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Template optimization
When you find that the speed per Merge engine - the Content Creation speed - is low,
optimizing a template can make a huge difference. For advice on how to optimize a template
see: Optimizing a template.
Network and internet connections
Use a fast network and internet connection or avoid loading external or internet resources.
Using images, JavaScript or CSS resources located on a slow network or on a slow internet
connection will obviously lead to a loss of speed. While we do our best for caching, a document
with 5,000 records which queries a page that takes 1 second to return a different image each
time will, naturally, slow output generation down by up to 83 minutes.
Hardware configuration
When processing speed is important, the following is suggested before looking into
Performance Packs to enhance performance (and after addressing the other issues mentioned
in this topic).
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Antivirus exclusions. Sometimes, virus scanners, other security software or indexing
services can interfere. It can help to disable those kinds of tools for the areas where
Connect stores intermediate files. You could exclude the entire
C:\Users\<connectuser>\Connect folder. See also: "Antivirus Exclusions" on
page10.
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Use a high-performance, low-latency hard drive. Connect benefits from fast I/O.
Preferably use a Solid State Drive (SSD) or similar for storage.
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Use at least 8+ GB High-Quality RAM. Check memory usage while the Print command is
being executed to see if you need more than the minimum of 8GB. Assuming that the
Designer needs 1GB each, and that each engine needs 1GB as well, you can roughly
estimate how much memory is needed.
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Consider using a physical machine instead of a virtual machine. When running on a
Virtual Machine, the machine may report that it has sufficient hardware (cores) available,
but in a virtual environment you need to make sure that this hardware is not being shared
with lots of other virtual machines.
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Consider using hardware with more physical cores. PrintShop Mail Connect doesn't limit
the number of Merge engines that is used for a Print job, so if the number of physical
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