Client-to-Server Connections

This is one of the network requirements for a successful STEP setup. The full list is defined in the Network Requirements topic here.

The following table summarizes the network requirements between the STEP client and the STEP servers per concurrent user (see the Concurrent User section below):

Application

Bandwidth

Recommended Max. Latency

Protocol

Port

Encryption Option

STEP Workbench

20 MBit/s (1)

25 ms

HTTP

80

HTTPS (Port 443)

STEP Web UI

20 MBit/s (1)

25 ms

HTTP

80

HTTPS (Port 443)

STEP Publisher (STEP’n’design) Client

10 MBit/s (2)

25 ms

HTTP

80

HTTPS (Port 443)

Stibo Systems Support Client

20 MBit/s

25 ms

HTTP RDP SSH VNC

SQL

80 3389 22 5900-5909 1521

HTTPS (Port 443)

Surveillance Agent

~30 MBit/s (3)

25 ms

TCP/IP

5666

SSH (Port 22)

(1) May be higher for clients that are uploading images. Any increase of the bandwidth requirement depends on the number and size of the images to be uploaded. The overall upload frequency with which images are uploaded contributes to the requirement as well.

(2) Data is transmitted only when page data is downloaded and saved back. Image data will be downloaded from a local image repository (a 1GBit LAN connection is recommended).

(3) The surveillance agent will be running with only one instance per server and the required bandwidth depends on the individual surveillance agent software. Stibo Systems uses Nagios for server surveillance. For information, see http://www.nagios.org.

Concurrent User

With the knowledge of how the client to server connection works, Stibo Systems defines the term 'concurrent user' as a user that is actively working in STEP by uploading and/or requesting data. This term is important when scaling or predicting network bandwidth for the network infrastructure. Only concurrent users contribute to the overall network load.

For example, the following behaviors constitute a concurrent user:

STEP Workbench and Web UI

The STEP client only opens a connection to the STEP server when the user performs actions on the client. This can be by clicking buttons, browsing the product hierarchy, uploading data, etc. Clients that are only logged on to STEP, but otherwise are idle, do not transmit or receive any data (so there is no network usage).

A typical workbench user is conducting data maintenance tasks, enriching data, and performing import and exports based on the STEP import and export managers, as well as uploading and downloading images.

A typical Web UI user is conducting data maintenance tasks and enriching data as well as uploading and downloading images.

STEP Publisher (STEP’n’design) Client (DTP) Client

This user manually builds pages in Adobe® InDesign® and through the use of STEP Flatplanner. STEP Publisher (also known as STEP’n’design) is the STEP integration with Adobe® InDesign® and allows users to mount database information to an Adobe® InDesign® page.

The DTP client only exchanges data with the STEP system when:

Important: Image data loaded from a local image repository vastly improves performance for remote users and reduces network usage.

Stibo Systems Support Client

Stibo Systems must be able to access the STEP server(s) hosted by the customer in order to provide support. When publishing is included in the solution, the customer must provide an InDesign client license that is available to the Stibo Systems support / consulting teams.

Surveillance Agent

A surveillance agent will only be installed on customer servers when a DBA agreement is signed between the customer and Stibo Systems.