Guide to Configuring Distributed Workers
This introduction covers:
What is Distributed Processing?
What are its Framework requirements?
These cover:
Application requirements
Licensing requirements
Processing requirements
Hardware requirements
Requirements for Nuix Master and Worker Servers
What are prerequisites?
What is Distributed Processing?
Distributed Processing is a framework in which multiple computers work on the same evidence and case data to provide more capability. In Nuix Workstation, you can achieve this by enabling various Nuix Worker Servers to contribute towards completing tasks. This architecture requires at least two licenses with Nuix Worker capabilities. Distributed processing involves managing separate Worker Servers to handle individual tasks and provide the results of their tasks back to the Master Server.
Note: This guide describes how to manually configure and maintain a distributed processing network using the Worker and the Master Servers. However, Nuix Automation uses the same framework but handles how to use Nuix Worker Servers in a much simpler manner with less complexity and a better user experience. You can only use Nuix Workers for processing, exporting, and for performing OCR (optical character recognition).
What are its Framework requirements?
The following are the recommended software and hardware requirements for the distributed processing framework.
Application requirements
At least two instances of Nuix Workstation, one for the Master Server and one for Worker Server
Nuix Management Server
Licensing requirements
Nuix eDiscovery Workstation license for the Master Server
Nuix eDiscovery Production or eDiscovery Worker license for Worker Servers
Processing requirements
The following is a list of software to optionally install for specific functionality in Nuix Workstation:
Software |
Required |
Microsoft Office 2007 or later |
For creating Discover databases (Microsoft Access MDB); or optionally to use as part of the PDF rendering process or to create PST files over the embedded rendering engine. |
Microsoft Visio |
For rendering and exporting Visio files as a PDF-capable version of Microsoft Visio. |
For a Windows operating system* |
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For a Linux operating system* |
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For extracting multimedia metadata and generate thumbnail stills. |
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For OCR functionality in Nuix Workstation utilizing the ABBYY FineReader Engine. Compatible with Nuix Workstation v8.0 or later; however: For v100.0.0, and versions v8.8 to v9.10, the OCR installer is not bundled with the macOS installer. Go to the Nuix OCR Addon link for how to download the Nuix OCR Addon. For v8.8 and later, the OCR installer for Windows has a dependency on Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x64). This Microsoft Package is required for OCR to function properly. You can download it from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26999. While installing or uninstalling the Nuix OCR Addon does not affect the installation of a previous version of the addon (and vice versa), updated versions of the Nuix OCR Addon do upgrade the older versions of it. |
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For enabling Elastic cases. It must be installed on every node in the Elasticsearch cluster. |
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For supporting Hancom Office files in Nuix Workstation. Hancom Office is a frequently used office tool in the Korean market. |
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For enabling Offline map view in Nuix Workstation and geographic layout in Context. On the page that opens, select and download the required dataset. Note: The files shown on this page are over 50 GBs each. |
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For accessing Passware decryption capabilities. You must install and configure this software with a valid Passware product key. With a valid Passware license, you require: Passware Forensic Kit 2020 with Nuix Workstation v8.8.0 and v9.0.0. Passware Forensic Kit 2021 with Nuix Workstation v9.2.0 and later. Passware Forensic Kit 2021 or 2022 with Nuix Workstation v100.0 and later. The demo version of Passware Kit Forensic does not work with the integration between Passware and Nuix Workstation. Contact Nuix Support for a time-limited full license to try the integration between Passware and Nuix Workstation. |
* Only install the relevant HCL software if your source data includes HCL Notes or HCL Domino files. The Lotus Notes Client (x86) v8.5.3 or newer is necessary for processing encrypted IBM Notes archives and you should only install it when your source data includes Lotus Notes files. All IBM Notes 8.5.3 or 9.0.1 support is now provided by HCL.
Hardware requirements
The Nuix Worker Server uses the available hardware resources, which must meet the minimum requirements of Nuix Workstation found in the Nuix Workstation Installation and Configuration Guide.
Any additional memory can be dedicated to more Workers if the physical memory of the computer is not exceeded and there is one CPU available per Worker created. For example, configure a 32 GB Quad Core Windows 7 computer as follows:
4 GB allocated memory to the main operating system
2 GB allocated to the Nuix Worker Agent application
Divide the 26 GB of the remaining memory between additional Workers. In this example, you create and add four additional Workers to any job that you run. Calculate the size of each Worker as:
26 GB / 4 = 6.5 GB per worker
Workers generally do not benefit from having more than 16G of allocated memory. However, the more memory you provide to the OS, the more aggressively it can perform filesystem caching, which significantly increases processing throughput.
Requirements for Nuix Master and Worker Servers
The recommended requirements for the Nuix Master and Worker Servers are:
Server-Dell 2950 or equivalent
Processor – Dual Quad Core
16 GB of RAM minimum, 32 GB recommended
Dual GbE Nic Cards
Fiber Channel Card Internal Storage
Raid 1
15K RPM or better
For Nuix Master Server: 72 GB or higher
Using Multiple Worker Servers
Using multiple Worker Servers requires the following:
A shared storage array where the case and evidence are stored.
All Workers must be able to communicate with the Master Worker.
All Workers should be connected to a fast network switch and storage array.
Requirements for Nuix storage array
The recommended requirements for Nuix storage array are:
Dell/EMC CX Series or equivalent
Depending on your environment, to connect over a dedicated GbE network or fiber
Worker Servers do not need to be connected directly to the Nuix storage array
Nuix Master and Worker Servers should all be dual-homed with access to a private storage network.
What are prerequisites?
Before using the Nuix Worker agent, ensure the following prerequisites are in place:
All Workers are connected with the following:
Their data sources
The master computer that starts the job from Nuix Workstation
The computer nominated as the broker
Contributing data sources have the evidence folder available in the same manner so that the Worker Servers can extract the data directly. For example, map the evidence to the same drive letter or add the evidence using a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path.
Each Worker Server must have pre-installed the following:
Nuix Workstations (where the Nuix Agent Worker is part of that installer)
All dependencies required for the jobs you plan to distribute (see the Processing requirements above), or Microsoft Office if you are not using the built-in Nuix imaging engine.
Workers spun up by the Nuix Worker Servers need the same considerations for temporary disk space as local Workers and logs.
As the application is processing, items are indexed directly to the case on the shared drive. The log locations for the Nuix Agent Worker are also, by default, in the following same location as a standard Nuix Workstation installation: %localappdata%\nuix\Logs