Skip to main content
Skip table of contents

System asset configuration

The system asset contains the various options for primary settings. These allow you to configure the various aspects of how information is displayed in censhare 5 Web. Further settings include things like resolution for the preview image for a layout or the URL for download links. They also provide you with quick access to various monitoring data in the censhare system.

Introduction

The system asset is a central location for saving certain settings for censhare 5 Web. They are basically configuration options that apply to the entire system. Among those are settings that change how censhare 5 Web presents information. These are:

  • Selecting a branding option for censhare Web

  • Setting up the login screen

  • Activating asset list views for the entire system

In censhare, you can adjust the Web Client view to fit your company's corporate design. This includes the ability to freely design the login page, use your own logo and change the color scheme of the client. The latter two points are defined by a branding asset. You can create more than one branding asset. The active option is specified in the system asset. In the branding asset you can set up different logos for the top navigation and the login page. For more information see the section System asset configuration#System colors and logos.

To define the login page view, you have to import a kind of Web packet. In the system asset, select one or more web packets for the login. censhare will then use them in rotation. For more information see the section System asset configuration#Configuring the login page. Use the branding asset to configure the login logo for the login page.

To display the various asset information in lists you use "views". These consist of multiple slots that display asset information in one or more snippets. To activate a view it must be selected in either the system asset or in a workspace. In the system asset, it applies for all users. In a workspace, it only applies to users who are assigned this workspace through a specific role. For more information see the section System asset configuration#Activating asset list views.

Additional settings in the system asset include:

  • A default availability calendar

  • Authentication procedures for the censhare 5 Web login

  • A URL, used for creating web links in censhare, for example for downloads

  • The option of specifying a PDF preset for creating preview images in layouts

  • Setting a PDF Preset for creating PDFs for download, for example, for printing

  • Activation of the license for "Translation with Memory" in censhare

An availability calendar describes the working times for a working week. The default availability calendar applies to all users who haven't set up their own availability calendar. For more information see the section System asset configuration#System-wide availability calendar.

To make login procedures configured in censhare also available in censhare 5 Web, they also need to be activated in the system asset. For more information see the section System asset configuration#Authentication.

In censhare 5 Web, users can employ web links to reset their passwords or to download asset files. The URL is sent via email. For a valid web link, the web address of a censhare server or proxy server must first be created in the system. For more information see the section System asset configuration#URL for sending web links.

Using PDF presets you can configure the PDF creation process on the Adobe InDesign server. If Adobe InDesign Server does not receive a PDF Preset for the creation of a PDF, he takes the last used profile. This can lead to undesirable effects. Depending on the setting the creation of PDFs for the preview in the editor for InCopy documents can take considerably longer.

On the other side, a PDF for print might not have the required quality when creating it in the Editor for InDesign Documents or in the Web to Print Wizard. For both applications, you can define a PDF Preset for Adobe InDesign Server in the system asset. For more information see the section System asset configuration#Presets for creating PDFs.

censhare has two tools for translation that serve as alternatives. "Translation without Memory" is included in the standard license. "Translation with Memory" requires an additional license. If you have bought that license you can activate it in the system asset.

By activating or deactivating the license it is possible in censhare 5 Web to switch between "Translation without Memory" and "Translation with Memory". This procedure is not recommended by censhare AG, since it can lead to data loss.

The function "Translation with Memory" is available in censhare 5 Web and the Desktop Client. The censhare 5 Web function is backward compatible to the Desktop Client. The censhare AG does not recommend to use the tool for the translation of texts in both clients in parallel! This can lead to different translations depending on the client having been used. For more information see the section System asset configuration#Activating the license for Translation with Memory.

Furthermore, the system asset provides you with a variety of monitoring information. It includes:

  • Information about server, database, Adobe InDesign and image services capacities

  • Display of various capacity diagrams that are also available in the Admin Client

  • Access to the log files on the different censhare servers of an installation

This is how the system asset compiles monitoring information into one area for access to the web. For more information see the sections System asset configuration#Workload overview for the system, System asset configuration#Individual aspects of system monitoring and System asset configuration#Accessing log files.

System settings

To edit settings in the system widget, click the "Edit" button on the right of the widget title bar. A dialog will open. Make your changes and confirm them with OK. Select CANCEL to exit the dialog.

Icon

Meaning

Button: Edit

If the system widget on the "Overview" tab of the system asset is not available, add it. Click the "Asset menu" button on the upper right of the tab bar. Select the entry "Add widget". A dialog will appear with a list of the available widgets. Select the "Meta Data" widget and click OK or click CLOSE to not add a widget.

Icon

Meaning

"Asset menu" button

Tip: If the selected widget is not added, refresh the system asset page. Then repeat the process.

Then you need to configure the metadata widget so that it shows the system settings. Click META DATA TEMPLATE to select the suitable template. Or click in the widget on the "Widget action" menu on the upper right and then select the entry "Configure widget".

In the section "Metadata definition" click the field "Widget content". A selection list will appear with all of the templates. Click in the input field and enter "System". Select the entry "System Metadata Display". The "Editable" field will now also appear. Select this one as well. Otherwise, the data will be displayed but you won't be able to edit it. Confirm the changes with OK or exit the dialog with CANCEL.

Authentication

censhare supports different methods of authentication in censhare 5 Web. In the system widget you configure which authentication methods are available for logging into censhare 5 Web. Every method requires that they are already configured accordingly in censhare. In the system widget, it will only be activated in censhare 5 Web. You can also use multiple methods at once.

The different authentication methods include:

Method

Description

Token-based

Authentication using a security token in the URL

HTTP Digest

Login via HTTP using "Digest Access Authentication". This is used for authenticating machines.

HTTP Basic

Login via HTTP using "Basic authentication". This is used for authenticating machines.

CustomAuthentication via LDAP/Active Directory.

Kerberos SSO

Single Sign-On (SSO) using Kerberos. If a user is already authenticated in the network, the active session automatically logs the user into censhare Web.

SAML SSOAuthentication via SAML and an Identity Provider (IdP).

Default

Authentication directly through the censhare Server

The "Order" column indicates the order in which censhare calls up the authentication methods for a login. "HTTP Digest" and "HTTP Basic" are executed at the same time.

The login methods Ticket and Public/private key are no longer supported. The associated modules in the censhare Admin Client, however, are still available under Configuration/Modules/Server Internal Modules. The Token-based authentication method is deprecated.

If a client can authenticate using multiple methods, then the order can decide which of those methods will be used. This is the case if the login name is the same for multiple methods. If, for example, the user has a login for the "Custom" and "Standard" methods, then he/she can only log in using the LDAP method because "Custom" is used before "Standard".

The "Field" method in the "Authentication" section of the system widget shows the already selected methods. To deactivate a method for censhare 5 Web, click the cursor on the "x" behind the name.

To select one or more methods, click in the field. A list of all methods will appear. Already selected methods are highlighted in a color. Click the desired method in order to use it.

The "Standard" method for a user can be configured in the Admin Client in the "User" table of the master data. Open the table, go to the desired user and open that user's entry. In the "General" section, activate the check box "Standard" next to the "Authentication" field.

Configuring the other methods is relatively time-consuming and is typically done as part of a project. For more information on configuration see Authentication methods.

URLs are entered in the "Web Client URL" field in the "Settings" section of the system widget. censhare uses the URLs for sending download links for asset files. A second area of application is the web link that the user receives when resetting his/her password.

The URL contains the protocol and the server address. A port can also be entered. censhare takes the Web Client URL and adds the path for the specific function to it. For example, when resetting a password, the path contains a token for authentication. censhare, therefore, ignores any path entered after the server address.

A URL is structured as follows:

CODE
LOG://ADDRESS:PORT
or
LOG://ADDRESS

The ADDRESS can either be a domain name or an IPv4 address. IPv6 is not currently supported. HTTP or HTTPS as a protocol is allowed.

To enter a URL go to the "Web Client URL" field in the "Settings" section. Enter the desired URL here. If the protocol is not correct, you will receive an error message and won't be able to save the entered URL.

  • If the URL is not correct, censhare uses "localhost" as the address. censhare then generates a web link that is not linked to the configured server.
  • If the URL leads directly to a censhare server, you need to use 9000 as the port.

Presets for creating PDFs

Adobe InDesign offers the option of specifying all of the required settings for creating PDFs in the so-called PDF presets. If the Adobe InDesign Server receives no preset for creating a certain PDF he applies the last used PDF Preset. This applies to the creation of the text preview in the Editor for InCopy documents. The same thing happens when the Adobe InDesign Server creates a Download PDF without preset in the Editor for InDesign documents or the web-to-print wizard PDFs.

When creating a preview it might happen that a user has to wait much more time than necessary, for instance, when a Print PDF has been created before it. censhare only creates a preview PDF if the InCopy story is placed in a layout. As of that it might happen that Print PDFs do not meet the requirements of the print shop.

In order to always create a preview of an InCopy story fast, you can define an appropriate PDF Preset in the system widget of the system asset. If the Adobe InDesign server creates a preview, it will receive this PDF preset as a profile.

For the generation of PDFs for downloading, you can also define an appropriate PDF Preset in the system widget of system assets. censhare delivers this preset when the Adobe InDesign Server has to create a PDF download. Users create it by clicking "Generate PDF" in the Editor for InDesign Documents. This button is also available in the Web to Print Wizard in the "Create layout" step. Clicking the "Download PDF" button in the "Confirm" step of the Wizard users will also create a PDF for download.

Each profile must be stored on the Adobe InDesign Server that is referenced in one of the two PDF Presets. Otherwise, you will receive an error when creating a PDF.

In order to enter the desired PDF Preset go to the "Adobe InDesign PDF presets" section in the system widget. Here you will find the "Preview" and the "Print" field. Enter the PDF Preset for creating a preview in the Editor for InCopy Documents in the "Preview" field. The "Print" field stores the PDF Preset for creating PDFs for downloads.

It is important that you enter the name of the desired profile with all characters as it appears in Adobe InDesign. For example, if the name in Adobe InDesign is "[smallest file size]", you need to enter it just like that with square brackets. Otherwise, the Render Client will show an error that the entry contains an invalid character.

The error message can look like this:

CODE
Error in communication with Adobe InDesign 8.1 (plugin 2.8.26): [CmdPdf.cpp, line 212] Im 'command' Knoten hat das Attribut 'pdf_stylename' den unzulässigen Wert 'Kleinste Dateigröße'

The menu entry "Adobe PDF presets" under "File" will show you which profiles exist in Adobe InDesign. There you can also create a preset and save it as a file with the extension ".joboptions". When doing so, names with square brackets are not allowed. You need to then save this file on the Adobe InDesign server. For more information see  Installing color profiles, job options and fonts. Enter the name of the file without the extension ".joboptions" in the "Preview" field.

Activating the license Translation with Memory

The translation tools are available in the language variant assets. These are XML or Adobe InCopy texts. To open the tool, first open the text in an asset page and go to the "Translation" tab.

Without a configuration in the system widget, the tool "Translation without Memory" will show up on the tab. If you activate the license "Translation with Memory" in the system widget, this will then be on the translation tab instead of "Translation without Memory".

Under some circumstances, it is possible to use both tools in parallel. This requires an adoption of the workspace. For example, you display "Translation without Memory" respective "Translation with Memory" on the translation tab depending on the domain. Such adjustments are usually made in the context of a project. Further on, a certain text must always be edited only with one of the two translation tools.

To activate the function "Translation with Memory", go to the field "Translation with Memory" in the "Licenses" section of the system widget. Select the box and confirm with OK. Click CANCEL to exit the dialog without the changes.

If you have activated or deactivated the license, then once you have reloaded the asset page of a translation variant you will then have the tool in question available to you. If a user has changed a text using "Translation without Memory" in one of the translation variants, the changed text will be lost if the user edited the asset with "Translation with Memory".

Conversely, you can edit a translation variant with "Translation without Memory" if a user previously used "Translation with Memory". If another change is made, however, the changes with "Translation without Memory" will be lost.

Switching back and forth between the translation tools is not recommended and can lead to loss of data.

If you have already used the "Translation with Memory" function on the Desktop Client you can work with it on censhare 5 Web without further action. The function is backward compatible to the Desktop Client.

The function in censhare 5 Web also reads segment pairs in the translation memory that have been created by the Desktop Client and offers them as a hit. Because the clients are working slightly differently, segment pairs normally do not achieve a one hundred percent result for the first time in censhare 5 web. This is also true if this was the case with the Desktop Client. This behaviour changes if the user has confirmed a segment pair in censhare 5 Web a least once.

If a user confirms a segment pair created by the Desktop Client for the first time, censhare 5 Web converts it into its own format. It then saves the converted segment pair as an own entry in the database. These converted segments pairs can now again achieve one hundred percent hits in censhare 5 Web.

The segment pair created by the Desktop Client will not automatically be removed from the database. But you can delete it with the help of censhare 5 Web, for instance. Otherwise, the user will later receive in certain cases two nearly identical pairs of segments as a proposal, the one created by the Desktop Client and the other one by censhare 5 Web.

It is theoretically possible to use the Desktop Client and censhare 5 Web in parallel. However, the segmentation is working differently in both clients. Thus, the translation can vary depending on the client used. In addition to that, all segment pairs that have been confirmed both in the Desktop Client and censhare 5 Web must exist twice in the translation memory.

To use the "Translation with Memory" function in parallel on the Desktop Client and censhare 5 Web is not intended and also not recommended.

API keys

In these fields, you can configure the connection to the OpenWeatherMap and Google time zone APIs. With this setup, censhare connects to the respective servers in order to retrieve weather and time zone data. The weather data can be displayed in the Weather widget. The time zone data defines the user time zone. Proceed as follows to generate and enter the API keys:

  1. If you have a valid API key, paste it in the respective field. Otherwise, click the "External link" buttons next to the field. The links take you to the login pages of OpenWeatherMap and the Google developer console.

  2. Login with your credentials or create a new account. Follow the instructions on the pages to generate the API keys.

  3. Copy and paste the keys in the respective fields and click OK to close the dialog.

  4. Click SAVE to save your changes to the System asset. censhare is now configured to retrieve data from the respective servers.

Multi relation widget settings

Changing this setting may affect your system performance. Since any user can configure their own widgets, you cannot effectively control the load that the queries create on your system. If you set a higher limit, make sure to test your system thoroughly.

Define here the global behavior of Multi relation widgets. Set the maximum number of relation types that can be managed in one widget. The default value of this setting is five. To customize this setting, enter the desired value in the “Multi relation widget config” field and save your changes.

The new limit is activated immediately, you do not have to restart the application server. Widgets that have already been configured are not affected. For example, if users have configured five relations in their widgets, and you reduce the limit to three, these will still work. If a user adds a new widget configuration, the limit will be three.

File download settings

In this field, you can enter a pattern for the downloaded files. censhare Web uses this pattern in all modules. The value is an XPath expression that can handle the following parameters:

  • $asset - this parameter selects the asset from which the download is executed (for example an image or text/xml asset). It retrieves the complete asset XML. The "asset" element is the root node of the XML structure. Attributes that can be selected in the root node are for example: @name, @id, @id_extern, @application, @type, @language, @creation_date, @created_by, @modified_date, @modified_by. To select attributes of child elements, use the respective path and attribute selector. For example, to select the localized Japanese asset name, use:

    CODE
    $asset/asset-feature[@feature='censhare:name'][@language='ja']/@value_string
  • $storage_item_key - this parameter selects the key of the storage item to be downloaded (for example a PNG or XML file). This key is not stored in the "storage_item" child element of the root node.

  • $page-sequence - this parameter selects the element_idx of the storage item. It indicates the consecutive number of the storage item if multiple items are stored in the same asset.

The following default expression is implemented:

CODE
string-join(($asset/@name, if ($asset/storage_item/@key = $storage_item_key)
                           then $storage_item_key else (),
                           if ($page-sequence) then $page-sequence else ()),
                           '_')

It generates the download file name from the asset name, the storage item key and the consecutive number of the storage item. If non of the two is found, only the asset name is used. The items are concatenated with an underscore ("_").

File upload settings

censhare uses chunked upload for files so that failed uploads can be resumed without having to restart from the very first byte. The upload settings are configurable and allow you to define default values for your network. Users can define their personal file upload preferences. These overwrite the default settings. For more information, see Configure file upload for censhare Web.

Time zone

In this section, you can set a system time zone from the list configured in the "Timezone" feature. Use this option for example if the system time zone is different from the server location time zone.

Multiple selection limit

In asset lists, users can select multiple assets and edit their properties, or perform an asset action on these assets. The number of assets that users can select is determined by the Multiple selection limit. The Multiple selection limit also determines the number of assets that are preloaded during a search. A high number for the limit creates a high server load. Therefore, the multiple selection is limited to 100 assets by default. This also is the maximum value.

In the Multiple selection limit area, in the Selection Limit field, you can define a lower value. Note that the default value of 100 is the maximum value. If you enter a value greater than 100, or if you remove the value, censhare ignores your setting, although the value is stored.

Alternate domain for new child assets in the communication tab

Introduction

In the Communication tab of an asset, users can do the following:

  • Create comments

  • Create and assign tasks

  • Create and reference markers (only available on specific asset pages)

  • Create and reference topics

Comments, tasks, markers, and topics are called communication assets. By default, these communication assets are created in the domain of the context asset. For topics, the domain is used that is configured in the topic template.  

To add or edit a communication item, users must have write access to the domain where the communication asset is created. To see a communication item, users must have read access to the domain where the communication asset is created.  

The behavior for creating child assets is centrally and globally defined in the system asset. In the Alternate domain for new child assets in the communication tab section, select one of the following options:

  • Domain of parent asset (default): Always uses the domain of the context asset to store communication assets. This is also the known behavior in previous censhare versions. This option covers the following scenario:

    • Contributors and Commentators have write access to the domain of the context asset.

  • Fixed domain: Communication assets are stored in a fixed domain. If you are using the censhare Dedicated solutions, you can select the Global share domain for this purpose. This option covers the following scenario:

    • Contributors with write access to the context asset and write access to the communication domain.

    • Commentators with read access to the context asset and write access to the communication domain.

  • Fixed domain if no write access to parent domain: Combines both behaviors. Communication assets are stored in the context asset domain if a user has write access. Otherwise, communication assets are stored in a fixed communication domain. This option covers the following scenario:

    • Contributors with write access to the context asset, and at least read access to the communication domain. Messages are stored in the domain of the context asset. Contributors see messages that are stored in the communication domain.

    • Commentators with read access to the domain of the context asset and write access to the communication domain. Messages are stored in the communication domain. Commentators see messages that are stored in the domain of the context asset.

This configuration does not affect the domain of topic assets. The domain for topic assets is configured in the topic template. Users can select another domain when they create a topic.

The decision which option to choose, depends on the specific domain setup for the censhare installation at your company. For more information, see Domain concept.

To create communication assets in the respective domain, the following permissions are required:

  • Edit new assets (permission key: asset_checkin_new)

  • Asset relations user (permission key: asset_rel_user)

The required permissions are same as before the introduction of the domain configuration.

Without these permissions, users are shown the message box in the right communication widget in the communication tab: "You have no permission to edit this asset - adding messages is disabled."

If a user does not have write access, the communication tab shows the message that adding messages is disabled because of that.

Configuration

  1. In the System asset properties, go to the Alternate domain for new child assets in the communication tab section.

  2. In the Type field, select the desired option.

  3. If you select Fixed domain or Fixed domain if no write access to parent domain, select the domain where child assets are created. With Domain of parent asset, no selection of a domain is necessary.

  4. Click OK to close the dialog, and click SAVE to save your changes.

Thresholds for missed budgets, goals and tasks of campaigns

In campaigns, users can allocate budgets, define goals, and plan tasks. In this section, you can configure thresholds that visualize if the current execution of a campaign is within the planned parameter. The visualization uses a traffic light icon with green, yellow, and red colors. The traffic light icons display in the My campaigns widget on the Projects page. The thresholds are used system-wide:

Icon

Meaning

The spent budget, task completion or goal achievement is within the planned parameters.

The spent budget, actual task completion or goal achievement is at risk to exceed or miss the planned parameters.

The spent budget, actual task completion or goal achievement exceeds or missed the planned parameters.

Traffic light for missed budgets

Yellow more than

Enter a threshold percentage for the risk of over-spent budgets. Values greater than 100 are allowed. censhare calculates the percentage using the spent budget and the allocated budget to a project.

Red more than

Enter a threshold percentage for over-spent budgets. Values greater than 100 are allowed. censhare calculates the percentage using the spent budget and the allocated budget to a project.

Traffic light colors for missed goals

Yellow more than

Enter a threshold for the risk of non-achievement of goals. censhare calculates the percentage using the start value, end value, and the achieved value of a goal.

Red more than

Enter a threshold for the not achieved goals. censhare calculates the percentage using the start value, end value, and the achieved value of a goal.

Traffic light colors for missed tasks

Yellow more than

Enter a threshold for the risk of non-completion of tasks. Specify an integer value, and a unit (hours or days). Reference value is the Actual end time of a campaign.

Red more than

Enter a threshold for the non-completion of tasks. Specify an integer value, and a unit (hours or days). Reference value is the Actual end time of a campaign.

Branding

System colors and logos

System colors and logos for the login page and the top navigation are defined by censhare on their own widgets within the branding asset in question. This allows you to create multiple branding assets in the system. Only one asset can be active at a time, however.

To activate a branding asset you need to select it in the "Branding" widget in the system asset. Click the button "Add relation". An asset chooser dialog will open. Select the desired branding asset and click OK or exit the dialog with CANCEL.

Icon

Meaning

The "Add relation" button

The new branding option will be activated when the user logs out and then back in.

If a branding option is already selected, in the "Branding" widget you first have to remove its connection with the system asset. Move the cursor to the branding asset. It will appear on the right of the asset action menu. Here you select "Remove relation" and confirm the query with OK. Select CANCEL to cancel the action.

For more information on branding assets and their configuration see UI branding.

Configuring the login page

An own web page in HTML is responsible for the login page. All of the files used to design the login page are compiled in a ZIP file in a web packet. You have to upload this packet into censhare and then assign a website type.

To activate a login page, go to the "Login web pages" widget in the system asset. In the widget title bar you will see the number of already selected web packets. Click the button "Add relation". An asset chooser dialog will appear with all of the assets of the type "Web page". Select a web packet asset and confirm with OK or exit with CANCEL.

If you have specified more than one web packet, censhare will show you the web page in a random order.

To remove an existing web page, go to the "Login web pages" widget. Move the cursor to the list entry for the web packet asset in question. An asset action list will appear. Click the "Menu" button and select the entry "Remove relation".

For more information on configuring the login page see UI branding.

System-wide availability calendar

Availability calendars form the basis for calculating workloads within a team. An availability calendar for an employee determines which days of the week, the times and the amount of hours that employee is available. censhare can then place the tasks assigned to an employee in those time slots. This then forms the basis for calculating that employee's workload for the days in question. Before the tasks are distributed, other already allocated times including appointments, bank holidays or vacation days are taken out of the calendar equation.

If an employee already has his/her own availability calendar, censhare uses that for its calculation. Otherwise, the default availability calendar that applies to the whole system is used.

To make sure the team workload is always calculated correctly, a default availability calendar should always be specified.

To specify a system-wide availability calendar you first need to create a calendar and define the desired times in that calendar.  In the second step, you select the desired availability calendar in the "Default availability calendar" widget. If no calendar is selected, click the "Add relation" button and select the calendar from the asset selection dialog.

If a calendar is already defined you first need to remove it. To do that, click the calendar and select the entry "Remove relation" in the "Asset action" menu.

Monitoring

Workload overview for the system

The "Statistics" widget on the "Overview" tab gives you a range of monitoring information for the server on which you are currently logged in. This information pertains to the server, the SQL database, rendering services for Adobe InDesign and image services.

The server section shows you the name of the server, the version of the censhare server, the capacity of reserved memory, and how many assets and versions of these assets exist. In addition, you'll see the average load on the system and the number of processors. The operating system calculates both values, not the censhare Server itself.

On top of that is the number of users. As such, logins on web browsers, Desktop Clients (Java Clients), Render Clients or Service Clients count. If a user logs in multiple times from different web browsers, for example, Chrome and Firefox, the number of logins for that user is taken from the number of browser types being used.

The section "Database" shows you once how many of the maximum possible SQL connections are currently being used. You will also see the number of live queries in the system. For live queries, the server receives a response from the SQL database if changes are made to the query and can then update the data displayed in the client.

In the section "Adobe InDesign Services" you will see in the "Load" field how many tasks the Adobe InDesign server has received and processed from the Rendering Client. Below that, the "Services" field shows the maximum number of rendering processes that can be run at the same time.

Like the "Adobe InDesign Services" section, the "Image Services" section shows the number of tasks being currently edited ("Load" field) and the maximum number of processes allowed at the same time ("Services" field). Either the censhare server controls the image service directly or it is outsourced to the Service Client on another computer.

censhare does not automatically update the data in the "Statistics" widget. To do that, click the "Refresh data" button in the top bar of the widget.

Icon

Meaning

The "Refresh data" button

If the "Statistics" widget does not appear on the "Overview" tab, you can add it. Go to the "Asset" button on the tab bar and click "Add widget". In the dialog select the "Report" widget and click OK. Click CLOSE to exit the dialog.

You then need to select the correct transformation for the widget. Click the widget action menu and then "Configure widget". In the dialog go to the "Assessment" section and then click in the "Transformation" field. In the list that opens, select the entry "System statistics" and click OK. Click CANCEL to exit the dialog.

System monitoring of individual aspects

censhare uses diagrams to display the current status of a range of different aspects of a censhare system with servers, clients, databases and networks. This can be found in the Admin Client in the area "Status/diagrams". On the other hand, the system asset shows some selected diagrams on the "Statistics" tab.

Normally, this includes memory utilization from the Java Virtual Machine, the number of registered users and the server capacity. The latter shows the utilization (number of processes) determined by the operating system compared to the number of processors.

If you need another diagram, add the corresponding number of "Server statistics" widgets and configure them there for the desired diagram. To add the widget, click the entry "Add widget" in the asset menu on the tab bar of the system asset and then select the desired widget.

In the corresponding widget, go to the upper right and click the "Configure widget" entry in the widget action menu. In the dialog, click the "Key" field in the section "Statistics settings" and select the desired diagram from the list.

The name of the keys for the diagrams in the Admin Client are the same as in the selection list of keys in the widget server statistics. If you want to see a diagram in the Admin Client in censhare 5 Web as well, then take note of the key. Then enter the key into the "Key" field in the widget.

In the "Value label" field enter the name of the y-axis based on the selected diagram. In the "Widget title" field" of the "Generic configuration" area, enter a suitable name for the diagram.

Click OK to save your configuration. Click CANCEL to exit the dialog.

Widgets installed at the beginning have the following keys:

Name

Key

JVM

JVM

Logged in users

connections

Server capacity

operating-system

You can restore diagrams with these keys if you have removed the widget in question.

Accessing log files

Introduction

censhare creates a range of log files for the purposes of monitoring and performing error analysis. Problems include things like configuration errors in censhare or other system resources such as memory or the network. For example, slow memory or a slow network can cause performance issues. The possible causes of this within censhare include the censhare Server, the censhare database (cdb), the SQL database or the censhare Client.

To assess the log files you have to download them from the server. This is possible using the SSH access to the censhare server or using censhare 5 Web. The latter is much easier than the SSH method. The former isn't always allowed anyway due to security reasons.

In the system asset, you will find the "Server logs" widget, which provides you with access to the censhare Server logs that belong to the installation. The widget allows you to select the necessary log files for a censhare server. Click to download the logs as ZIP files.

censhare automatically creates the following log files:

Component

Log file name

Remark

Server

Server-No.log

Log messages on the censhare Server

Client

Client-No.log

Log messages initiated on the client side

Server

gc.log.0.current

Garbage collection of the Java Virtual Machine

Server

stdout.log

Log messages not captured by Logger Manager

"No" is the number of the log file in question. censhare regularly creates a new log file if the current one has reached a certain size. The log files are numbered consecutively. The older the file, the higher the number in the log file name.

Once during bootup, the log file stdout.log saves all messages until the Logger Manager becomes active and messages are written to a server log file. If certain parts of the program do not use the Logger Manager for their messages, these will also land in the stdout.log.

Java thread dumps help in the analysis of performance problems in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and other errors. In the "Server logs" widget you can create a thread dump and download it like all other log files. The thread dump is created by the "jstack" tool, which is part of the Java SDK (Software Development Kit). "jstack" takes the PID of the JVM process as an entry. To analyze the thread dump there are a number of different, sometimes free, software options available.

Instructions

To download log files go to the "Log" tab in the system widget, which contains the "Server logs" widget. First, select the censhare server from which you wish to download the logs. Then mark the desired log files. If you need a Java thread dump, create it and mark that one as well. Finally, download all of the selected files as a ZIP file. if you need log files from another server, select the server and proceed as just described.

To select the server, click in the selection window on the far left in the toolbar at the top of the widget. A list of the available servers will appear. It contains all of the servers that are entered in the "Application server" table in the Admin Client master data. If only one server is configured for the censhare system, its log files will automatically appear in the widget.

If the server name of a censhare Server does not match with the ID of its entry in the "Application server" table, you will receive an error message. In this case, you need to correct the server entry in the Admin Client. Open the table and enter the system name in the "ID" field for the entry and save the change.

The "Server log" widget lists all files in the directory "work/logs" of the censhare server in question. Changes to the directory are automatically shown in the list, for example when you create a Java thread dump.

To create a Java thread dump, click in the toolbar on the button "CREATE JSTACK".

To select the most important log files, click the button "IMPORTANT LOGS". This will select the logs gc.log.0.current, stdout.log, all jstack files and the latest ten server logs. If you want to see all of the log files click the "All" button. You can always change your selection by clicking the corresponding check box for a specific log file in the log files list. Click the "NONE" button to deselect all of the files.

To download your selection as a ZIP file, click the button "Download selected server logs".

Icon

Meaning

The "Download selected server logs" button

Activating asset list views

To activate views, go to the "Views" widget on the "Overview" tab of the system asset. A view is active across the whole system if it appears here in the list. Technically speaking, censhare saves the unique resource key of a view in this list.

To activate a certain view in censhare 5 Web, you add it to the "Views" widget. Go to the "Views" widget on the "Overview" tab of the system asset. Click the button "Add relation". An asset chooser dialog will open. Select the desired view and confirm with OK or click CANCEL to exit the dialog.

Icon

Meaning

The "Add relation" button

JavaScript errors detected

Please note, these errors can depend on your browser setup.

If this problem persists, please contact our support.