

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Divide and conquer your data with multiple Engines!

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• Smaller workspaces
• Split tasks into manageable pieces
• Lower hardware requirements for parallel jobs
• Easier job tracking in Automations than the FMEServerJobSubmitter
• Flexible and scalable with credit-based Engines
Workflow advantages with the Split-Merge Block

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Rethink the way you design
and model your workflows
and Automations in FME.

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Resources
Getting Started with Enterprise Integration Patterns
Automation Keys: What they are and why you should use them (Webinar)
Building Integrations with the FME Server Automation Writer
Dynamic Workspaces: Data Driven Parallel Processing
Getting Started with the Split-Merge Block

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Don’t know where to start?
The FME Academy’s Automate Data
Integrations trail has a step-by-step
tutorial for the Split Merge Block.

31. Thank You!
mark.warren@safe.com
sanae.mendoza@safe.com

32. The slides below are extras, which you can pull from if you like to change
it up or add an extra slide or two.

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