Installing Render Satellites

Updated on Sep 01, 2025

In this article, you will learn

What the term Satellite means,
How to install Render Satellites, and
How to manage Render Satellites in the application.

1. Introduction

ZuniComm, which is a service for controlling the required SDKs in the application, is available as an external service under the name Render Satellites. Render Satellites allow ripping (rendering) and rastering to be distributed as a separate entity across available computer resources. A Render Satellite thus represents a dedicated installation of the ZuniComm application on a single computer system. The installation of Render Satellites must be performed separately on each respective computer system.

2. Preparing the Main Application

Before a Render Satellite can be installed and created or used in the main application, the FileManagement directory in Windows must be shared. This directory is located on the server workstation under c:\pms_data or d:\pms_data. Follow the steps below to configure the sharing. Two versions are available.

2.1. Version 1 – Quick Setup

This is the quick setup option.

Open PPD Tools Collection.
Navigate to the menu Applications > Local Workflow – for more information about this menu, refer to the article Applications Functioning.
Click on Prepare Workflow for Render Satellites.
In this dialog, two tabs are available – Create [6] and Remove [7].
- In the tab Create [6], the following functions are available:
  - Create Windows User [1] – the specified Windows user [3] will be created with the given password [4] and added to application.properties. If the checkbox is deactivated, the user data and password will still be entered to application.properties, but the user will not be newly created. This allows an existing user to be used.
  - Enable ZuniComm MajorVersion Check [2] – this parameter checks whether the PMS version matches the ZuniComm version. This check box should always be enabled.
Finally, in the tab Create [6], click Prepare and write PMS Configuration [5].

Tab "Remove"

The following functions are enabled by default in the tab Remove:

Delete Windows User "RSUser" [10] – the specified user is deleted during the cleanup process.
Reset RS Settings and cleanup [11] – the application.properties file is updated, the "filemanagement" share is removed, and the Windows user is deleted if required. Afterwards, PMS is restarted.

Figure 1: Left: The dialog Prepare Workflow for Render Satellites with the tab Create; Right: The dialog Prepare Workflow for Render Satellites with the tab Remove

Password – Additional Functions

The following functions are available for the password:

Button "G" [9] – Generates a new password.

Button "V" [8] – Displays the password in plain text.

Availability of version 1

Version 1 is available when using a PPD Tools Collection, which has been updated to version 1.20.2.4.

2.2. Version 2 – For Windows Users

This is the option that only needs to be configured at the operating system level.

Stop the PMS service.
Open Windows Explorer on the server.
Navigate to the FileManagement directory located at c:\pms_data or d:\pms_data.
Open the Properties settings by right-clicking on the FileManagement directory.
Select the tab Sharing [12].
Click the option Advanced Sharing... [13] to open the dialog with the same name.
In the dialog Advanced Sharing, enable the option Share this folder [14]. The Share name [15] should be set to FileManagement.
Click Permissions [16] for FileManagement to open the dialog Permissions for FileManagement.
In the dialog Permissions for FileManagement, under Group or user names [17], select the users or groups, who should have access to the folder.
In Permissions for [Name of selected user] [18], enable the permission Read [19] – write permissions are not required and should not be granted.
Confirm the settings by pressing OK.

Figure 2: The different dialogs in Windows used to share the FileManagement directory

After the FileManagement directory has been shared on the server workstation, the share must also be registered in the Application Properties of the main application. Proceed as follows:

Open the application.properties file located under c:\program files\ppd\pms.
Enter the following information in the file:
- ppd.commons.filemanagement.share=FileManagement
- ppd.commons.filemanagement.share.username= <SMB username of the server workstation>
- ppd.commons.filemanagement.share.password= <SMB password of the server workstation>
Save the file.
Restart the PMS service.

3. Installing Render Satellites

After the workstation has been prepared for the operation of Render Satellites, the Render Satellite can be installed on a separate hardware system. Note that no other main application or Render Satellite may be installed on this hardware – two instances of ZuniComms cannot be installed on the same computer. To install a Render Satellite, proceed as follows:

Download the installer for the Render Satellite. For more information, please contact your sales partner.
Start the installation by double-clicking the installer RS_X.XX.X(YYYY)-Setup_signed.exe. The installer name already provides the following information:
- X.XX.X – e.g., 1.20.2 – indicates the version number of the Render Satellite.
- YYYY – e.g., (1142) – indicates the build version. This number uniquely identifies the installed version.
Run the setup by clicking Install [20].
To configure the Render Satellite:
- Select the correct drive under FileManagement Drive [21] where the FileManagement directory is located.
- Enter the IP Address [22] of the main application server.
- Click Next.
Confirm the setup dialog by clicking on Yes [23] to continue.
Complete the installation by clicking Finish.

Figure 3: The four dialogs of the Render Satellite Installer

Pay Attention to the Installer Version

When installing, pay attention to the version number of the Render Satellite. The version number of the installer should match the first two digits of the main application's version number – e.g., 1.20.x. Changes in the main application related to the Render Satellites may cause problems if an older version of the Render Satellite is used.

4. Configuring Render Satellites in the Application

After the server workstation has been successfully configured and the Render Satellite installed, it can be configured and subsequently used within the application. Proceed as follows:

Navigate to the menu Administration > Interfaces.
Select the ZuniComm settings area. When a Render Satellite is installed on an external workstation, it is automatically registered in the application and displayed in the list of Render Satellites within the ZuniComm settings area.

Figure 3: The Zunicomm settings area of the menu Administration > Interfaces

Select the newly created Render Satellite in the list and click Edit [24]. In the dialog Edit ZuniComm Instance, you can configure the following settings:
- Name [25] – enter a name for the Render Satellite. Make sure the name is unique, especially if multiple Render Satellites are installed, so that you can quickly identify the correct Satellite in case of intervention.
- Active [26] – enable this option if the selected Satellite should be put into operation. If this option is disabled, the corresponding Render Satellite is grayed out and its service is stopped.
- HHR Instances [27] – define how many HHR instances, licensed in the application, should be assigned to the Render Satellite. The number of remaining HHR instances is displayed below.
- Assigned Printers [28] – select the printers in the application that should be operated with this Render Satellite.