Performance Advisor for PTC Creo

[Marco_Tosin]

Hi all,

we have a centralized installation of Creo in a network drive and each user runs Creo from that location.

Because PTC Diagnostic Tools is installed only in the network drive, how could we check Creo diagnostic from remote machine?

It is possible to have only one installation of Creo and many of Diagnostic Tools?

Thanks in advance for your answers

[MartinHanak]

Marco,

I suggest you to contact PTC Support.

Martin Hanak

[dnordin]

Marco,

I was researching a similar issue. I wanted to have Creo Parametric 3.0 (CP3) installed locally, but have the Quality Agent (QA) installed on a server. I wanted this configuration so I could control what data is collected and if it's collected from a central location (the QA server).

It is possible to have the QA installed separately (according to the documentation), but there are some stipulations.

• The data is collected locally on each PC, not on the server machine where the QA is installed.
• The configuration of what is collected is located locally on each PC. ( I don't recall where at the moment, I'd need to look that up. ) You can make the directory read only, so users cannot modify what is collected. This type of configuration makes upkeep a pain. It would be a HUGE help if defining what data is collected is centralized on the server where the QA is installed.
• There is a local PC machine registry setting to control whether the QA is on or off. (see CS38252) Again, this type of configuration makes upkeep a pain.
• To use the network install of the QA, you need to set the config option "quality_agent_path" with value of the path of the qualityagent.exe

Please note that I have not fully vetted this process yet as I don't have permission from legal yet to send the data to PTC.

In your case, I believe you'd still need to have a "QA" setup/configuration on each PC similar to what I've listed above; registry setting & local QA settings directory. If you already have a local PC setup script, you can add the QA piece to it fairly easily.

It would be nice if the QA could be configured on a single server only.

Regards,

Dan Nordin

BAE Systems

www.baesystems.com

[TomU]

Marco,

PTC Diagnostic Tools is the renamed Quality Agent. In fact, if you look at the executable, it's still called "qualityagent.exe". It can be installed locally or on the network. Even though it is installed in a shared network location, it still runs a local process on each user's computer. It also stores user (and computer) specific diagnostic data locally in the "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\PTC\QualityAgent\" folder.

The advantage of using the network version is that all users will have the same agent configuration. The disadvantage is that no data will be sent to PTC unless a registry key is manually added to each user's computer. (I have a case open with PTC on this issue right now.)

Keep in mind that if you're installing to a shared network location, you also need to tell Creo where to find it. This is easiest to do by adding a line to the Creo Parametric PSF file setting the environment variable "quality_agent_path".

By the way, your title talks about Performance Advisor, but the content speaks instead of PTC Diagnostic Tools.

[TomU]

Looks like we were both typing at the same time. Apparently I type slower...

[Marco_Tosin]

Dan e Tom,

thanks for your answers.

More information on setting "quality_agent_path" variable could be find here https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/case_solution.jsp?n=CS38252&lang=en

Tom: I was confused because of this article where you can find both.

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/case_solution.jsp?n=CS72479&lang=en

Marco

[TomU]

Tom: I was confused because of this article where you can find both.

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/case_solution.jsp?n=CS72479&lang=en

Actually, it looks like I was the one confused. I was mixing up Performance Advisor with the Windchill Client Inspector.

By the way, there are a lot of good, recent articles on the Performance Advisor.

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS199298

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS200591

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS202100

[Marco_Tosin]

Tom,

I have a question for you if possibile.

I have configured Performance Advisor for Creo like TS wrote in the articles mentioned in previous comments.

I have also checked configuration of firewall.

All seems correct, but nothing is recorded on PTC site.

Trying to connect via browser to https://apps.ptc.com I get this message: Http/1.1 Service Unavailable

Have you got any idea why this happens?

TIA

Marco

[TomU]

I gave bad information above.

Keep in mind that if you're installing to a shared network location, you also need to tell Creo where to find it. This is easiest to do by adding a line to the Creo Parametric PSF file setting the environment variable "quality_agent_path".

This is WRONG. It's not an environment variable, it's a config option. You have to set this in either the config.pro or config.sup files.

You can see it working by watching the folder where these files are stored:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\PTC\QualityAgent\UnprocessedFiles

Every time Creo is started, the quality agent will run (for just a split second) and create a new XML file.

If the registry entry is present, and data is being sent to PTC, then you will see new files appear in the Sent Files folder.

If the files are being created, but not being sent, then you probably need to create the registy entry. For Creo 3 M030 is is located here:

You can copy the below text to a file, name it something.reg, and then run it to create the entry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PTC\PTC Creo Parametric\3.0\2014500]
"QualityAgentOptIn"="1"

Keep in mind the the "2014500" number will change based on the build code. You can figure this out by looking at the details page of xtop.exe.

[Marco_Tosin]

Tom,

thanks for your answer.

I have configured network installation as you described, checked also registry value and quality agent folders.

They are all correct, and a couple of times I've been able to sent data.

However there are some other issues.

First: I can't send data every time. Occasionally pressing the submit button nothing happens

Second: even when I was able to send data, I don't see anything on PTC site (see image).