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Agents

Agents Overview

Agents are instances that execute flows and process library files.

FileFlows Server (the main application) has an in-built Agent and this is all that is needed for FileFlows to work. However, if you want to split the workload onto more machines or you don't want the server doing the processing, you can install additional Agents on other machines.

For example, install FileFlows as an unRAID application, and have a FileFlows Agent installed on a much more powerful Windows machine. You could have the unRAID process 1 file at a time and the Windows machine process 2 additional files. Or you could scale out and have many Agents processing files simultaneously.

Agent Options​

A Agent contains the following configuration options:

General​

  • Name
    • The display name of the Agent (external Agents only)
  • Address
    • The IP or hostname address of the Agent. You should not change this unless you have changed the address of the Agent. For example, if you have changed the computer name of the Agent. (external Agents only)
  • Enabled
    • If the Agent is enabled or not and can process files
  • Priority
    • The higher the number the higher the priority. Agents with a higher priority will be favored and given files to process first, unless those Agents are out of schedule, disabled, or at their maximum runners.
  • Icon
    • A custom icon for the Agent (external Agents only)
  • Enable Schedule
    • Toggle to enable/disable a processing schedule for this Agent. When enabled, the Agent will only process files during the configured schedule times.

Processing​

  • All Libraries
    • Which libraries this Agent will process. Select "All" to allow this Agent to process any library, or choose specific options to restrict processing.
  • Libraries
    • Select which libraries this Agent can process (only visible when "All Libraries" is not set to "All")
  • Max File Size
    • The maximum file size this Agent can process in MB. If set to 0, there will be no limit.
  • Video Codecs
    • Select the specific video codecs this Agent is allowed to process.
  • Resolutions
    • Select the video resolutions this Agent is allowed to process.
  • Processing Order
    • Specifies the order in which files are processed by this Agent. This setting overrides the library's default processing order. Set to 'Default' to use the library's processing order.

Runners​

  • Runners
    • The number of runner instances available to execute flows. This determines the number of simultaneous files this Agent can process.
  • SD Cost
    • The cost for SD video processing. Higher values mean each SD file costs more runners.
  • 720p Cost
    • The cost for 720p video processing. Higher values mean each 720p file costs more runners.
  • 1080p Cost
    • The cost for 1080p video processing. Higher values mean each 1080p file costs more runners.
  • 4K Cost
    • The cost for 4K video processing. Higher values mean each 4K file costs more runners.
  • Undetermined Cost
    • The cost for video files where the resolution could not be determined. Higher values mean each undetermined file costs more runners.

Mappings​

Mappings allow you to map variables and directories from the Server to the Agent. You need to map any path used in the Flow or Libraries to locally available paths on the Agent.

You can map a path from the server to a location on the Agent. For example, you may map Server:/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg to Agent:C:\Utils\ffmpeg\ffmpeg.exe. You should add mappings for all libraries and tools that will be needed to run on the remote system.

Variables​

Variables let you configure advanced variables to set on an Agent. These can be used to pass configuration values to scripts and flow elements.

Advanced​

  • Temp Directory
    • The directory on the Agent to store temporary files created by the Flow Runner. This directory will be used by flows to create temporary files as the flow is processed, and will be regularly cleaned up so keep nothing important here.
  • Pre-Execute Script
    • A script that will run before any file is processed. The result of this script must be 1 for it to pass; anything else and the Agent will not process a file. See Pre-Execute Script for more information.
  • Change Owner
    • When checked, the Agent will change the owner of any newly created files to the PGID and PUID defined in the environmental values. If these environmental variables are not set, the owner will be changed to 'users:nobody'.
  • Set Permissions
    • When checked, file permissions will be set on any newly created files.
  • File Permissions
    • The permissions to set on any newly created files. Defaults to 644.
  • Folder Permissions
    • The permissions to set on any newly created folders. Defaults to 775.