Connecting Arc to Pulse (Enabling Arc+)

Arc+ is what you get when Arc is connected to Pulse. There is no separate product, separate build, or separate licence key — it is the same Arc binary with one setting added. Once Arc can reach a Pulse server, the title bar changes to Arc+ for TM1 and the Pulse-backed features unlock.

This page covers the minimum steps to enable Arc+, then the optional settings that build on it.

For what Arc+ actually gives you, see 💎 Arc+ Fundamentals. For the full parameter list, see Arc settings.yml File Reference.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Detail
Pulse version	Pulse 6 or newer. Individual features have higher minimums — see Minimum Pulse versions per feature below.
Network	The Arc server must be able to reach the Pulse server. Browsers never talk to Pulse directly — Arc proxies every call through its own `_pulse/api/*` route — so only the Arc server needs the firewall rule.
Licensing	No extra licence is required. Arc+ is included at no extra cost for customers who own both Arc and Pulse.
Pulse environments	Each TM1 instance you want Arc+ features for must already exist in Pulse, under Administration → Environments.

Step 1 — Point Arc at Pulse

Open settings.yml in the Arc installation directory and set pulseurl to the base URL of your Pulse server:

This one setting is what enables Arc+. Everything else on this page is optional.

If you run more than one Pulse server — for example a separate Pulse for production — you can override the URL per Server Group:

Arc picks the override matching the currently selected Server Group and falls back to pulseurl when there is no match.

Step 2 — Restart Arc

Settings are read at startup. Restart the Arc service (or the Arc process) for the change to take effect.

Step 3 — Verify Arc+ is on

Three things should change:

The browser title and the About dialog read Arc+ for TM1 instead of Arc for TM1.
A Pulse node appears in the server tree, containing Migration, Search Model, Test Hub, Change Tracking, Compare, Blame Report and Chore / Process History.
A Pulse status indicator appears in the top menu bar.

A magnifying-glass Search Model button also appears in the navigation bar.

If none of this happens, see Troubleshooting below.

Step 4 — Log in to Pulse

Arc reaching Pulse is not the same as you being logged in to Pulse. Until you log in, the status indicator shows connected, not logged in and the Arc+ features stay disabled.

Click the Pulse status indicator in the top menu bar and enter your Pulse credentials. The indicator turns green and names the logged-in Pulse user.

Two user preferences affect this:

Prompt for Pulse login on start — logs you in automatically each session rather than waiting for you to click.
If you explicitly disconnect Pulse from the status menu, Arc will not prompt you to log back in again for that session. Reconnect from the same menu.

Step 5 — Map your TM1 instances to Pulse environments

Arc has to know which Pulse environment each TM1 instance belongs to, otherwise it cannot match an instance to its Pulse history. Add the Pulse parameters to each admin host or connection, in server-groups.yml or in the adminhosts / connections block of settings.yml:

Parameter	When you need it
`pulseenvironment`	Required on every admin host and connection once `pulseurl` is set. The Pulse environment name, found in Pulse under Administration → Environments.
`pulseinstance`	Required whenever the Arc connection name differs from the instance name as it appears in Pulse. This is common on Planning Analytics on Cloud and on v12.
`pulsetracking`	Optional. Set to `true` to send object and user activity to Pulse. This is what powers Object Usage Tracking and the "User Objects Usage" dashboard in Pulse Explorer.

Optional — Take the instance list from Pulse

By default Arc builds its instance list from its own configuration (server-groups.yml, or the adminhosts and connections blocks). You can instead have Arc take the list from Pulse:

Arc then shows only the instances Pulse reports as Running, for the currently selected Server Group.

When this is worth it. With 30 instances across four environments and a rotating team, you maintain the instance list once in Pulse instead of in every Arc configuration file.

What changes. A missing instance becomes a Pulse problem rather than an Arc one — start at Reasons Why You Can't See a TM1 Instance in Pulse.

usepulseinstances requires pulseurl. If you set it without one, Arc silently disables it and logs a warning to the browser console: "UsePulseInstances can't be used if PulseURL is not set".

Optional — Use Pulse for access control

Two settings make Pulse the access-control layer in front of Arc:

With both enabled, a consultant removed from the PROD environment in Pulse simply cannot open PROD in Arc. Permissions are maintained once, in Pulse.

Optional — Object locking

Object locking lets a developer lock a TI process or a cube rule so colleagues cannot edit it at the same time. It requires Pulse 7.2.0 or newer and Arc 5.2.0 or newer.

Check your file. settings.sample.yml ships with disableobjectlocking: true, which turns locking off. If your configuration was derived from the sample, the padlock buttons will be greyed out until you change this.

Optional — Hide the Pulse UI

To keep Pulse configured but hide every Pulse-related element from the Arc interface:

Optional — Polling intervals

Raise these on a busy or remote Pulse server to reduce load.

Connection status reference

The Pulse indicator in the top menu bar shows one of six states.

State	Meaning	What to do
Disabled	`pulseurl` is not set, or is empty for the selected Server Group.	Complete Step 1.
Connecting	Arc is establishing the connection.	Wait.
Connected, not logged in	Arc reached Pulse, but you have not authenticated. Arc+ features stay disabled.	Complete Step 4.
Connected	Fully working. The tooltip names the logged-in Pulse user.	Nothing.
Disconnected	You disconnected Pulse from the status menu. Arc will not prompt you again this session.	Reconnect from the same menu.
Error	Arc could not reach Pulse, or Pulse returned an error.	Check the URL, the network path from the Arc server, and that Pulse is running.

Minimum Pulse versions per feature

If your Pulse is older than the version listed, the feature's button is visible but permanently disabled, with a version-mismatch tooltip. This is the most common cause of "the feature doesn't work" and it is not a configuration error.

Feature	Minimum Pulse version
Chore / Process History	6.0.0
Code Validation (Best Practice Validation)	6.2.1
Migration	6.2.1
Test Hub	6.3.1
Flow Diagram	6.4.0
Change Tracking	7.1.0 — exact match, not "or newer"
TM1 Object Locking	7.2.0

Change Tracking is pinned to 7.1 exactly. Pulse 7.0 and Pulse 7.2 both fail that check.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
Title bar still says "Arc", not "Arc+"	`pulseurl` is empty, or empty for the selected Server Group's override. Check for a typo, and confirm Arc was restarted.
All Pulse UI missing although `pulseurl` is set	`hidepulseintegration: true`.
Everything disabled, status indicator not green	Not logged in to Pulse. Click the Pulse indicator in the top menu bar.
One feature disabled, the rest fine	Your Pulse is below that feature's minimum version — see the table above.
Padlock buttons disabled although Pulse is 7.2	`disableobjectlocking: true`. Remember the shipped sample sets this.
Console warning: UsePulseInstances can't be used if PulseURL is not set	Exactly that — `usepulseinstances` requires `pulseurl`.
Flow Diagram downloads instead of opening in Arc	`usecontentsecuritypolicy` and `cspdenyiframeblobs` are both `true`. That combination is safer but forces PDFs to download.
An instance is missing after setting `usepulseinstances: true`	Pulse does not report it as Running. See Reasons Why You Can't See a TM1 Instance in Pulse.
A setting change had no effect	Arc reads `settings.yml` at startup. Restart Arc, then clear the browser cache.

💎 Arc+ Fundamentals — what Arc+ is and the six DevOps pillars
Architecture Slice + Arc + Pulse ↔ IBM TM1
Arc settings.yml File Reference — every parameter, including the full Pulse Integration section
Grouping TM1 Servers and Instances in Arc – Configuration Guide — server-groups.yml
Reasons Why You Can't See a TM1 Instance in Pulse
Object Usage Tracking — what pulsetracking: true turns on