Production Integrations: Cloud RIP

Production Integrations: Cloud RIP

Cloud RIP Integration Help

Introduction
A diagram of how the CloudRIP process works is availble here and should be reviewed for background before setting up - https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1vNp73oGYRgwWfXCSNmOuNQ6vgnJdqZdZjVhsBixh6ms/preview
Setting up CloudRIP requires Paid Services involvement from Kornit X.
Setup of CloudRIP is split into 3 distinct parts
  1. Platform and Jobs
  2. Setting up SFTP, S3, and Key Pairs
  3. CloudRIP
  4. Local Spooler

Platform and Jobs
All items sent to CloudRIP must be on artwork generating jobs in Platform - More details on how to set up batches can be found here https://support.custom-gateway.com/portal/en/kb/articles/guide-to-batch-template-setting-in-oms-v2
When you enable artwork batching a tab will show called “CloudRIP”  which is where the settings can be applied.

1. Enable Auto Cloud RIP - if ticked allows new batches created to be automatically pushed to the CloudRIP server for processing without the need to manually push.
2. Printer - should be the make and model of the printer being used for production
3. Print Mode - Is specific to Printers and is a choice of mode the printer will use.
4. Use Manual Entry for Print Mode - allows you to override (3) and manually enter a new print mode name, this must however be a valid print mode in the CloudRIP.
5. Output Option - is a choice between Media and Template, this depends on how the CloudRIP will process the print media.
6. Template Name - only shows when “Template” is chosen in (5) and should match the name of a valid template name on the printer in the CloudRIP
7. Template Slot Number - only shows when “Template” is chosen in (5) and should be used to identify which slot on the CloudRIP template to drop the job into
8. Media Name - only shows with “Media” is chosen in (5) and should match the name of a valid media choice on the printer in the CloudRIP.
​
When the above has been done and you have a batch ready to produce you can tick the batch in the PRODUCTION>JOBS screen in the Kornit X platform and under bulk actions select “Send to CloudRIP”. If this is the first time using this it will automatically set up some folders on the Amazon S3 servers. The folders are created in the following format

Production Centre Company Ref ID > Batch Template ID
> Batch Template ID
> Batch Template ID

Files required by CloudRIP are dropped into the folder named by the Batch Template ID they came from.

Setting up SFTP, S3 and Key Pairs
The first part of the process here is managed by Kornit X and internal documentation can be found under the article called “Gateway RIP - SFTP Users”

Once you have your SFTP user above you have have the following information available

HOST (which is sftp.custom-gateway.net)
USERNAME (which should be the fulfillment company ID)
PRIVATE KEY FILE (ppk file extension generated in the steps mentioned in the article above)

Once you have these the details you can proceed to set up CloudRIP

Setting up CloudRIP
At the time of writing the CloudRIP can only be set up by Paid Services and the below notes are intended for them.
Connection to the server is done via Windows Remote Desktop as it runs a windows server. Credentials for this can be obtained from the Head of Professional Services.

On the Server the program running CloudRIP is called Digital Factory Server v10 2020
Be careful if this is not already running as there could be multiple copies installed so ensure the right one is used
First job is to find or create a GROUP. We want to group queues in the RIP by client so if this queue to be added is the first one for this client we need to add a new one and if its an additional queue we need to add them to an existing group. This is done via QUEUE > MANAGE QUEUES. In this menu you will see a table of queues which are running, the 5th column being group. This has a dropdown where a group can be selected or a button next to the droppdown to create a new group.

Once you have your group you need to create the new queue and allocate a the group to it. This is triggered by clicking on the green plus icon in the MANAGE QUEUES window.

  • On the “Connect your device” screen click Next
  • On the “Printer Defaults” screen select the exact printer make and model from the dropdown or click “Install Printer” to add a new one not in the list and follow the install instructions adding the drivers from the cloud when that option shows.
  • Under PORT select “Cloud Spooler” and click the button next to it to select a file. Here you should navigate to the Z drive which is a mounted version of the S3 bucket in use. Navigate to the specific folder made for ths batch template which should be in {fulfiller company ref}>{batch template id} and in the folder create a new folder called “{batch template id}_output” and select and add this folder - This is where files will be put when they are processed by the RIP Queue.
  • Under PRINT MODE select the print mode we should be using which should match the one on the batch template settings in Catalog. When done complete the process.
  • The queue will be added to the table and you can allocate a group to it.
  • Next to the printer name in the first column click the button to open the queue properties.
  • Navigate to HOT FOLDERS in the left menu and tick “Enable hot folder”. We need to then create a local file we will move files to the be processed into the RIP. locate the :C\Temp file and in here create a folder named “{batch template id}_hotfolder” and click okay to confirm this as the hotfolder. We will finish this setup with Automatic Job Sorter later
  • Assuming basic setup and only going into fixed sheet media at the time (ask the Head of Professional Services for assistance on templates) on the MEDIA SETUP tab select your fixed sheet media size from the list or add a new media size using the tools. When done close the Queue Properties window.
  • To finish the hotfolder setup we need to connect S3 to the local folder set up. Under TOOLS in the top menu select “Display Automatic Job Sorter”.
  • On the window that pops up next to where is says “RULES” in blue click the plus icon to add a new rule.
    • Under FOLDER find the S3 folder for the batch template on the :Z drive
    • Next to “IF” select “ALL FILES”
    • Next to “THEN” select “MOVE FILE” and TO the holtfolder you made in :C\Temp

In its most basic use the CloudRIP element is now set up and when the Kornit X Platform passes files into the S3 they will be processed by the RIP and put in the folder you set up on the CLOUD SPOOLER setting.


Setting up the Local Spooler
The spooler element needs to be installed on the clients machine that will be running production.

The Spooler install files are located here - 

And the license files which should be downloaded and added into the install file above is here

Make sure to add the cloud spooler license to the folder.

When the license is in the unzipped installation folder then you can double click Setup.exe and install the Spooler following the install instructions.

Through the install process you will have to add a printer making sure you match the same one that was selected in CloudRIP.

When installed and open navigate to TOOLS>DISPLAY AUTOMATIC JOB SORTER and we need to set up to pull the output files down to a local folder.
  • Add a new rule as before
  • Under folder you need to add the full sftp path to the output folder on s3 which will be something like
  • “sftp://sftp.custom-gateway.net/cadlink-cloudrip/fulfillercompany/batchtemplateid_output”
  • When added click the icon next to this that looks like a person
  • In here add the SFTP username set up and also under private key
  • Add the file path to the PPK file which should be stored on the users local machine
  • (ideally in the cloud spooler program files so it does not get deleted by accident)
  • Click Done and to check this is working
  • You can use the the LOGS button and the AJS runs every few mins and should show a connection.
  • The rule should then move ALL FILES to a local hotfolder you can create wherever is suitable.
  • When done confirm in the window which will close it.

Now that AJS is working and pulling down any files we need to tell the spooler to pick them up. Similar to how we did the CloudRIP part we need to add the local hotfolder under QUEUE PROPERTIES and save this.

There are a large number of other advanced functions and ways CloudRIP can be used but the above is the basics to set up end to end from the Kornit X Platform all the way to a basic print.

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