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System Configuration

System Configuration


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

Overview

There are several ways to access system configuration: 

  • Scroll to the bottom of the repository list and click  System Configuration
  • In the header bar, click  Administration →  System →   Configuration

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  We recommend you always add a Description that explains the purpose of the item you are creating. 

For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Properties, Windows, Menus and Toolbars.

General Settings

FieldDescription
Customer Name         This field is read-only. PhixFlow displays the customer name that was set in the PhixFlow database 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 Locale

Select the default locale to use for the PhixFlow system.

You can set a different locale for users.

The list of locales available in PhixFlow is a standard list. The presence of a specific locale does not indicate that translations are available for the locale.

The locale sets the default date style. It can also change the language of an application if it has a translation table; see Translating an Application Interface.

Default Component PaletteSelect a default layout component palette.
Decimal Places

The default number of decimal places to show for float values in view, unless a different value is set for an individual view attribute.

Suppress Trailing Zeroes

Select one of the following:

  • Keep trailing zeroes
    T
    he number is displayed as entered, with trailing zeroes preserved.
  • Suppress trailing zeroes
    PhixFlow does not display trailing zeroes, except the first after a decimal point. Examples of a number entered as:
    • 1.50 is stored as 1.5
    • 23.000 is stored as 23.0

This setting can be over-ridden using a Number Format.

Default Date Format

The default format for dates in views, unless a different format is applied for an individual view attribute.

Default Date/Time Format

The default format for datetimes in views, unless a different format is applied for an individual view attribute.

Allow access to data by defaultSpecifies the default data access permission on new tables. Possible values are:
  • "T" - By default, all users will be allowed access to the table data.
  • "F" - By default, no users will be allowed access to the table data unless they are a member of a user group which is explicitly added to the table.
Note that this is just a default behaviour as any user with the permission to add user groups to a table may change the data access rights for a table.
Notification Timeout (s)Specify how long, in seconds, PhixFlow should display the popup notifications before closing them automatically.
File Download Expiry 

By default, this option is set to 24 hours. 

Specify how long files remain available in the File Download Location before they are deleted. Specify the time using one or more of:

  • days: nd
  • hours: nh
  • minutes: nm
  • seconds: ns

where n is the number you require. Separate 2 or more time units with a space.

If you do not specify the time by d, h, m or s, PhixFlow defaults to the entered value as hours.

Example

To keep downloads for:

  • 10 days, enter: 10d
  • half an hour, enter: 30m
  • 2.5 days, enter: 5d 12h
  • 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes and 4 seconds enter: 1d 2h 3m 4s

Help UrlThe base URL for PhixFlow help. This is preset 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 Address

Specify the email address from which system-generated mails will be sent, such as password reset requests.  For example, create an email account for notifications@company.com and use it as the System Email Address.

It is important to set a system email address as the registered owner of the email account. This is because some email services reject emails that are not from the registered owner of the email account. 

If you do not set a System Email Address, PhixFlow sends the email as if it is from the person making the request. For example, if Georgia Smith requests a password reset, the email will be “from” georgia.smith@company.com. This email may not be delivered by some email services.

Feedback Email AddressSpecify an email address to receive any feedback emails.  These are sent from the Administration → Support Menu → Email Support option. We recommend that this email address is your onsite system administration email. Issues that cannot be resolved internally should then be forwarded to support@phixflow.com.
Error Reporting Email AddressSpecify an email address to receive emails sent when a user clicks the Report button on a system error message. 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.
Only allow users with the restricted login permission to log in

Use this option when you need maintain or upgrade PhixFlow and you need to prevent any users from logging in; see Restricting Access During System Maintenance.

 Tick to prevent users from logging into PhixFlow. Only users who have the Restricted Login Only privilege can log in.

Before using this option, make sure the Administrators role has the Restricted Login Only privilege. You may need to add this privilege to other roles for users who require system access, such as PhixFlow support or consultants.

Remember to untick this option when maintence is complete.

Only allow users with the restricted permission to run task plans and actions

Use this option when you need maintain or upgrade PhixFlow and you need to prevent processes from running; see Restricting Access During System Maintenance.

 Tick to suspend processing for all users except those with the Restricted Login TaskPlan Processing privilege. Users without this privilege will be unable to run:

  • analysis on models
  • task plans
  • any table-actions
  • rollback.

Scheduled task plans will not run, although the Suspended tick box will not be ticked on individual task plans.

Before using this option, make sure the Administrators role has the Restricted Login TaskPlan Processing privilege. You may need to add this privilege to other roles for users who require system access, such as PhixFlow support or consultants.

Remember to untick this option when maintence is complete.

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, table-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

Enter and format a message which is displayed to users when they log in; see Configuring a Login Message.

Banner ColourUse the colour picker to select a colour for the menu bar at the top of the screen.

System Directories

Use these options to configure root directories that PhixFlow needs on its server. On a Windows-hosted system, prefix directory paths with a drive letter, for example C:

When you set a Restricted Directory, all other system directories, except the Database Driver File Directory, must be sub-directories of the restricted directory.


FieldDescription

Plugin Location    

Enter the path to a directory for any PhixFlow plugin applications.

Application Location

Enter the path to a directory for the PhixFlow installation.

Import File Location

Enter the path to a root directory for files to be imported into PhixFlow. This directory is used as the default location. This field can be left blank. See File Collectors for further details.

Export File Location

Enter the path to a root directory for files to be exported from PhixFlow. This directory is used as the default location. This field can be left blank. See File Exporters for further details.

Template Location

Enter the path to a directory for the templates that PhixFlow uses when creating Microsoft Excel file downloads.

Temporary File Location

Enter the path to a directory where PhixFlow can save temporary files that it generates.

Performance File Location

Deprecated. This directory is no longer used by any feature.

In previous versions, this was where PhixFlow stored performance analysis files.

Archive Directory

This directory is used when Archive deleted log messages to file is ticked.

Enter the path to a root directory where log messages can be archived. This directory is used as the default location. This field can be left blank. 

Restore Directory

Enter the path to a root directory from which data can be restored. This directory is used as the default location. This field can be left blank.

Restricted Directory

When you set a Restricted Directory, all other system directories, except the Database Driver File Directory, must be sub-directories of the restricted directory.

Also, for file collector or exporter properties with Ignore Base Directory selected, all paths must be in the restricted directory; see File Collector → Ignore Base Directory or File Exporter → Ignore Base Directory.


Read-only.  PhixFlow displays the directory path that is set in the PhixFlow database.

For security reasons, we recommend that you configure a restricted directory so that Phixflow only reads data from the restricted directory

To set the restricted directory in the PhixFlow database, use an SQL statement, for example:

update system_configuration set restricted_dir = '/opt/phixflow/data';
commit;

Restart Tomcat to make the change visible to the PhixFlow application.

Database Driver File Directory

Read-only. PhixFlow displays the directory path that is set in the PhixFlow database. Use this directory to store driver jar files to enable PhixFlow to communicate with different databases. To avoid your files being overwritten during Tomcat or PhixFlow upgrades, we recommend that you specify a directory outside of tomcat. For example:

  • Linux:  /opt/phixflow-drivers
  • Windows:  C:\opt\phixflow-drivers

To set the database driver file directory in the PhixFlow database, use an SQL statement, for example:

update system_configuration set driver_class_file_dir = '/opt/phixflow-drivers';
commit;

Restart Tomcat to make the change visible to the PhixFlow application.

See also Database Driver.

If the Restricted Directory is set, this directory does not need to be within the restricted directory.

File Upload Directory

Enter the path to a root directory where PhixFlow stores all loaded files, for example from file collectors, and received email messages.

Loaded files and 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 has:

  • a file called body.txt, containing the main body content of the email
  • any email attachment files.

Download Location 

Enter the directory path for the download area.

The download area is where PhixFlow saves files generated by analysis models or actions in applications. These are CSV or Excel files. Users can download the files from this area. To ensure data security, the files are encrypted and are deleted after a period of time; see File Download Expiry. 

System Tuning

This section contains options related to the PhixFlow system. Only change key options related to PhixFlow infrastructure sizes and tuning with advice from PhixFlow support. For advice about using the other system tuning options, please contact support@phixflow.com.


FieldDescription
Thread Pool Size       

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

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 Size

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

How frequently objects are written to disc. 
Result Expiry Time (sec)

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

The length of time the PhixFlow front end application will wait for a result from an asynchronous query before abandoning it. 
Default Page Size

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

The default number of rows to be loaded into to a grid when displayed in PhixFlow. 

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 Size

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

When reading in data from a collector, 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. 
Delete Batch Size

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

Defines the default number of rows to be deleted from a table in a single transaction when archiving or rolling back data.
Write Processes Per Recordset

Only change this option with advice from PhixFlow support.

Enables PhixFlow to multi-thread the process of writing table 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 CSV or Excel 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