Configure the N4 XD server(s)

The N4 XD server is an XPS client that handles vessel discharge decking requests. rail moves, and messaging for select gate operations from N4. For large terminal operations that want to free up XPS processing bandwidth, you can configure one or more N4 XD servers to make a Scaled N4 XD service to handle decking requests for vessel discharges.

Configuring just one N4 XD server removes the load from XPS for decking vessel discharges but will put the load back on to XPS should the N4 XD server go offline. Add a second or 3rd N4 XD server to create a scaled N4 XD service with greater reliability than a single XD instance.

Prerequisites

Expert Decking, N4 Mobile, ECN4 licenses

A Scaled N4 XD service does not replace the ECN4 XD server, which is still available to handle decking requests from ECN4 and should continue to be deployed in addition to the N4 XD servers(s).

Before you begin

Decide how many N4 XD servers you require. For more information, see How many N4 XD servers do I deploy? (on page 1).
Determine which XPS client(s) will become N4 XD server(s). These XPS clients must:

Be on a dedicated host or VM.
Not have any other roles, such as crane scheduler, dispatcher, or ECN4 XD server roles.
Have minimal privileges configured.

To configure one or more N4 XD servers, in XPS, do the following:

From the File menu, select Groups New, and create a Dispatch group for the N4 XD server.

You are free to name a group anything you like. Navis advises that you name it to be descriptive for the function.

From the Groups window, set privileges for the Dispatch group:

With the Dispatch group selected, choose Actions Privileges. The Privileges window appears.

When you first create a new group, it is assigned the privileges of the Default group.

In the Privileges window, click the Pencil icon to enter edit mode and set privileges for the group.

For the XDSRVC privilege, click the cell for the Value column to toggle the value to ON.

The XDSRVC (on page 1) privilege enables the workstation that functions as the N4 XD server.

Minimal privileges should be configured.

The DKRSVR (on page 1) privilege and XDSRVC (on page 1) privilege should always be enabled for separate groups.

Make sure the EC parameter DECKHIS is set to Y. This ensures that decking history is recorded in the Decking History view in N4
(Conditional) The default listening port for the N4 XD server is 13950. If you need to change this, specify the new port number for the EC parameter XDSPRT.

For instructions on how to set EC Parameters, see the Navis N4: Equipment Control Administrator and User Guide.

From the File menu, select Users.
In the Users dialog box, create a new user for the N4 XD server.
Add the N4 XD server user as a member to the Dispatch group you created for the N4 XD server.

You need to assign at least one user to the group. For instructions on how to assign users to a group, see Modify an existing user (on page 1).

On each XPS client to be configured as N4 XD server, do the following:

Launch the XPS client, and log in as a user in the "N4 XD server" group (or whatever name you chose to call it).

In the XPS client’s Privileges for Group view, you can see if an XPS client has the XDSRVC role making it a dedicated N4 XD server.

In N4, do the following:

In the Administration Settings Settings Settings view:

Set ARGOBENTO002 to XPS_SERVER_WITH_XD at the Global level.

You can use the N4 ARGOBENTO002 setting to turn a Scaled N4 XD service on or off when needed. If switched off (value is XPS_SERVER), then XPS handles the vessel discharge decking requests just as it does now.

The ARGOXPS006 setting determines how long N4 must wait for a response from the XPS server for Bento requests in general, which includes an N4 XD server response for vessel discharge decking request.

Once configured, the dedicated N4 XD servers appear in the N4 Cluster Services view as a service called XDService.

Notes:

If the N4 XD server is configured but not available for any reason, N4 sends the vessel discharge requests to XPS.
If you use an N4 XD server and also have an ECN4 XD server, N4 only sends the Bento vessel discharge requests to the N4 XD server or XPS (if the N4 XD server is not available). N4 does not send messages to the ECN4 XD server.
If you configure and deploy multiple N4 XD servers, the load balancing in N4 uses existing XPS functionality in a failover scenario when there are no active N4 XD servers available.