Collaboration enables the ability to "assign" schedules to other MARS machines. Though the management and editing of the schedules will occur on the primary MARS machine, processing and running of the schedule will occur on the collaborator (the other MARS installation).

With Collaboration, resource intensive schedules can be processed on more powerful servers. Also numerous schedules can be spread out across an array of MARS machines to reduce the overall load, and run schedules more efficiently. Combined with Multi-threading, each MARS Collaborator will have up to 4 threads. Therefore quadrupling the number of concurrent schedules you can run simultaneously with every collaborator added.

This Feature best fits organizations that desire enterprise wide reporting that require thousands of reports to be distributed.

Requirements

1) Collaboration is included with the Multi-threading module. Multi-Threading must be purchased in order for this feature to be available.

2) More than one MARS Installation is required. (Note: ensure each MARS machine meets the pre-requisites)

3) Each MARS Machine must have MARS installed, and is accessible through the internal network.

4) Each remote server must have the correct email, database, and system settings in order to ensure proper processing and delivery of the reports/schedules.

Setting up Collaboration:

Go to the "System" tab on the MARS ribbon.

Select "Collaboration" from the ribbon menu.

Switch "enable server Collaboration" to "ON"

Now it is time to add the MARS machine as a collaborator. Clicking on "Add" you will be prompted to select the MARS configuration file on the remote machine. Browse through the network and select the MARS machine.

MARS will automatically display two folders for MARS. Select "crdconfigshare."

Then select the "marslive.config" file.

Please understand that the new Collaborator will no longer process its own local schedules. Select "OK" to continue.

Authenticate to the windows machine. Ensure that the user is a local administrator with read/write access to the collaborator.

Once you have authenticated, you may receive a message stating that MARS cannot access the process list on the remote machine. If this is the case, ensure that remote machine's MARS and scheduler are closed. Then Select "OK."

Once Finished, the new Collaborator is added to the list. Select "Add" to include more servers.

Assigning Schedules to other Collaborators:

Open a schedules Properties then go to the "Schedule" section.

At the bottom, a new option "Enable this schedule and execute it on" will appear. Check the box to the left to enable the schedule and then select from the dropdown list which collaborator will process the schedule.

Removing A Collaborator:

To remove a Collaborator from the system, Return to the Collaboration Menu. Select the desired server and then click "delete." Click "OK" on the confirmation message to initiate the removal.

Authenticate to the remote machine to finish the process.

The Collaborator is then removed from the list, and can now be operated independently of the primary MARS installation.