Dedicated Bartender server runs very slow
Hello,
We have Bartender 2019 R4 running on a dedicated server. Server has 16 GB RAM, Windows server 2019.
We run the integration service from .txt files that are created by a stored procedure from our ERP. Nothing else is running on the bartender server but the CPU remains at nearly 100% all the time. Occasionally but more often than not, the Administration Console will give an error that no integrations are running. But the jobs are still printing. And, sometimes the jobs take several minutes to run.
Is there something we can do to increase performance of this server for Bartender? Its painstaking trying to troubleshoot or create new jobs.
Thanks!
Stephanie
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Hi Stephanie,
Welcome to the BarTender Community Forums!
Troubleshooting performance issues can be tricky, especially those that are connected to Integrations; if you have an active maintenance agreement with us we would suggest opening a ticket with our Technical Support Department, as we usually would need to go a little in-depth in order to find the issue in question. That being said, here are some recommendations which could help us deal with this issue:- Make sure you are using the latest Drivers by Seagull™. You can find the latest iteration here.
- If there is a third-party printer driver and a dedicated Driver by Seagull™ for your printer, use the Seagull driver instead.
- Use local print queues to increase performance (see instructions on how to perform a local installation of the printer driver to connect to a shared printer under "More Information").
- If you decide to work with client/server queues instead (not recommended if you are encountering performance problems) you would want to disable bidirectional communication via the printer driver properties if you:
- Want to increase performance.
- Are having connection issues between the client-server sides in terms of receiving driver settings/printer status from the print server.
- When disabling bidirectional communication, have in mind that you will lose the functionality of sharing driver settings from the print server to the client.
- Also, when working with client/server queues, you want to make sure that the option “Render Print jobs on client computers” is disabled. This will allow you to continue using the network share name path to reference the printer on the client:
BarTender Settings- Unless being told otherwise, always install the latest Service Release available for your BarTender version (currently BarTender v2019 R10). You can find the latest Service Release here, and instructions on how to update BarTender's current revision here.
- Set BarTender to detect Seagull License Server via its IP address or hostname. You do this via the “Administer > Licensing Setup” dialog on each BarTender client installation.
- Set the minimum required amount of data to be logged to the BarTender System Database. You set this via the “Administer > Log Setup” Menu and now the “Database Log” dialog in BarTender.
- Only set Text File logging if required by Seagull Tech-Support. You set this via the “Administer > Log Setup” Menu and now the “Text File Log” dialog in BarTender.
- Make sure that any AV software that you are running does not interfere with the folders where BarTender documents, graphics, databases, or trigger files are located.
BarTender System Database
- Use a full SQL Server engine.
- The SQL Server engine and therefore the BarTender System Database should be locally installed on the BarTender / Integration Platform computer, or at least on the same LAN.
- Run Database Maintenance during non-printing or low activity periods.
- Use SQL Server credentials for logging into the BarTender System Database. This way, even though the first setup might take longer, once it is completed all your client machines which will have to be connected to the BarTender System database will be making use of the same credentials.
- Do not store security settings nor BarTender documents in the BarTender System database unless it is required for your validated environment.
- Also, have in mind that logging to the BarTender System Database is recommended for the Integration Platform, but not mandatory. If you would want to, you could skip the configuration of a BarTender System Database for performance reasons but have in mind that you would lose many functionalities when doing so.
Windows Services used by BarTender Suite
- BarTender Print Scheduler and Integration Service must be running under Local System Account.
- The only BarTender related Windows service that should need a domain account set for it is the BarTender System Service.
- When logging into the BarTender System Database using SQL Server credentials, you can use the “Local System Account” (unless you will also be making use of the “Reprint” Feature).
- When logging into the BarTender System Database using Windows credentials, you will need to start this service under a domain account that also has local Administration group access. Also, this account will need to have access to the SQL Database itself.
- Only start the Printer Maestro Service if Print Status and Print Job Verification are required.
- It should not be required to customize the settings for the Print Scheduler Service, as it has been designed to automatically scale based on load.
Integration Platform settings
- Make use of BarTender XML-Script as the script language to be used in your trigger data. This is because no matter what data structure you use in your trigger data, the Print Scheduler Service will use BTXML- Script when sending the print requests to the underlying BarTender engines.
- Use text delimited data as the most optimized variable-data structure, especially when printing multiple labels.
- You can also set variable data via named data sourced values when printing single-label print jobs. However, this option is not optimal when printing multi-label print jobs.
- When using a Web Service Integration, you would use POST to send the BarTender XML-Script data (BTXML-Script can be used to set either delimited data or named data sources values)
- In your Print Action, use the lowest possible “Verification Option”.
- Optimal Print Actions are “Print Document” and “Print BTXML Script”.
- Run your Integration under the Local System Account if working with Local Resources (local file directories, printers, etc). Otherwise, you would need to run the Integration under a domain account with permissions over the network resource you’re trying to use (such as network share locations, network share printers, remote database, etc.).
- Elevate the user account at the lowest point possible. As an example, if the only action which requires user elevation is to print to your network printer, run the whole integration under “Local System Account” and only run your Print Action under the domain account with elevated permissions.
- Avoid using cloud-based resources (FTP locations, Librarian folders).
I would start with updating BarTender to the latest revision and making sure the printer drivers are updated, as they are usually the most common ways to fix these kinds of issues.
I hope some of these recommended actions do the trick and please, feel free to reach us again if you have any queries regarding any of these procedures!0 - Make sure you are using the latest Drivers by Seagull™. You can find the latest iteration here.
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