1.8

The engines
Merge engine/s. A merge engine merges data with a template using the scripts in the template,
in order to create (Print,Email or Web) content items.
The number of merge engines is configurable. By default, only one merge engine is used, but
this number can be increased depending on the capacity of the machine that runs the solution
(see "Performance Considerations" on page25).
Weaver engines. The Weaver engines create Print output from Print content items. It takes the
settings made in Print presets or in the Print Wizard into account. It also helps the data mapping
engine by preparing any paginated input data.
The number of Weaver engines is configurable as well (see "Weaver Engine Scheduling" on
page88).
Speed units (parallels)
The number of 'speed units' is the maximum number of engines that can work in parallel, which
is why they are also called 'parallels'. The output speed of all speed units together is limited to
a certain number of output items (web pages, emails, or printed pages) per minute.
How many speed units you have and what the maximum total output speed will be is
determined by your licence and any additional Performance Packs you might have.
There is one important twist: when generating Print output, the limit imposed by the number of
speed units, only applies to the Weaver engines; when creating Email or Web output, the limit
applies to the Merge engines only (the Weaver engine is not involved). Nevertheless, in
situations where Print and Email or Web output are being created at the same time, all engines,
regardless of their type, count towards the maximum number of speed units.
Each engine needs at least one speed unit. However, since the number of engines is
configurable, and since small, medium and large jobs may run concurrently, the number of
engines in use may not match the number of available speed units. When there are more speed
units than there are engines in use, the Connect server distributes the speed units and the
maximum output speed to the engines proportionally.
The REST API
The Connect server receives REST commands (see The Connect REST API CookBook),
normally either via the Workflow service or from the Designer. This design allows the Connect
functionality to be used by other applications. The server forwards the commands to the
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