1. Modify Job Monitoring
Scenario/Problem: You need to modify the job monitoring timeout value.
Solution: Use the ConversionTimeout parameters with the Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication cmdlet.
The job-monitoring configuration setting is modified using the ConversionTimeOut
parameter. This value is the number of minutes a conversion should be
in progress before the timer job restarts the conversion. The default
is 5 minutes. The valid range of values is 1 to 60 minutes. Listing 1 shows a sample modification of the job monitoring setting.
Listing 1. Changing the Job Monitoring Timeout Setting
Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication
-Identity "Word Automation Services"
-ConversionTimeout 10
This is different from the actual
configurations that determine how long a conversion can be
nonresponsive or how long a conversion should run. You can modify those
values using the parameters explained in the next section.
2. Modify Conversion Timeouts
Scenario/Problem: You need to modify conversion timeout values either for running or nonresponsive conversions.
Solution: Use the KeepAliveTimeout or MaximumConversionTime parameters with the Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication cmdlet.
To confuse matters, the ConversionTimeout parameter explained in the previous section deals with job monitoring, not the timeouts of conversion processing. Use the KeepAliveTimeout
parameter to determine how many seconds a process can be nonresponsive
before it is terminated. The valid values for this setting are 10 to 60
seconds, and the default is 30 seconds.
Use the MaximumConversionTime
parameter to determine how long a conversion should continue running.
The default is 300 seconds, whereas the range starts at 60 seconds and
can go up to the maximum allowed integer value. Listing 2 shows a sample modification of the conversion timeout setting.
Listing 2. Changing the Conversion Timeout Settings
Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication -Identity "Word Automation
Services" -KeepAliveTimeout 45 -MaximumConversionTime 120
These values cannot be configured
through the service application settings in Central Administration. As
of this writing, they are available only via the Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication cmdlet.
3. Modify the Maximum Conversion Attempts
Scenario/Problem: You need to modify the maximum conversion attempts in Word Services.
Solution: Use the MaximumConversionAttempts parameter with the Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication cmdlet.
Use the MaximumConversionAttempts parameter to configure how many attempts should be taken before a conversion is considered a failure. The default is 2 (attempts), and the range of valid values is 1 to 10. Listing 3 shows a sample modification of the maximum conversion attempts setting.
Listing 3. Changing the Maximum Conversion Attempts Setting
Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication -Identity "Word Automation
Services" -MaximumConversionAttempts 3
The default is two attempts, but
three seems like a normal setting. Anything more than five is probably
too optimistic. If the conversion fails after three times, there is a
90% chance that it will continue to fail.
4. Modify the Maximum Memory Usage
Scenario/Problem: You need to modify the maximum memory usage of Word Services.
Solution: Use the MaximumMemoryUsage parameter with the Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication cmdlet.
Use the MaximumMemoryUsage parameter to configure how much memory Word Services can use on the server. The default is 100 (percent), whereas the range of valid values is 10 to 100. Listing 4 shows a sample modification of the maximum memory usage setting.
Listing 4. Changing the Maximum Memory Usage to 50%
Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication
-Identity "Word Automation Services" -MaximumMemoryUsage 50
Most service applications like to use as much
memory as possible (as defined by their default memory settings).
Although most settings determine the maximum amount that can be used,
you should monitor usage and available memory on your application
servers to determine how to balance these settings across service
applications.
