Connector Steps, Traffic & Co - What do the limits mean and which package do I need?

Introduction

In this article, you will learn what the different package limits mean and how you can estimate which of the base packages & which add-ons are required in your case. You will also find out how you can individually upgrade your package without having to upgrade directly to the next higher package.

If you are still unsure which package you need, our sales team will be happy to provide you with an individual assessment.

Basic packages & add-ons

Think of our software as a kind of modular system with which you can click together processes, so-called flows, using various steps. A basic package contains a set of basic steps and different limits.

Add-ons contain additional functions, such as steps and templates, to connect different systems.

In order to use Synesty productively, one of the base packages and the add-ons for the particular systems to be integrated are required. Please note that additional costs are incurred for the respective add-ons in addition to the package price.

The limits of the base packages explained:

Connector steps

Connector steps are special steps that are used for specific tasks:

• Downloading or uploading data from external systems (e.g. FTPDownload, FTPUpload, GetOrders, AddOrders, GetProducts, UpdateProductData, UpdateStock, etc.).
• Read input data or write output data (e.g. ExcelWriter, ExcelReader, ExcelSheetUpdate, etc.).
• Call other flows (e.g. FlowTrigger & FlowExecutingStep).

You can recognise these connector steps by the symbol:

However, there are also exceptions, such as CSVReader, CSVWriter, JSONReader, VisualJSONReader, HTMLParser, Datastore steps, which are not connector steps.

A complete list of all steps, including whether they are connector steps or not, can be found HERE.

The connector step limit is an upper limit that applies to your entire account and determines how many of these connector steps you can use in your flows. Each time you add a connector step to a flow, the limit is reduced by 1. If you remove the step again, the limit goes back up by 1 accordingly.

You can see which connector steps are already built into in your flows HERE.

Traffic in MB

The traffic limit is an upper limit that applies to your whole account. This determines how much traffic in MB monthly can be processed. The traffic is made up of the data records and files retrieved and uploaded from other systems and interfaces. After a flow execution, you can check in the eventlog how much traffic (incoming, outgoing and total) was consumed during the respective flow run.

After a flow execution, you can check the eventlog to see how much data traffic (incoming, outgoing and total) was consumed during the respective flow run.

Each base package includes a monthly quota of inclusive traffic.

Datastore storage

You can save and manage data in Synesty internal databases (so-called datastores) if required. Datastores can be thought of as databases or tables. For example, you can store items with freely definable fields such as title, description, price, stock, etc. in them. Datastore records are inserted or extracted line by line using flows.

The database storage limit is the upper limit that applies to your entire account and determines how many rows in datastores can be filled with data records. Each time you fill a line in a datastore, the limit is reduced by 1. If you remove the row again, the limit increases by 1 again.

However, the limit should not be confused with the number of data records/rows that can be processed by flows during a run. These are unlimited, except in the free test phase.

Saving data records in datastores is useful or necessary for the following use cases, for example:

• Data enrichment and aggregation (data feeds can be enriched with stored data from the datastore using a lookup. Data records in the datastore can be enriched with information from multiple sources).
• Comparison and deduplication (‘Which articles came from the supplier yesterday but are missing from the current feed?’ or ‘Which articles in the supplier feed have been added?’)
• Order data management

Usage of the limits

How much of the respective limits are still left can be viewed at any time in the Dashboard. For more details, click on ‘What does this mean?’.

How to determine what package is required using the limits.

Estimation of the connector steps

The need for connector steps depends on the one hand on the processes that are to be realised as a flow, but also on the systems used. This is best illustrated using an example:

A flow is usually used to transfer data from one system to another. A flow therefore normally consists of two connector steps.

A simple flow that retrieves articles from one system and creates new articles in another system could be realised with 2 connector steps (e.g. [system name]GetProducts + [system name]CreateProducts).

If variant articles should also be created in addition to main articles, a further connector step is required for the process (e.g. [system name]AddVariants).

Further connector steps are required if existing or newly created articles (stock or price adjustments) are to be updated (e.g. [system name]UpdateStock / [system name]UpdateInventory).

Some systems require article properties to be created first before articles are created (e.g. [system name]SetProperties). These properties must be assigned to the respective items when or after the items are created (e.g. [system name]AddPropertyToItem).

Estimation of traffic in MB

Traffic is very difficult to estimate as the determining factors are highly variable. The amount of data varies depending on the file size or API / third-party system.

It is best to use the test phase and run flows to get a feel for how much data traffic (see eventlog) is generated. If, for example, all articles have a similar average number of characters (description, title, etc.) and roughly the same number of images, this can of course be roughly extrapolated if you process 10 or 20 articles, for example.

If your flows are already scheduled (and have been executed at least once), a projection for the expected monthly traffic consumption is automatically created. You can find the result in the Dashboard under ‘Traffic in MB left’ if you click on ‘What does this mean?’.

Estimating the database storage

The best way to explain how to estimate the required database memory in lines is using an example:

Saving an article with 3 variants requires 4 lines. One line for the parent variant and 3 lines for the variants. The situation is similar with order data: 4 lines are required for an order with 3 items. One for the order header and 3 for the article items. A fifth line may also be required for the shipping costs item.

If you know your number of items and the average number of variants, you can extrapolate this to determine the number of database lines required.

You can do the same with the number of orders/month.

The difference, however, is that you can remove the order data from the datastore once the order has been completed to free up rows. Article data is always required in the datastore for the long term.

Flex upgrades:

If you just exceed the limits of a package, individual flex upgrades can be booked so that you don’t have to upgrade to the larger package straight away: Upgrade Calculator

Add-ons

Our add-ons contain the connector steps for connecting the respective external systems. If, for example, Shopify is to be connected to Tradebyte, the Shopify and the Tradebyte add-ons are required. If your system is not listed in our portfolio of add-ons, it can be connected with our API Connector Tools. The requirement for this is that the system has an external interface for data exchange, e.g. via HTTP API or FTP.

Booking an add-on makes it possible to incorporate all the steps it contains into flows. An add-on only needs to be booked once per account. An add-on also allows the connection of several systems of the same type (e.g. 3 different Amazon Seller Central accounts).