Memory usage

Keep these memory usage considerations in mind as you configure and use document processing features.
    Note:
  • Your installation might not include all of the step templates discussed in this section.

Some steps might need a lot of memory to process a job.

For example, steps based on the CreateJobsFromDocuments, CreateAFPJobsFromDocuments, BuildPDFFromDocuments, BuildAFPFromDocuments, IdentifyPDFDocuments, and IdentifyDocuments step templates read information into memory to do their processing. The system keeps a record for each document in memory.

Steps based on the GroupDocuments, SortDocuments, and SplitDocuments step templates also read information into memory to do their processing. The system keeps a record for each document in memory. The amount of memory needed by GroupDocuments and SortDocuments varies depending on which properties you use for grouping and sorting. When more data exists for those properties, the system uses more memory.

    Note:
  • If you process jobs using any of these step templates, increase the amount of memory that the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) can use for RICOH ProcessDirector steps to at least 8 GB of memory:
    • BuildAFPFromDocuments
    • BuildPDFFromDocuments
    • BuildPDFFromZip
    • CreateAFPJobsFromDocuments
    • CreateJobsFromDocuments
    • GroupDocuments
    • IdentifyDocuments
    • IdentifyPDFDocuments
    • SortDocuments
    • SplitDocuments
    • ReadDocumentsFromDatabase
    • RemoveDocumentsFromDatabase
    • UpdateDocumentsInDatabase
    • WriteDocumentsToDatabase

    See Defining the JVM memory pool allocation for additional information.

By default, steps are tuned to run on the primary computer, which uses up to 2000 MB of memory when it runs. The primary computer uses the memory for system management, user interface and Web service requests, printer management, input device management, and running steps. Jobs with many documents that sort or group using many properties can use a significant amount of memory.

You can optimize step tuning to minimize memory usage:

  1. Define one or more RICOH ProcessDirector secondary servers on the primary server. The secondary servers should not be in the general server pool. The servers should allow only one step to run at a time.
  2. Change the tuning of these step templates to run only on the secondary servers:
    • BuildAFPFromDocuments
    • BuildPDFFromDocuments
    • CreateAFPJobsFromDocuments
    • CreateJobsFromDocuments
    • GroupDocuments
    • IdentifyDocuments
    • IdentifyPDFDocuments
    • SortDocuments
    • SplitDocuments