› System Administration: Administrative activities › Windows services › Configure instances of Interpret and Transfer as Windows services

Configure instances of Interpret and Transfer as Windows services

Use this procedure as one of the steps to automate Interpret and Transfer.

  • You can configure multiple instances, but only use those for which you have licenses. In addition, you can use one instance of Transfer on each computer and multiple instances of Interpret if you have hardware specifications to handle it.

  • If you use Collector as the input source, you can configure only one Interpret instance per inbox configured in Collector.

To set up instances of Interpret and Transfer for use as services, do the following.

  1. In Manager, click the Service configurations object bar and right-click Interpret or Transfer (depending on the module), and then click Add instance. Alternatively, if instances are already configured, you can insert a new one by doing a right-click on the instance under which you want to add, and then click Insert instance below.
  2. In the Name box, give the instance a unique name to indicate what it is used for, where it is located, or some relevant information to help you remember it. It is recommended to use a naming standard to help you know from where the invoices are coming.
  3. In the Run on server box, specify the computer on which you want to run the instance. This can be the local computer or a different server in a network, and it can be the name of the computer on the network or the IP address of the computer. 



    This setting is limited to fifteen characters, but if the name of the computer exceeds it, use the IP address instead.

  4. If you want to use the instance in production, click Enable, and make sure at least one service job must also be configured and enabled for the instance as well.
    • - Instances with this icon are enabled.
    • - Instances with this icon are not enabled.

    Make sure both the instance and the service jobs it contains are configured correctly before enabling the instance.

  5. Only click Run continuously if you specify more instances than you have licenses for and you want this specific instance to run all the time. That is, it never closes regardless of how many instances are configured and enabled. For those instances where this option is not selected, and an instance is dormant for approximately one minute, it closes and the next instance in the list starts.

 Note that enabling this option has no effect if it is turned on for all Interpret instances and the number of instances specified is equal to or less than the number of Interpret licenses available. It then works in the same way as if only Enable is selected for the instance. That is, the instance runs until all invoices are processed, and then it closes, and the next instance starts. This is a built in safety feature to prohibit some instances from never running due to a license shortage. 
 Example:
 A company has four interpret licenses and six interpret instances configured. Two instances are set to run continuously.

 This means two licenses are always used by the two instances that run continuously. The remaining two licenses are used by the other four instances in the order they are found in the list under the instance in the configuration. When one of the two instances using a license without Run continuously specified closes, the next one in the list starts, and so o

 If both Run continuously and Time limits are specified for an instance, the instance is only run continuously during the time period specified.
  6. If you wish, specify Run options > Time limits:
    • The instance only runs during the times specified.
    • This is helpful in large systems that runs in different time zones. When the workload in one time zone is light (example, after work hours), licenses for these Interpret or Transfer instances can be freed up for use in a time zone where the workload is currently heavier. To accomplish this, create separate instances of Interpret or Transfer for each time zone, specifying appropriate run times for each instance.
    • Note that time limits can also be configured for each service job in the instance, but if the two conflict, the time limits specified here for the instance take precedence.
  7. If you wish, specify Recovery setting > Minutes to wait before closing if unresponsive (default: 25 minutes), to keep the production running smoothly in case the instance freezes up or becomes unresponsive if unnoticed.
  8. If you wish, click Restart first job after processing to always have the first service job in the list restart when the current job closes. It works as follows. If there is nothing to process in the first service job for an instance, the job closes, and the next available one in the list starts. If the second job has nothing to process, it also closes, and the next available job starts. This continues through the list until a service job has something to process. When the invoices in that job are processed and the job closes, priority jumps again to the first job in the list, and the process starts over.

 Careful use of this option is recommended. For example, if there are multiple service jobs in the list for an instance, and the first one always has invoices to process, jobs lower on the list may never have a chance to run, since the first job would always start over when closed.

 One way to solve this would be to put service jobs that handle fewer but more important invoices first and a service job that handles a lot of invoices at the end. You could then either limit the number of invoices or batches the last job processes before restarting, or you could add a condition to stop the last job as soon as one of the jobs above it in the list receives invoices to process.
  9. Click OK.
  10. To use the instance in production, service jobs must also be configured and enabled for it.

Change the order of instances used as services

In Manager, on the Service configurations object bar, drag instances up or down in the list. If more instances are enabled than you have licenses for, the order of instances in the list determines when they run. If one instance stops, the next one starts.

Delete Interpret or Transfer instances used as services

In Manager, on the Service configurations object bar, select the instance you want to delete and press Delete on your keyboard, or right-click the desired instance and click Delete.