Adobe InDesign Server: Deployment Planning Guide

Adobe InDesign Server (IDS) is a multi-instance product designed for enterprise document automation. This guide will help you plan an efficient, compliant deployment tailored to your workflow needs.

💡Key points to understand:

• Multi-instance licensing allows you to run multiple IDS instances on a single server only
• Each instance processes one job at a time
• Additional servers or virtual machines (VMs) require separate licenses
• Typefi multi-instance Engine licenses include Blinkenlights—Typefi's load balancing and queuing system that optimises job distribution.

See the Quick reference section at the end of this guide for an overview of requirements.

Can you configure how many jobs run at the same time?

You control how many jobs run in parallel by configuring the number of IDS instances—each instance processes one job at a time. The number of parallel jobs is limited by how many IDS instances you’ve configured.

The following recommendations will help you determine the optimal hardware configuration for your specific requirements, whether you’re planning a new deployment or scaling an existing one.

Key planning questions

Before reviewing hardware recommendations, let's consider the following questions:

How many IDS instances do you plan to run?

You can run multiple IDS instances on the same server—each instance processes one job at a time, and there's no hard limit to how many instances you can run. However, the number of instances your system can support depends on your server's hardware (primarily CPU and memory).

How complex are your jobs?

Some workloads require more resources than others. Job complexity affects how many instances your server can handle at once.

Examples of resource-heavy jobs include:

• Resolving cross-references
• Downsampling or complex image conversion
• Running script-heavy workflows
• Rendering proxy preview graphics
• Working with floating elements

Recommended specifications for your InDesign Server

The recommended specifications for your InDesign Server will depend on the complexity of your workloads and how many IDS instances you plan to run. For best performance, the hardware must be able to handle the resource demands of your jobs.

Below are three example configurations—ranging from light to complex workloads—to help you optimise your configuration.

Light Workload: General Purpose Instance
(Equivalent to AWS m8g.xlarge or Azure D4ps_v6)

Light workloads include basic document layouts, minimal or no scripting, and no floating elements. Since they use fewer resources, you can run more instances on a server with a moderate capacity.

Let's say you are deploying to a virtual environment (for example, Azure or AWS) and want to run four IDS instances. For light jobs, each instance needs a dedicated CPU core and a minimum of 2 GiB of RAM per instance.

Moderate Workload: General Purpose Instance
(Equivalent to AWS m8g.2xlarge or Azure D8ps_v6)

When running more IDS instances, it's important to reserve dedicated CPU cores for system I/O processes. As the number of InDesign Server instances increases, the overhead for network and disk read/write operations becomes more significant. Allocating an extra core for system processes ensures that I/O-intensive tasks don't impact the processing capacity of individual InDesign Server instances.

Let's consider deploying to a virtual environment that runs seven IDS instances. To handle the increased processing load of multiple jobs running in parallel, allocate one dedicated CPU core per instance, plus one extra core for system processes, and a minimum of 2 GiB of RAM per instance.

Complex Workload: Memory Optimized Instance
(Equivalent to AWS r8g.xlarge or Azure E4ds_v6)

Complex workloads involve large documents with advanced features such as cross-referencing, floating elements, complex event scripts, and intensive image processing. These require more memory and processing power.

In this case, you'll want to set up a virtual environment to deploy to a more powerful server with more RAM (16 GiB base) and 4–8 GiB per instance, while still dedicating one CPU core per instance, plus one extra for system processes.

Quick reference

Licensing requirements

• One IDS license allows multiple instances on a single server only
• Additional servers or VMs each require separate licenses
• Typefi Blinkenlights (included) provides load balancing across instances

Minimum resource requirements

Quick calculation formula

• Total CPUs needed = Number of IDS instances + 1
• Total RAM needed = 16 GB + (2–8 GB × number of IDS instances)

Instance planning by workflow type

• Light workloads: 2 GiB RAM per instance
• Complex workloads: 4–8 GiB RAM per instance