INFORMIX SOFTWARE, INC. SmartWare II Technical Support Bulletin 022 Subject: NETWORK INFORMATION FOR SMARTWARE II Date: February 9, 1989 The following is information that may be helpful for Smartware II to work correctly within a Network environment. FLAGS OF THE FILES The following gives a listing of the flags of the files. When an "*" appears, this indicates the default setting through Smart, however, the flags can also be set through the network. When the flags are changed through the network, Smart will not overwrite. Executable files can be flagged as Non-shareable read only * Non-shareable read/write Definition files can be flagged as * Non-shareable read/write Non-shareable read only Regist.usr must be marked as * Non-shareable read/write Tutorial files should be marked as * Non-shareable read/write There is no problem running the tutorials in multi-user situtations since Smart opens the files with a TUT extension as read only. Although the example files are opened with read/write privileges, no changes are made to the files when they are saved. SMART APPLICATION FILES Smart application files and Definition files are opened through DOS with Read/Write/Deny-Write privileges except for the Database. DOS can open a database as Read/Write/Deny-None, which allows all sharing of the files, or can be opened as Read/Write/Exclusive, which disallows the sharing of files. The default setting is Read/Write/Deny-None and can be changed using File Load Exclusive command while under project control (For example File Load Custom-view or Standard-view view name Exclusive). PROJECT PROCESSING The FOPEN Project Processing command, along with the different mode statments, (located on P. 134 of the Project Processing manual) allows you to open binary or text files for reading (FREAD), or writing (FWRITE) purposes. By default FOPEN will open a file with Read/Write privileges, which provides exclusive access (Read/Write/Deny All) until the file is closed (FCLOSE). It should also be noted that these settings cannot be changed if a user is already in the file and the settings are already set, it is for every new user only. When a user is on a network, the user should be aware that Smart only provides a command for record locking within the Database and file locking for worksheet and documents, however, this command is not available to files that have been FOPENED under project control. If the user is wishing to make changes to other data file types, they should use the RW_MODE option while under project control and if they are wanting to only read the file, they should use RO_SHARE to give flexibility within the project file. Although the option of RW_SHARE is available, it should be used with caution since there is no way to restrict or coordinate access to the file for updating. CUSTOM DICTIONARIES Custom dictionaries should be copied to each personal sub-directory and the path to the personal sub-directory should be specified in Layout Document-Options for that custom dictionary. If the path is not specified, the custom dictionary will be created in the current data directory. The reason for this is custom dictionaries can be searched at the same time, but two users cannot write to the file at the same time. If two users try to write to the same file, the error message "Error Opening the Custom Dictionary" will occur. It should also be noted that when words are added to the custom-dictionary, they will only be written to the file when the document is unloaded. WHICH NETWORK DRIVER TO USE The network driver (ANTTS #p#) should only be used if you are using Novell SFT with Transaction Tracking and the Network is set up to use Transaction Tracking. Be aware that this driver will be slower on files flagged "Transactional." The only Smart files that should be flagged "Transactional" are the ".DB," ".KEY," and ".PIX" files. Flagging other files could consume too much of the servers resources during updates. This driver is compatible with NET_#P# drivers on "Non-Transactional" files. The network drivers for DOS 3.1 will work with higher versions of DOS. DOS 3.1 temporarily creates a ".$$$" file during updates. If any one on the network is using the NET_3P1.NDV or ANTTS3P1.NDV, then all users must use this driver to prevent a user from losing control of a file during an update. When using the NET_3P1.NDV or ANTTS3P1.NDV the user is limited to 20 open files. DOS 3.2 and DOS 3.3 allows more than 20 open files, therefore both drivers can be used at the individual workstations without causing problems, but must be selected based on the version of DOS at the workstation. Dos 3.1 20 files only Dos 3.2-3.3 255 files SPEED ON THE NETWORK In general, SmartWareII is slower on a network because it is taking into account the multi-user situation. The Database is slower because Smart has to take into account any updates made to the file, as well as the multiple data files that can be attached to a single view. The Key order and Index order is the same in speed, however the Key order in Browse mode is quite a bit slower because of the instant key update. Smart goes back to check to see if any changes have been made to the keys. If the user is in Smart as a single user, the speed will be about the same as 3.10. The speed of the order sort command depends on four factors, (1) how fast Smart can retrieve the records; (2) the number of fields Smart is sorting on; (3) the Sort speed due to the speed of the computer and (4) the amount of RAM memory that is free. The more free RAM means less paging to disk and better performance, however it should be noted that sort does not use expanded memory. INSTALLATION ON THE NETWORK When installing a full package at the work station, the user is able to use Single-user first install or Network first install. The only difference between the two is that the network first install asks the user if they wish to copy the files to the network drive for future installations. The user is able to get the appropriate network drivers regardless of whether they are using single-user or network first install. Adding a network user will not allow you to add the user directory if the directory already exists since the install program actual creates this directory. The user must make sure that directory does not exist. When a user adds a network node, the serial number is added to the regist.usr file and the number of users allowed is incremented. To determine the number of users allowed within Smart at one time use the following formula [(# of bytes for regist.usr)/16]-1 ENTERING SMART If the user has Smartware II located first within their search path, the user must be in the user directory and only needs to type Smart and it will locate smart. If the user has Smartware II located somewhere other than on the first search path, the user must type smart -s(path name). For example, if smart is located under f:\smartii the user will type Smart -SF:\Smartii If a user has Smart 3.10 and Smartware II installed on the same machine, or they do not have SmartII located in their search path, they must enter SmartII as follows F:\Smartii\Smart -SF:\Smartii ERROR MESSAGES If the user is in single-user mode, they will only get one error message: "ALL NODES ARE ALREADY IN USE, OR SINGLE USER ACCESS NOT ALLOWED." When they get this message, they have entered Smart with (1) the Smart -f option; (2) no network driver loaded; or (3) has the 255 files driver loaded. When this message is received, it indicates one of the following 1. Smart could not find SMARTII\NODES\REGIST.USR file. 2. Smart could not open SMARTII\NODES\REGIST.USR with mode Read/Write/Deny All. This can occur if (1) The file is marked Non-Shareable Read Only, (2) The user has Read Only Network permissions, (3) Another User is currently using Smart (Single- User or Network Mode). 3. Smart could not read the file which indicates Hardware or Network problem. 4. Smart could not write the file which indicates Hardware or Network problem. If the user has a network driver loaded and did not start Smart with the -f option, the following messages can result 1. "All nodes are already in use, or single user access not allowed." This message indicates that all of the installed user-nodes are in use. 2. "Registration file is invalid." This message indicates that the REGIST.USR file is corrupt. 3. "Error opening/reading registration file." This message can result from the following (1) Smart could not find SMARTII\NODES\ REGIST.USR file. (2) Smart could not open REGIST.USR Read/Write/ Deny None because of the following -the file is marked Non-Shareable Read Only; -the user has Read-Only Network permissions; -another user is using Smart in single user mode. (3) Error reading the REGIST.USR which indicates either Hardware or Network problems. By having the Regist.USR file set to Non-Shareable Read/Write, it prevents the problems that previous versions created. For example, Smart version 3.10 allowed users to enter Smart in single-user mode while others entered Smart in the Network mode, thus causing problems when both of them attempted to access the same file.