PhixFlow Help

System Configuration

This page is for administrators who need to configure system-wide options for PhixFlow.


The toolbar has the standard iconsFor information about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  For information about other property tabs, see Property Tabs.

Sections on this page



General Settings

FieldDescription
Customer Name         This field cannot be modified. The Customer Name is entered during system installation.

PhixFlow Instance

Any text entered here appears on the application banner. For example if you have multiple instances of PhixFlow installed (Live, Test etc.) then you can enter a value in this field so that users can easily see which system they are using.

After changing this field you will need to restart the browser or reload the application (User → Reload Application) to see the new value in the banner.

You can return the instance name using _system.instance in an expression. This can be useful when creating emails from a task plan or from a file exporter. 

Default Export Excel Version

The default version of Excel to be used when exporting data from PhixFlow to Excel. This is only used if a non-valid excel extension, such as "csv", is used in the file name extension specified in the exporter. Otherwise PhixFlow will determine the correct format from the extension specified in the file name. See file exporters for details.

System LocaleSystem Locale will determine the default language used by the system e.g. for the login screen.
Default Component PaletteSelect a default layout component palette.
Decimal PlacesThe default number of decimal places to show for float values in view, unless a different value is set for an individual stream view attribute.
Default Date FormatThe default format for dates in views, unless a different format is applied for an individual stream view attribute.
Default Date/Time FormatThe default format for datetimes in views, unless a different format is applied for an individual stream view attribute.
Allow access to data by defaultSpecifies the default data access permission on new streams. Possible values are:
  • "T" - By default, all users will be allowed access to the stream data.
  • "F" - By default, no users will be allowed access to the stream data unless they are a member of a user group which is explicitly added to the stream.
Note that this is just a default behaviour as any user with the permission to add user groups to a stream may change the data access rights for a stream.
Allow anonymous export by defaultSpecifies the default access permission on exporting data from a Datasource. Possible values are:
  • "T" - By default, all users will be allowed access to export functionality.
  • "F" - By default, no users will be allowed access to export functionality unless they are specifically configured against the datasource.
Notification Timeout (s)Specify how long, in seconds, PhixFlow should display the pop-up notifications before closing them automatically.
Help UrlThe base url for PhixFlow help. This is pre-set for each PhixFlow release, and should not be changed without consulting PhixFlow support.
Online Support Url

The Url to open when the user requests online support through PhixFlow. Under normal circumstances you should not need to update this setting. If you have problem with PhixFlow help, please contact the PhixFlow support team (see the welcome page for contact details).

After changing this field you will need to restart the browser or reload the application (User → Reload Application) to start using the new help location.

System Email AddressThe email address where system generated mails will be sent from.
Feedback Email AddressThe email address to which feedback emails (from the User drop-down menu) will be addressed. We recommend that this is set to an onsite system administration. Issues that cannot be resolved internally should then be forwarded to support@phixflow.com.
Restrict non admin logins onlyRestrict access to PhixFlow to only users who are part of the administrators group. This can be set if a system is being put into a maintenance state, and normal access needs to be revoked to everyone other than administration users.
Suspend processing for non admin usersSuspend processing for all users except those in the administrators group. Non admin users will be prevented from running Analysis, Task Plans, Stream Actions and Rollback. Scheduled Task Plans will also be suspended (but the suspended box will not be ticked on individual Task Plans).
Allow access to run actions by defaultIf ticked, by default all users will have access to run actions (providing they have functional rights to run actions), unless this is overridden at the level of individual actions.
Home Screen Message HTML FileThe path and filename of a file containing HTML that will be displayed on the PhixFlow home screen before logging into PhixFlow. See Configure a Login Message for details.
Banner ColourThe colour of the top toolbar. Choose a colour from the colour picker.

System Directories

On Windows hosted systems, please be sure to prefix directory names listed below with a drive letter, e.g. 'C:'


FieldDescription
Plugin Location         The location of any PhixFlow plugin applications.
Application LocationThe location of the PhixFlow installation.
Import File LocationThe default base directory path for files to be imported into PhixFlow. This field can be left blank. See File Collectors for further details.
Export File LocationThe default base directory path for files to be exported from PhixFlow. This field can be left blank. See File Exporters for further details.
Template LocationThe location templates when doing excel downloads.
Temporary File LocationThe location of any PhixFlow temporary files that are generated.
Performance File LocationThe location of the resultant analysis performance files when the system tuning 'Generate Performance Files' check box has been ticked.
Archive DirectoryThe default base directory path for data to be archived. This field can be left blank.
Restore DirectoryThe default base directory path for data to be restored from. This field can be left blank.
Restricted DirectoryThe root directory path that all files read using File Collectors must reside under. Note that this value is not editable through the GUI and must be set directly within the database.
File Upload Directory

The root location of all uploaded files and received email messages.

Uploaded files/processed emails are saved in standard sub-directories as follows:

.../tag/in/yyyymmdd/uid/

where

tag is the File Collector tag or the #tag extracted from an email subject line, or default

yyyymmdd is the date the files were uploaded / received

uid is a 32 character unique identifier

For each email message received, the folder will contain a file called body.txt representing the main body content of the email and also any corresponding email attachments.

System Tuning

This section contains advanced settings. Only change these settings with advice from PhixFlow Solutions; contact support@phixflow.com.


FieldDescription
Thread Pool Size       The number of threads that can be in the pool at any time. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team. This is generally a small multiple of the number of CPU cores on your machine.
Database Flush SizeDefines how frequently objects are written to disc. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team.
Result Expiry Time (sec)The length of time the PhixFlow front end application will wait for a result from an asynchronous query before abandoning it. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team.
Default Page Size

Defines the default number of rows to be loaded into to a grid when displayed in PhixFlow. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team.

After changing this field you will need to restart the browser or reload the application (User → Reload Application) to apply the new default page size.

Default Buffer SizeWhen reading in data from a collector, this defines how many rows are held in memory before passing them on for processing. This means that if PhixFlow is reading in 10,000,000 records, it doesn't have to wait until all have been loaded before it begins to process them, but can begin processing after the first 2000 have been read. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team.
Delete Batch SizeDefines the default number of rows to be deleted from a Stream in a single transaction when Archiving or Rolling back data. This is an advanced option which should not be updated without advice from the PhixFlow support team.
Write Processes Per Stream SetThis is an advanced tuning feature which enables PhixFlow to multi-thread the process of writing Stream Data to the database. The value of this parameter is dependent upon machine versus database performance.
Maximum Records Per Download File

This value affects how much data a user can export to a single Excel or CSV file using the  Download data to file button; see Download Data.

Specify the largest number of data records that a user can downloaded to a single file. Downloads with more than this number of records will be split into multiple files which are zipped together.

Default Download File Limit

This value affects how much total data a user can export to Excel or CSV  files using the  Download data to file button; see Download Data.

Specify the maximum number of records that a user can download. PhixFlow creates a file with this many records. Additional records will be ignored.  If no value is specified, PhixFlow applies no limit to the number of records that a user can download. 

For stream data, you can override this value using the stream properties in the Download Limits section.

Validate attribute exists at runtime

Specifies whether or not PhixFlow should check that an attribute exists when a model attempts to read the value of an attribute from a stream record or a record supplied by a collector. If not ticked, if no attribute could be found with the given name a null value is return. If ticked, PhixFlow will raise an error. 

It is strongly recommended that this flag is ticked.

Inactivity Time (sec)This sets the amount of time (in seconds) that must pass after a user operation before the PhixFlow client application will start any background clean-up processes.
Maximum File Size Attachment (MB)

Outgoing emails will only attach files (zipped or unzipped) that do not exceed this configuration limit. An extra message will appear in the email's message subject/body indicating to the recipient that a file attachment has been removed due to this size restriction.

PhixFlow will not impose any upper limit to the size of the attached files if this field is left blank, hence in this case the underlying email servers will determine if the message is sent/received correctly or not.

Maximum Pivot ColumnsThe system-wide default for the maximum number of columns that can be generated by a pivot table. This applies unless a different maximum pivot columns setting is applied for an individual stream view.
Maximum Exporters Errors

If required, you can set the maximum number of errors found, before exporters will stop attempting to export records.

This is useful where you process large number of records and do not want to wait until all records are processed in case of errors occurred. This value can be overridden in Exporters.

Log StatisticsIf checked, PhixFlow will record performance statistics. See Processing Statistics for further detail.
Statistics PeriodThis is the period (in seconds) over which performance statics are aggregated, over which snapshots of values are taken.

Delete Statistics after Days

If this field is set, a System Task, when run, deletes Processing Statistics records from the Database older than this number of days.

See Task for how to set up and run a System Task.

Enforce Pipe Cache Size

If ticked, Pipe Cache sizes are strictly enforced; a pipe lookup which tries to cache too many records will fail and an error will be reported.

If not ticked, exceeding the cache size on a pipe will result in a warning message.

Default Pipe Cache SizeThis value is used when a pipe's cache size has not been set.
Maximum Pipe Cache SizeThis value is the maximum value that Cache Size can be set to on any pipe; a pipe with a Cache Size greater than this will generate a run-time error.
Enforce In Memory Cache Size

If ticked, cache sizes for in memory streams are strictly enforced; an in memory stream which tries to cache too many records will fail and an error will be reported.

If not ticked, exceeding the cache size on an in memory stream will result in a warning message.

Default In Memory Cache SizeThe size of the cache for an in memory stream if this is not set on the stream.
Maximum In Memory Cache SizeThe maximum allowed cache size for any in memory stream. A stream with a cache size greater than this will generate a run-time error.
Maximum Bigstring SizeThe maximum allowed length of a Bigstring attribute. A value larger than this will generate an error in analysis.
Maximum Parallel File ExportersThe maximum number of files (non-Excel) which may be generated at the same time. This includes files generated by file exporters and generated from a grid view. Requests above this limit will be queued. This value defaults to the value of Thread Pool Size.
Maximum Parallel Excel ExportersThe maximum number of Excel files which may be generated at the same time. This includes files generated by file exporters and generated from a grid view. Requests above this limit will be queued. The default value is 1.

Style Settings

FieldDescription
Grid Header Style      Select the default style for the header section of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Header Button StyleSelect the default style for buttons in the header of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Header Icon StyleSelect the default style for icons in the header of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Header Drop-down Button StyleSelect the default style for drop-down buttons in the header of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Header Drop-down Pane StyleSelect the default style for drop-down panes in the header of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Paging StyleSelect the default style for the paging bar of grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Row StyleSelect the default style for rows in grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Grid Column Header StyleSelect the default style for column headers in grid views. The default will apply unless a local style is set for the application or individual grid view.
Row Selection StyleSelect the default style for currently selected rows . This will apply to all selected rows in all grid views, unless a local selection style is set on that grid view.
Form View Header StyleSelect the default header style for Form Views. This will apply to all 'old' Forms based on Stream Views.
Form View Content StyleSelect the default content style for Form Views. This will apply to all 'old' Forms based on Stream Views.

Advanced

FieldDescription
Default Character SetThe character set PhixFlow assumes when reading from or writing to any plain text or CSV file. Please note that this must be a character set supported by the Java virtual machine and that multi byte settings such as UTF8 (e.g. for Japanese etc.) are supported.
Data Storage Group

The Data Storage Group to use when creating tables to store Stream data. This field is interpreted differently depending on the underlying database:

  • On Oracle, a Data Storage Group is equivalent to a Tablespace.
  • On SQL Server, a Data Storage Group is equivalent to a Filegroup.
  • If no Data Storage Group is specified, the database user's default setting will be used.
Line Separator StyleThe default line separator style that will be used by File Exporters where no particular line separator has been specified. If you do not specify a default style here then the default will revert to be the default of the operating system on which the PhixFlow server is running. In addition you can specify the line separator on each file exporter where a particular exporter needs to use a style other than the system default.
Default Stream StorageThis specifies the default Storage Type when creating a new Stream.
  • Database: Store the data in a regular table within the PhixFlow database. This is the most common option
  • Database (Partitioned): Store the data in a partitioned table within the PhixFlow database. This option provides improved performance for rollback and archiving of very large Streamsets. The option is only available if "partitioning" is available within your database installation.
  • In Memory: Data for the Stream will not be written to the database. This option can be used (for example) when you want to aggregate large amounts of unsorted data which can then be written to a stored Stream.
Schema VersionRead only: the version of the schema currently installed.
Licence KeyThis is the Licence Key for your PhixFlow Installation which is provided by PhixFlow Customer Support. If PhixFlow is not configured with a valid key, analysis tasks will not run and an error message will be displayed in the log file.

A Licence key issued with an expiry date. If the licence has expired an additional field will show the expiry date. After a licence has expired PhixFlow will generate warning messages in the analysis logs for 28 days beyond the expiry date. After this time analysis tasks will cease to run.

Expires OnRead only: The date that the current Licence Key will expire.

Delete Log Messages after Days


If this field is set, a System Task, when run, deletes Log Messages and Managed Files for Log Files older than this number of days. Temporary files created by File Exporters to send by email will also be deleted when the Managed File entry is deleted.

Archive deleted log messages to file

Whether to archive Log Messages to file before deletion. Archived Log Messages are written to archive files in the Archive Directory (see above).

There is no option to archive Managed File entries to file before deleting them.

Delete Emails after Days

If this field is set, a System Task, when run, deletes Emails older than this number of days.

There is no option to archive Email entries to file before deleting them.

Password PolicyThe password policy selected by default when creating new users. Password Policies can be edited in the Password Policies List
Allow Reset Configuration

Before performing a 'Reset Configuration' the administrator must tick this checkbox to allow access to reset the configuration.

WARNING: Resetting the configuration will delete all configuration data in the PhixFlow Instance.

See Configuration Reset for how to reset the configuration

External Login

FieldDescription
External Login Groups Names of External Login Groups whose members are allowed to log in into PhixFlow.

Names can be separated by a semicolon but spaces around the semi-colon are considered part of the group name. E.g. 'group_1;group_2' is valid, but 'group_1;  group_2' is unlikely to be valid.

Names are case-independent.

Use {instance} to include the PhixFlow instance name if required.

External User Templates 

This section displays a grid listing the external user templates that have been configured. The order of the templates in this grid is the order in which templates will be matched to external users; see External User Template for details. 

To reorder the templates, you can:

  • either double-click on a name to open its property tab, then change the Order value.
  • or drag template names in the grid. PhixFlow automatically updates their Order.

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