Connection preferences

Background

The Connection preferences are a way to control precisely how to connect to the PlanetPress Connect Server.

This preference page was added in Connect 2018.2 to simplify management of HTTP communication with Connect. HTTPS communication options were then added in Connect 2021.1.

These preferences allow Connect inter-engine communication to occur on an alternate port, reducing the chances of inter-engine communication being starved of connections when running on a system that processes very large numbers of HTTP/HTTPS connections.

Connection settings

• REST Services group. Use this to adjust the HTTP or HTTPS communication settings for Connect.
  • Port: Set the primary HTTP or HTTPS Server connection port number for Connect.
  • Protocol:  Select whether to use HTTP or HTTPS.
    If HTTPS is selected, the following HTTPS specific options become available:
    • Root certificate:  This is an optional selection. Use the Browse button to locate the appropriate root certificate file, if one is available.
    • Server certificate:  Use the Browse button to locate the appropriate server certificate file. This is a mandatory selection.
    • Private key:  Use the Browse button to locate the appropriate Private key file. This is a mandatory selection.
    • Private key Password:  Enter the Private key password.
    • Confirm password: Re-enter the password, to confirm it was entered correctly.
      
    Enabling HTTPS for the primary REST Services connection requires different ports be used for the internal connections (IPC and REST) between Connect Server and its engines.
• Internal communication on separate ports checkbox:
  Set the internal connection communication ports. These settings are purely for Connect inter-engine communication.
  It is recommended that this option be selected.
  
  If HTTPS were selected as the REST Services protocol, these internal Port settings must be entered.
  Please note that local security settings (including firewalls) must be taken into consideration when setting Port entries.
• IPC Port: Set the internal connection port number. This cannot be the same at the primary REST Services port number.
• REST Port: Set the internal REST connection port number. This cannot be the same at the primary REST Services port, or the IPC Port.
• Advanced group
  • Maximum threads: Sets the maximum number of HTTP threads for processing requests.
    This entry should only be changed in consultation with OL.
  • Maximum queues: Sets the maximum number of requests can remain in the queue.
    This entry should only be changed in consultation with OL.
  • Maximum asynchronous tasks: Set the maximum number of requests that can be executed simultaneously.
    This does not limit the number of requests that can be received, just how many are processed in parallel. Additional requests are buffered and are processed as capabilities allow.
    
    The default asynchronous task setting is twice the number of processing cores available to the computer. This can be expanded, if the limitation is deemed a bottleneck.

Buttons

The Connections preferences also provides you with buttons to :

• Restore Defaults. This option restores the preferences to Defaults. This applies to the current Preferences page only, but not other Preferences.
• Apply: This option applies the settings made within the current Preferences page, but does not close the Preferences dialog.