Explanation of the update intervals for Signature Manager

Explanation

There are 3 configurable update intervals for Signature Manager. This article explains the purpose of each, their default values and how to override them. Signature Manager periodically generates new signatures for users and puts them in the Deployment Share. This ensures that users’ signatures remain current with the most up-to-date information.
When running on a client machine ExSync checks the Deployment Share periodically for 2 purposes:

1. To see if a newer version of itself is available. This ensures that when you install a newer version of Signature Manager each client loads the latest version of ExSync automatically.
2. To see if a newer signature has been generated for the currently logged on user. If so this is automatically copied to the user’s Outlook client to ensure that the user has the latest signature.

The frequency of these periodic events is specified as follows:

1) Polling Frequency*

This determines the number of seconds that ExSync waits before checking the Deployment Share for a newer version of itself. The default value is 300 and this can be changed either globally or on an individual user basis as follows:

1. Open the Signature Manager Console
2. Establish the location of the Deployment Share by selecting the Exclaimer\Signature Manager node from the tree on the left. The Deployment Share location is shown on the right
3. Use Windows Explorer to open the Deployment Share folder
4. Open ExSync.cfg using Notepad

To change the frequency globally
Under the [Global] section add a new entry of PollFrequency with a value in seconds. E.g. to have ExSync running on all computers check for version updates every 10 minutes: [Global] PollFrequency=600
To change the frequency per user
Create a new section with the user’s login name. Add a new entry of PollFrequency with a value in seconds. E.g. to have user “Peter.Jones” checking for version updates every 10 minutes you would add: [Peter.Jones] PollFrequency=600

2) Update Frequency*

This determines the number of seconds that ExSync waits before checking the Deployment Share to see if the logged on user has a more recent signature available. The default value is 300 and can only be changed on a global basis, as follows:

1. Open the Signature Manager Console
2. Establish the location of the Deployment Share by selecting the Exclaimer\Signature Manager node from the tree on the left. The Deployment Share location is shown on the right
3. Use Windows Explorer to open the Deployment Share folder
4. Open ExSync.cfg using Notepad

Under the [Global] section add a new entry of UpdateFrequency with a value in seconds. E.g. to have ExSync running on all computers check for new signatures every 10 minutes: [Global] UpdateFrequency=600

3) Signature Generation Frequency

This determines the number of minutes that Signature Manager waits before generating new signatures for each user in the Deployment Share. The default value is 15 minutes and can only be changed on a global basis, as follows:

1. Open the Signature Manager Console
2. Select the Exclaimer\Signature Manager node from the tree on the left
3. Adjust the Update Interval setting shown on the right

* It is recommended that the Polling Frequency be equal to or less than the Update Frequency. This is because when updating to a newer version of Signature Manager the file format of the signatures in the Deployment Share may be upgraded to a format this is incompatible with older versions of ExSync. This may produce an unexpected error on client computers running the out-of-date version of ExSync.