EMC ® Document Sciences ®

xPression ®
Version 4.6

System Overview

EMC Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
Hopkinton, MA 01748-9103
1-508-435-1000
www.EMC.com
Legal Notice
Copyright © 2003-2016 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS
OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY
DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. Adobe and Adobe PDF
Library are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks
used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Documentation Feedback
Your opinion matters. We want to hear from you regarding our product documentation. If you have feedback
about how we can make our documentation better or easier to use, please send us your feedback directly at
ECD.Documentation.Feedback@emc.com
 Table of Contents

Preface ................................................................................................................................ 5

Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 7

Where Does xPression Fit? ................................................................................ 7
Top Three Business Challenges xPression Addresses .......................................... 7

Chapter 2 xPression Infrastructure Overview .............................................................. 9

The Server Components .................................................................................... 9
Document Assembly..................................................................................... 9
Batch Processing ........................................................................................... 9
The Data Components ...................................................................................... 10
Customer Data ............................................................................................. 10
The xPression Database................................................................................. 10
The File Components ........................................................................................ 11
Business Document Templates (BDT) ............................................................. 11
Assembly List............................................................................................... 11
Output Profiles ............................................................................................. 11
Assembled Documents ................................................................................. 12
xPression Software Components ........................................................................ 12
The Distribution Controller ........................................................................... 12
Archiving................................................................................................. 13
The Security Controller ................................................................................. 13
Customer Data Reader .................................................................................. 13
Output Profile Controller .............................................................................. 13
Composition Engines .................................................................................... 14
Batch Runner ............................................................................................... 14
xFramework ................................................................................................ 14
xPression Web Services ............................................................................. 14
xPression DevKit ...................................................................................... 15
Fastpath to xResponse and xRevise ............................................................ 15
The Migrate Utility ....................................................................................... 15
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Integration ........................................... 16
xPression Documentum Edition .................................................................... 16
Documentum Integration in Enterprise Edition .............................................. 16
Documents Best-Suited for Documentum Integration.................................. 17
How Does xPression Use Documentum? .................................................... 17
FileNet Integration ....................................................................................... 18

Chapter 3 Application Components ............................................................................. 19

Transactional Applications ................................................................................ 19
xResponse .................................................................................................... 19
xRevise ........................................................................................................ 19
Administration Applications ............................................................................. 20
xAdmin ....................................................................................................... 20
xDashboard ................................................................................................. 20

3
Table of Contents

The xPression Document Design Applications .................................................... 20

xDesign ....................................................................................................... 20
xPresso for Adobe InDesign .......................................................................... 21
xPresso for Dreamweaver ............................................................................. 21
xPresso for Microsoft Word ........................................................................... 21
xPressForms ..................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 4 Server Configurations ................................................................................. 23

xPression Deployment Overview ....................................................................... 23
xDesign Deployment .................................................................................... 24
xPresso for Adobe InDesign and Dreamweaver Deployments ......................... 24
Server Deployment ....................................................................................... 24
xPression Database Deployment .................................................................... 25
Planning Your xPression Configuration.............................................................. 25
Suggested Server Configurations ....................................................................... 26
Moderate-Sized Batch Volumes ..................................................................... 26
Large Batch Volumes with Moderate Transactional Processing ........................ 27
Large Batch Volumes with Large Transactional Processing .............................. 27
xPression Database Recommendation ............................................................ 28
Output Document Storage ................................................................................ 28
Connectivity to Other Components .................................................................... 28
xPression Client Session State ........................................................................ 28
Server Affinity .............................................................................................. 29

4
 Preface

This guide provides an overview of the xPression system, and discusses the xPression applications,
components, publishing engines, and server infrastructure.

Intended Audience
The guide is intended for all xPression users who wish to gain a general understanding of the
xPression application suite.

Conventions
The following conventions are used in this document:

Font Type Meaning

boldface Graphical user interface elements associated with an action
italic Book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular
values
monospace Commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the
screen, or text that you enter

xPressionHome
The term “xPressionHome” refers to the location where xPression was installed on your server. On
Windows servers, the default location is C:\xPression.

Revision History
The following changes have been made to this document.

5
Preface

Revision Date Description

July 2016 Minor changes.
November 2015 Initial publication

6
 Chapter 1
Introduction

xPression is a suite of applications that provide universal content processing for your enterprise. The
system was designed with an open, component-based architecture based on standards like Java EE,
Web Services, JMS, MS .NET, and XML.
xPression’s multi-tiered Web architecture enables real-time, high volume delivery of your critical
business communications. xPression’s end-to-end capabilities enable you to design, test, approve,
produce, and rapidly deliver your documents through a variety of e-mail, archive, Web, and print
methods.

Where Does xPression Fit?

xPression’s service oriented architecture (SOA) was designed to integrate easily into enterprise
solutions, such as ECM, CRM, ERP and BPM. xPression provides dynamic content publishing
services for the generation of personalized, high quality documents within an enterprise solution.
What enables the ease of integration is xPression’s Java EE architecture, its extensive XML support,
and its comprehensive set of web services.

Top Three Business Challenges xPression

Addresses
1. Drive customer loyalty: increase customer retention with real-time, interactive customer
communications, allowing field agents to respond to customer requests immediately.
2. Technology consolidation: Replace the myriad of legacy document generation tools with a single,
standards-based and comprehensive solution that can integrate with your enterprise CRM, ECM,
ERP systems and cover all of your document generation needs.

7
Introduction

3. Time to market: speed up the design and implementation of your business communications
by using the best productivity tools like Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign and Dreamweaver,
combined with powerful rule-based logic and best-of-breed document generation engine.

8
 Chapter 2
xPression Infrastructure Overview

This chapter introduces you to the xPression administration system. We will review the xPression
architecture and design components from the perspective of a system administrator.
The xPression Server components interact to provide a seamless document design environment. This
section describes how each of the key components performs their functions within the document
design and production processes.

The Server Components

The xPression Server is at the core of the xPression suite. It consists of the components required for
assembling, formatting, and distributing personalized documents. These components are written in
Java and are hosted on your Java application server. The use of Java in both the xPression components
and the application server enables xPression to deliver a multi-platform compatible application that
runs on several different operating systems, including: Windows, UNIX, and Linux systems. For a
full list of supported operating systems and servers, see your installation documentation.
Two of the main server functions are document assembly and batch processing.

Document Assembly
Document assembly is accomplished by an Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) component that runs in a
container provided by the application server. Multiple instances of the xPression Assemble EJB can
be invoked to process simultaneous document assembly requests.
This component handles the creation, personalization, and customization of documents. It reads and
executes the instructions in a Business Document Template (BDT) that is created by xDesign. The
component then queries the xPression database and customer data sources, and creates an assembled
document based on the BDT’s instructions.

Batch Processing
xPression’s batch capabilities enable you to take full advantage of xPression’s production speed and
scalability to print and distribute high volume customer communications. xPression processes the

9
xPression Infrastructure Overview

instructions in an XML job definition (created in xDashboard) to determine which documents and
which customer records to process. It then assembles and publishes the document to complete the
batch job. It can be scheduled to run at specific times using the standard scheduling services of your
operating system or third party batch scheduling software package. xPression executes the directives
specified in a batch job definition, which are maintained from xAdmin.
When processing a batch job, xPression accepts optional command line arguments and communicates
primarily with three server components: the Customer Data Reader, xPression Assembly, and the
Output Profile Controller. Batch Job Definitions generated by xDashboard are stored in the xPression
database; manually composed Job Definitions are stored in a file passed to the batch process from the
command line.
For more information on how xPression Batch works, see the xPression Batch Processing Guide.

The Data Components

There are two xPression data components, the customer data xPression uses as input to your
personalized documents (customer data), and the resulting content and images stored by xPression
document design tools (xPression database).

Customer Data
Customer data is the information stored in a customer’s database that enables a document designer to
personalize documents. Customer data is provided to xPression in XML format or from a relational
database. xPression can read any XML structure using XSD (XML Schema Definition) to define the
schema and xPath to the data’s location within the XML tree. The Customer Data Reader component
reads and extracts the data from the customer data files.
Poorly designed data sources can inhibit xPression’s performance. Ensure that you use sound data
design practices when creating your customer data.
Note: Field length limitations for string-type fields are determined primarily by the database.
Current relational databases supported by xPression provide for up to 4,000 characters. XML
supports much greater field lengths than relational databases, up to 64k characters, but the specific
limit depends on usage.
It is possible to place up to 64k characters in an XML field for xDesign documents, OP field for
a generic index, and variables for xEditor, but fields with this much data will probably impair
performance so caution is recommended. Extremely long OP fields should be avoided in any case.

The xPression Database

The xPression database is a fully indexed relational database that holds content, images, document
templates, rules, and internal xPression data. In an unclustered environment, there is one xPression
database in each xPression installation. For a clustered environment, one xPression database is used
by all xPression Servers participating in the cluster. The xPression database holds different types of

10
 xPression Infrastructure Overview

information: xPression data objects, rules, text objects (documents), and binary objects (images). The
xPression database is hosted on a relational database.

The File Components

xPression uses a variety of files to define content inclusion, gather items for assembly, define the
specifics of the output, and store the assembled documents.
The File Components are:
• Business Document Templates (BDT), page 11
• Assembly List, page 11
• Output Profiles, page 11
• Assembled Documents, page 12

Business Document Templates (BDT)

The Business Document Template is an XML document produced by xDesign when you create a
document. It consists of a set of instructions that tells xPression what content to include in a document,
how the document should be formatted, and how to personalize each customer’s output. The BDT is
based on the business logic you defined while creating a document in xDesign. The BDT queries the
customer data and xPression database using statements, logical operations and arithmetic functions.
A BDT can also be thought of as a scripting language and is sometimes referred to as BDT syntax.

Assembly List
The Assembly engine is a stateful EJB that runs within a container provided by the Java application
server. It interfaces with other xPression components (xPression Batch, the Output Profile Controller,
the Customer Data Reader, and the xPression database) to gather the data necessary to personalize,
assemble, and format your documents.
The Assembly List is an XML file produced by the Assembly engine after reading and executing the
instructions found in a BDT for a given customer record. It contains all the instructions needed by
xPression to produce your personalized output.
An assembly list is always specific to one and only one input record of data. A BDT is a template
for producing many assembly lists, one for each record of data. xPression creates assembly lists by
applying one and only one record of input data to a BDT.

Output Profiles
Output profiles contain the instructions used to define how a document is formatted and distributed.
The output profile container associates output streams with distribution and format or output

11
xPression Infrastructure Overview

definitions. An output stream defines what is included within a stream and how that stream is
produced. A distribution definition provides device-specific information based on the intended
output (for example, an e-mail distribution definition contains information for the To, From, and
Subject fields). A format definition provides formatting-specific information such as font files and
designated output format selections (for example, AFP, PostScript, PDF, Metacode, or PCL).

Assembled Documents
An assembled document is output generated by the Assembly engine containing the personalized
content for the customer. It functions as intermediate code that is read and executed by xPression to
generate the final document for delivery to the customer.

xPression Software Components

In addition to the core components of the xPression architecture discussed in previous sections of this
chapter, a number of other software modules provide functionality in various areas of xPression.
This section briefly explains the software components that complete the xPression architecture:
• The Distribution Controller, page 12
• The Security Controller, page 13
• Customer Data Reader, page 13
• Output Profile Controller, page 13
• Composition Engines, page 14
• Batch Runner, page 14
• xFramework , page 14
• The Migrate Utility, page 15

The Distribution Controller

The distribution controller interfaces with the supported distribution channels in xPression, including
SMTP e-mail, print, and archive output formats. The distribution controller is a stateless session
EJB which operates asynchronously through a queuing mechanism to ensure reliable delivery of
output to channels that do not reliably support multi-threaded input. This controller determines the
appropriate distribution channel based on information received from the output profile controller.
Note: In a vertically clustered environment, only one Distribution service may run at any given time.

12
 xPression Infrastructure Overview

Archiving

The Distribution service uses a thread pool to process archive output concurrently. You can configure
the maximum and minimum thread number through the DistributionController.properties file
located in your xPressionHome directory (C:\xPression by default).
The DistributionController.properties file uses the following two properties to control the minimum
and maximum thread number.

Element
ArchiveMaximumPoolSize
ArchiveMinimumPoolSize
Description
The maximum number of threads in the thread pool. By default,
this value is set to 10.
The minimum number of threads in the thread pool. By default,
this value is set to 4.

The Security Controller

The security controller is a stateless EJB responsible for setting and controlling access rights
to xPression as well as interfacing with network security systems for authentication services.
Additionally, this controller uses EJB protection to ensure that only authorized components and users
can access the public interfaces of certain EJBs.

Customer Data Reader

The customer data reader is a multi-threaded Java component used by the Assembly engine, Batch
Runner, xDesign, xRevise, and xResponse to query and retrieve customer data. It is the single
interface for accessing the customer data stored in an RDB or XML document. It translates Java
objects into SQL code customized for the vendor’s adaptation of SQL, as opposed to executing raw
SQL statements directly against the database, allowing xPression to be database independent.
The customer data reader creates an in-memory database that stores the retrieved data facilitating
XML queries. This functionality also enables the document designer to develop a single document
that can be used with a variety of data sources depending on the business need.

Output Profile Controller

The output profile controller (OPC) is a Java component that reads and processes the information
located inside an Output Profile in order to determine how a document should be formatted,
composed, published, and distributed. The OPC is responsible for a variety of tasks, including but
not limited to the generation of output streams, bar codes, archive files, and indices.

13
xPression Infrastructure Overview

Composition Engines
xPression has two composition engines, CompuSet and xPublish. The composition engines create the
final layout and formatting of the assembled documents and produce the personalized documents
in the format specified by the OPC.
The composition engine consists of two primary components: an output processing engine and an
emitter for each supported output format. The xPression composition engines support different
features and different output formats.

Batch Runner
The Batch Runner is a Java component responsible for the unattended processing of large volumes of
documents. It can be started manually from the command line, from xDashboard, or scheduled to
start at a specified time through the operating system’s scheduling services.
Batch Runner can execute in either single-threaded or multi-threaded mode, depending on the server
configuration and composition engine. It manages the processing of multiple documents by invoking
one or more threads of the customer data reader and the Assembly engine to execute batch jobs in
parallel threads. It interfaces with the output profile controller and the distribution controller to
deliver the requested output to the desired channels.
Processing instructions are delivered to the xPression batch through an XML job definition. The job
definition can be generated either manually or through xDashboard.

xFramework
xFramework is the Application Programming Interface (API) for xPression. It enables you to build
a custom interface to xPression assembly and distribution related services. The xFramework
components are: fastpath, the Web services API, and the xPression DevKit.

xPression Web Services

The xFramework web services are a series of WS-I Basic Profile Version 1 compliant web services.
xPression uses two tiers of web services. The first tier is called QuickDoc, and it contains the simplest
and most common web service methods used for integrating with xPression. These web services
do not contain complex types and can be processed by any SOAP toolkit implementing WS-I Basic
Profile.
The second tier of web services is more complex and add considerable power to the assembly, editing,
and publishing of documents. It also enables you to return data about the documents you publish
and enables external systems to query, and in some cases, update information in xPression without
accessing the xPression database.
These WS-I compliant web services are new as of xPression 4.0. In prior releases, we used web
services based on AXIS 1.3. As of xPression 4.0, the AXIS 1.3 web services are considered deprecated.

14
 xPression Infrastructure Overview

They are still supported for users who have previously implemented them, but support is scheduled
to end with the next major xPression release. We recommend that users upgrade to the new WS-I
compliant web services.

xPression DevKit

xPression DevKit is an extension of the xFramework web services for solution specific capabilities.
These web services enable you to create custom correspondence applications using xPression
components. You can implement the components you need and skip those you do not need.
xPression DevKit also includes the xEditor, a standalone component that enables document editing
through Microsoft Word.
The vision for xPression DevKit is that it enables you to easily build your own applications with the
following capabilities:
• Allows users to easily find the best document template appropriate for the current customer
communication
• Displays any relevant information passed from the front end system
• Displays a preview of the correspondence document after template selection and data input
• Allows the user to edit the document and apply optional paragraphs
xPression DevKit integration enables you to enhance your own custom application with xPression
technology. This type of integration is superior to Fastpath integration, which requires you to
hand-off control from your application to a prebuilt xResponse or xRevise web application. xPression
DevKit requires you to build your own application with several points of integration with xPression
instead of a simple Fastpath hand-off.

Fastpath to xResponse and xRevise

Fastpath enables you to integrate your applications with a prebuilt xResponse or xRevise web
application. This type of simple integration is the exact opposite of the approach used in xPression
DevKit. It requires that you hand off control from your application to a prebuilt xPression
correspondence application.

The Migrate Utility

The Migrate Utility provides an easy method of transferring documents and their related objects from
one xPression server to another. This ability is useful in situations where one xPression server is
being used in a development environment and another is being used in a production environment.
With the Migrate utility you can retrieve documents created in development and import them into
production. Migrate also enables you to separate export and import into individual functions.
To alleviate the process of recreating your output profile and batch job settings on the server you
migrate to, xPression Migrate enables you to migrate these settings in the same fashion.

15
xPression Infrastructure Overview

The Migrate utility can be executed manually from xAdmin or scheduled to run at a specified date
and time using the operating system’s scheduling services. Input to a scheduled migration is an XML
Migrate Definition which can either be generated manually or through xAdmin.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Integration
xPression supports two ECM systems, Documentum and FileNet. Both systems require special
installation and configuration steps:
• xPression Documentum Edition, page 16
• Documentum Integration in Enterprise Edition, page 16
• FileNet Integration, page 18
To learn how to configure xPression for your ECM system, see the xPression Installation Guide.

xPression Documentum Edition

You can purchase xPression Documentum Edition, a separately licensed add-on to the Enterprise
Edition server that enables you to use a single, predefined Documentum Docbase as the xPression
repository. This repository is known as the Documentum xPression Repository. Documentum
Edition enables you to:
• Perform online checkin and checkout of xPresso templates from a Documentum repository.
• Store, manage, and version xPresso variable lists, document property lists, and document
templates in your Documentum xPression Repository.
• Access any stored version of your xPresso templates and XML from your Documentum xPression
Repository.
Documentum Edition can be acquired as a separate add-on to the standard Enterprise Edition server,
or as a separate installation that installs the server, but not the Enterprise Edition applications.

Documentum Integration in Enterprise Edition

Documentum is an enterprise content management system. It is a popular platform and repository
used to create, manage, deliver, and archive content. Documentum excels in managing the entire
content life-cycle processes from content creation, management, to content aging and eventual
obsolescence. EMC Document Sciences excels in the creation, automated assembly, and delivery
of highly personalized documents for high-volume batch and scalable online access. Together,
these two solutions provide a powerful “end-to-end” solution to the financial services industry for
automating and streamlining dynamic content creation, personalization, management, re-purposing,
and publishing.

16
 xPression Infrastructure Overview

Documents Best-Suited for Documentum Integration

Very complicated, compliant, highly customized and personalized documents, such as:
• Proposals and quotes
• Policies and contracts
• Explanation of Benefits (EOBs)
• Claims correspondences
• Member kits and marketing collateral
Documents that require multi-channel distribution, such as:
• Personalized print documents like policies and contracts in large volumes
• On-line self-service mechanisms for quotes and e-bills
• Archived copies of regulated documents
• Email, regular mail, or web portal correspondences
Also, Documentum integration supports the ability to re-use enterprise content fragments used in
these documents, such as:
• Images
• Logos
• Signatures
• Text content
• Marketing messages

How Does xPression Use Documentum?

With Documentum integration, you can:

• Archive your xPression-generated documents in a Documentum repository. For more information
about Documentum archiving, see the xAdmin User Guide for xPublish Distribution Definitions
• Pull images and PDFs from your Documentum docbase for use in your xPression documents.
This feature applies only to xPublish documents. You can import Documentum images into your
xPression document through two different methods. One method inserts an image reference in
the document, which enables xPression to retrieve the most recent version of the image from the
docbase each time the image is used. The other method enables you to import the Documentum
image into the xPression database, where it will be treated as an xPression image. For more
information about Documentum images, see the xDesign Style and Formatting Guide.
• Store xPresso data files on a Documentum repository. When connected to the xPression server
through online mode, you can apply data to your document template by selecting a data file stored
on the Documentum repository. For more information, see your xPresso client documentation.

17
xPression Infrastructure Overview

FileNet Integration
FileNet can be used to archive images and PDF documents that you can use as external content in your
documents. You can use multiple FileNet archives, and you can use FileNet along with Documentum.
xPression does not directly support online archiving with FileNet. xPression supports exporting
archive index files in the FileNet Capture, FileNet HPII, and Generic Index formats. FileNet provides
robust utilities that allow you to capture content from xPression using these archive outputs. Refer
to the xAdmin User Guide for more information on archive output formats, and to your FileNet
documentation for more information on the FileNet utilities.

18
 Chapter 3
Application Components

This chapter introduces you to the xPression applications. We will introduce each application
and also explain how these components work together to enable you to create and publish your
personalized documents.

Transactional Applications
xPression contains two transactional applications that enable you to produce documents for your
customers on-the-fly. The two transactional applications are xResponse and xRevise.

xResponse
xResponse is a web-based application that provides secure online transactional services for creating,
editing, and publishing personalized xPression documents from Web browsers.
xResponse enables you to respond quickly to customer inquiries with personalized, fully-compliant
communications. It easily integrates with your CRM system and enables you to assemble and
distribute approved documents. For more information, see the xResponse User Guide.

xRevise
xRevise is a browser-based application that enables swift production of custom documents through a
searchable library of customized text and attributes. It enables you to modify the text of standard
documents to reflect your negotiations with specific customers. It also provides secure access
to preview and edit the content of an assembled xPression document with xEditor, a Microsoft
Word-based editor that enables users to modify or build documents from approved content created
in xDesign. This editor adds Microsoft Word’s powerful editing and composition features to xRevise.
For more information, see the xRevise User Guide.

19
Application Components

Administration Applications
xPression administrative applications are browser-based applications that enable you to administer
all aspects of the xPression system.

xAdmin
xAdmin is the browser-based administration console that enables you to easily configure and
maintain all aspects of the xPression system from any Web-enabled client connected to your
network. As the system administrator, xAdmin will be the tool you use to administer your xPression
environment. xAdmin organizes administrative tasks into six sections located on the xAdmin menu.
xAdmin does not support concurrent users. While more than one user may log in to xAdmin, it is
not recommended because changes made by one user could overwrite the changes made by another
concurrent user.

xDashboard
xDashboard is a thin-client application that enables you to run and administer the batch capabilities
of xPression and manage the xPression Server. For more information, see the xDashboard User Guide.

The xPression Document Design Applications

The document design applications enable you to build your document structure and layout.

xDesign
xDesign is a Microsoft Word-based authoring tool for xPression. It enables you to design, create,
and test your document. You use xDesign to define business logic, or business rules, that include or
exclude portions of content based on the information contained in your customer data. xPression
stores the content, images, and other document information you create in a single xPression database.
With xDesign, you build your structure in the xDesign application and design your document in
Microsoft Word.
Through its interface with Microsoft Word, you’ll create and maintain the document structure,
content, page layout, and other items that affect the overall “look and feel” of your documents. For
more xDesign information, see the xDesign User Guide.

20
 Application Components

xPresso for Adobe InDesign

xPresso for Adobe InDesign uses your existing digital assets to help you quickly design, compose
and publish personalized communications for print or electronic channels. Because it is easy to use,
you can craft rich, effective marketing collateral and campaigns, without sacrificing other marketing
priorities.
With xPresso for Adobe InDesign you can transform your existing static documents into
highly-creative, dynamic customer communications right at your desktop. Our dynamic content
publishing solutions use variable data and assembly logic to generate templates for producing
personalized collateral, offers, catalogs, and other customer communications, ready for delivery. For
more information, see the xPresso for Adobe InDesign User Guide.

xPresso for Dreamweaver

xPresso for Dreamweaver is part of the xPression product suite, and is designed to help you create
graphical, customized, and personalized HTML Web pages or e-mail messages that contain a variety
of content. Content can range from correspondence that contains graphical marketing content and
brand images, to account alerts or statements that drive the recipient to a personalized Web site also
created in xPresso for Dreamweaver. For more information, see the xPresso for Dreamweaver User Guide.

xPresso for Microsoft Word

The widespread use of Microsoft Office provides every user with the ability to create client facing
documents, from letters to proposals to contracts. However, personalizing these documents and
customizing them for thousands or millions of recipients can be a challenge. xPresso for Word
enables you to use your variable data to create professional, highly customized and personalized
proposals, contracts, invoices and correspondence. Additionally, xPression can format and distribute
these documents for print, web, e-mail or archive, without needing to change the document template.
xPression’s intelligent rule-based logic automatically customizes each document for each recipient,
producing unparalleled 1:1 customer communications.
xPresso for Word adds variability to new or existing Word documents. It also makes it easy to define
assembly logic that controls content and style variability at any level of granularity. When finalized,
xPresso templates are packaged for publishing on the xPression Server.
Key benefits include:
• Supports a breadth of native, flow-based composition features created using the Word interface,
such as, tables, columns, numbered lists, bulleted lists, TOC’s, page numbering and more.
• Leverage the power of XML to enable inter-operability with a wide range of systems.
• Subdocuments to enable you to include one document within another.
• SEQ field support for complex numbered lists.
• Column balancing
• Fillable PDFs that enable check boxes, text boxes, and combo boxes.

21
Application Components

• Enhanced tab settings, widow and orphan control.

• Scaling of external images.
• Streamlined licensing process.
For more information, see the xPresso for Word User Guide.

xPressForms
xPressForms is a Web-based administration interface used for the creation, management, and
composition of forms. xPressForms supports prebuilt forms from the most popular bureaus: NCCI
and ISO. It enables the authoring or customizing of forms of all types, using a standardized, flexible
XML schema. xPressForms can be easily integrated with a variety of administration systems. Along
with the xPressForms interface, you get a well-defined process for initial and maintenance deliveries,
including monthly delivery of all new and updated forms.

22
 Chapter 4
Server Configurations

This chapter introduces server configurations and includes some configuration recommendations
that are based on your processing requirements.

xPression Deployment Overview

The following diagram shows xPression deployed in a typical configuration.
This diagram shows xPression running with three separate environments, Production, User
Acceptance Test (UAT), and a Test environment.

The UAT environment is optional, but recommended. You may host the UAT and Test content
repositories on a test database server. The diagram above shows the UAT and Test content
repositories on a single database server for simplicity. Each environment requires their own xPression
database hosted on the xPression database server.
In a standard tiered development model, all documents are developed first in test, then migrated to
UAT with xPression Migrate. When testing is completed in UAT, use xPression Migrate to move the
application to production.

23
Server Configurations

EMC Document Sciences recommends that you have at least two production servers horizontally
clustered to support fail-over and fault tolerance on commodity hardware.
Clients will vary based upon each deployment. The clients shown above are just examples.

xDesign Deployment
xDesign runs as a thick client executable on document designer workstations. It is used heavily in
the development environment, lightly in the testing environment, and not typically used at all in
the production environment.
Most of the functionality of xDesign is performed on the server side, for example document assembly,
xPression database access, and search. xDesign communicates with the server either through HTTP
using servlets (recommended) or through RMI over TCP/IP. RMI communication does not go
through proxies and firewalls and thus is less universally available. RMI mode also requires a small
WebSphere or WebLogic client application to run Java on the client machine.
If configured for HTTP/Servlet mode communications, xPression only needs to load a DLL that
contains the xFramework COM API. See Connectivity to Other Components, page 28.
In the development and UAT environments, the xDesign client application requires frequent,
high-bandwidth, and (most importantly) low latency network access to the xPression server. Network
connectivity between the xDesign desktops and the server must be fast and reliable.
If there are proxy servers inserted in the connection between client applications and the server, you
should test your connection because the software may need to be configured to handle the specific
proxy.
It is important to take into account performance when designing document templates in order to
avoid excessive access to the xPression database or data manipulation, for example multi-Joins.

xPresso for Adobe InDesign and Dreamweaver

Deployments
The xPresso for Adobe InDesign and xPresso for Dreamweaver applications are plug-ins for the
InDesign and Dreamweaver software. The plug-ins enable you to create dynamic documents driven
by variable data. For deployment instructions, see the xPresso client installation guides.

Server Deployment
The xPression server runs within a Java EE application server (see operating requirements for full list
of supported application servers). The server components run within the application server process
on the application server machine.
The batchrunner application also runs as a separate Java process on the application server machine.
xPression uses one Java server for each batchrunner instantiation. The Java process communicates

24
 Server Configurations

with the application server Java process to execute batch jobs. Depending on the nature of the batch
job, the batch runner may also execute the composition engine directly.

xPression Database Deployment

The xPression database stores all internal content (text, images, and metadata). External images and
PDF attachments remain outside the xPression database. Each xPression environment requires a
separate xPression database. However, the xPression database for the development and the UAT
can be deployed on the same database server. The production xPression database must be deployed
on a separate machine to avoid any performance problems or inadvertent corruption during testing
or development.
xPression database is impacted by indexing and so the customer must ensure that proper indexing
is performed based on the installation guidelines that will be provided. In addition, indexing of
customer data may be needed to improve performance if the customer data comes from a relational
database system.

Planning Your xPression Configuration

The xPression installation program installs all the server components. Before you install the server,
you should determine how to best deploy your xPression software. The main decisions you need
to make are the following.
Will you run batch processing and online transactional processing on the same set of computers?
You can use this approach unless you want the server to process very high volume batch jobs at the
same time as handling a large number of concurrent online/transactional users. xPression Batch can
consume many processor threads for each batch job and can quickly consume the CPU resources
of your system. Running xPression Batch at the same time as online/transactional requests can
significantly delay the response time of those requests if you do not have sufficient CPUs available
on your server.
Will you run the application server with all the xPression Server components on the same
computers as the xPression database?
We recommend that you separate the installations of the application server and the xPression
database.
Typically, you should run your xPression database on a single large machine (perhaps with another
fail-over redundant machine) and optimize that machine for processing as many connections to
the database as possible. The application server should run on a single large machine or a farm of
medium-size machines in a cluster to take advantage of fail-over and load balancing facilities offered
by the application server.
If the application server and xPression database reside on different sets of machines or networks, we
recommend that these machines or networks be connected with a high-speed connectivity of at least
1GBps with a maximum latency of 1ms. A slow or over-utilized network connection between the
xPression Server and the xPression database may impact performance significantly.

25
Server Configurations

Suggested Server Configurations

The issues discussed in Planning Your xPression Configuration, page 25 have a large effect on your
xPression server hardware choices.
The amount of memory available to the xPression Server greatly impacts the performance of that
server. Ensure that your xPression Server machine has ample memory and that other memory
intensive applications are not run on the same server.
You must also ensure that the server contains sufficient disk space to support output management.
Document formats like Postscript tend to produce large files which can eventually deplete your
server disk space. Ensure that you set up a process for deleting these documents after they have been
distributed through print, archive, or e-mail.

Moderate-Sized Batch Volumes

If your volume needs are moderate (processing less than 50,000 pages an hour) and processing your
batch jobs typically does not coincide with running your online processing (for example, running
batch jobs at night or on weekends, and handling online requests during the business day), you can
install all components of xPression Server on a single medium-large size machine and the xPression
database on another medium-large size machine.
We recommend the following configuration for Microsoft Windows and Linux systems:
• One Windows Server 64-bit Enterprise Edition or Linux Server 64-bit running 1 or 2 Quad Core or
better CPUs (using the highest CPU processing speed available) with at least 8 GB or more of RAM
to run xPression Server with your choice of supported Java application server. This hardware
should be completely dedicated to xPression, no other applications should be run on this server.
If the hardware is virtualized using a technology like VMWare, then you should dedicate
these resources to the xPression Server VM such that other VMs on that hardware and the VM
hypervisor cannot utilize those CPU and memory resources. “Overcommiting” CPU or memory
resources (a VMWare term used to describe when physical resources are potentially shared by
other VMs or used by the VMWare hypervisor itself) may cause significant performance issues (10
to 100 times slower than dedicated physical hardware) and must be avoided for best results.
• A second Windows Server running 1 Quad Core or better CPU with at least 8 GB of RAM to run
the xPression database with your choice of supported relational database server.
For Solaris server or IBM AIX:
• One 64-bit server with 4-8 CPU cores running the highest CPU speed available with at least 8 GB
of RAM for xPression Server. This hardware should be completely dedicated to xPression, no
other applications should be run on this server. If the hardware is virtualized using a technology
like Solaris containers (not Solaris Zones, we do not support Solaris Zones) or AIX virtual LPARs,
then you must dedicate these resources to the xPression Server VM such that no other VMs on
that hardware can utilize those CPU and memory resources.
• One server with 2-4 CPU cores and at least 8 GB of RAM to run the xPression database with your
choice of supported relational database server.

26
 Server Configurations

Large Batch Volumes with Moderate Transactional

Processing
If your batch volume needs are large (processing more than 50,000 pages an hour) and batch job
processing does not coincide with running your online processing (for example, running batch jobs
at night or on weekends, and handling online requests during the business day), you can install all
components of xPression Server on a single large size machine (or 2 medium sized machines) and the
xPression database on another large machine. Executing any other application software but xPression
Server on the application server is not recommended.
We recommend the following for Microsoft Windows or Linux systems:
• Two physical servers running Windows Server 64-bit Enterprise Edition or Linux Server 64-bit, 2
Quad Core or better CPUs (using the highest CPU processing speed available), and at least 16 GB
of RAM, to run xPression Server with your choice of supported Java application server.
• One Windows or Linux Server with 4-8 CPU cores and at least 8 GB of RAM to run the xPression
database with your choice of relational database server.
For Solaris server or IBM AIX:
• One or two servers with a sum total of 16 CPU cores and at least 16 GB of RAM per server, to run
xPression Server with your choice of supported Java application server.
• One server with 4-8 CPU cores and at least 8 GB of RAM to run the xPression database with your
choice of supported relational database server.

Large Batch Volumes with Large Transactional

Processing
If both your batch and transactional volume needs are large and processing your batch jobs typically
coincides with running your online processing, you should separate your batch installation from your
online installation. The two installations can be similar. Executing any other application software but
xPression Server on the application server is not recommended. We recommend the following for
Microsoft Windows or Linux systems:
• Two or more physical servers running Windows Server 64-bit Enterprise Edition or Linux Server
64-bit, 2 Quad Core or better CPUs (using the highest CPU processing speed available), and at
least 16 GB of RAM, to run xPression Server with your choice of supported Java application server.
• One Windows or Linux Server with 8 or more CPU cores and at least 16 GB of RAM to run the
xPression database with your choice of relational database server.
For Solaris server or IBM AIX:
• One or more servers with at least 24 CPU cores available and at least 16 GB of RAM per server, to
run xPression Server with your choice of supported Java application server.
• One server with at least 8 CPU cores and at least 16 GB of RAM to run the xPression database with
your choice of supported relational database server.

27
Server Configurations

xPression Database Recommendation

In a typical xPression environment, the xPression database should be configured according to the
following guidelines.
• 8 GB of available RAM
• 4 CPUs running at 2.4 GHz or higher
• 20 GB of hard drive space for the database instance

Output Document Storage

EMC Document Sciences recommends using Storage Area Network (SAN) devices for output
document storage because of their high performance nature and they help eliminate a potential
bottleneck in the system. You are not required to use SAN devices for this task. High performance
enterprise class Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices should also work well providing that the
xPression servers have dedicated Gigabit Ethernet network cards for file server access. We do not
recommend sharing network bandwidth with storage and other network traffic or using Windows
file sharing.

Connectivity to Other Components

We provide two mechanisms for xPression’s web-based and fat client applications to communicate
with the xPression Server: HTTP through servlets and Remote Method Invocation (RMI).
The servlet method is more portable and universally applicable, but tends to be slower. The RMI
method can only operate if no firewall exists between the client and the server. RMI tends to be faster
than the servlet method, but requires installation of the WebSphere or WebLogic client software
on the client machine.
xDesign connects to xPression Server components and xPression database components through a
COM to EJB bridge.
We recommend that all xPression Server and xPression database components run within the same
local area network (LAN) with no firewalls between them.

xPression Client Session State

This section applies to customers deploying xPression to more than one xPression application server
connected to the same xPression database. xPression maintains a session state for most xPression
Server clients. Should you decide to load balance xPression Server clients (like xDesign, xResponse,
xRevise) you must use a mechanism which preserves session state across multiple calls between the
client and server. Typically this is done for you by your application server, web server, and/or load
balancer of choice and through the use of HTTP cookies. Whatever infrastructure you choose to

28
 Server Configurations

run, it must support the Java EE standard for HTTP session state, the standard xPression supports
for client session state.

Server Affinity
xPression requires server affinity for session state as described above. Session requests from the
various xPression client applications must be directed to the same application server JVM instance.
xPression uses several stateful session beans to improve performance. xPression Web-based and thick
clients (for example, xDesign) call these stateful session beans.
These stateful session beans maintain various pieces of information in memory in order to speed up
processing. This requires the client sessions to use the same stateful bean instance and the connection
to the same server.

29