Compatibility Statement dBASE IV v1.1 (standard edition) has been tested as compatible with LANtastic 4.x. This bulletin has been designed to help with the installation and setup of this product. Installing dBASE IV The machine on which dBASE IV will be installed must be configured as a network server, and will be referred to as the dBASE server. At the dBASE server, insert the INSTALL disk in the floppy drive and from the floppy prompt type INSTALL. Follow the prompts for a full, multi-user installation. The system will not ask for network type, but please refer to the IBM PC LAN sections of the documentation whenever a network related question arises. The install program will not update the autoexec.bat or config.sys files when installing multi-user. Borland/Ashton-Tate recommends the following as a minimum for files and buffers in the config.sys file: BUFFERS=15 FILES=40. The following formula can be used to calculate the appropriate number of files: FILES = ((Number of Nodes * 20) + 20). The DOS SHARE program should be loaded on the server. You may want to proceed with the installation of dBASEIV LAN Pack to add more users to your environment after dBASE IV is installed. Configuration When installed, dBASE creates two directories (\DBASE and \DBNETCTL.300) on the dBASE server. dBASE must have access to both directories on the same drive specification. For ease of documentation, let's use F: to denote the drive under which these 2 directories are located. Include the directories in each user's DOS search path. In a typical database application, multiple users will want to share some common data files while maintaining certain user- specific setup. dBASE IV refers to a file called Config.db for configuration parameters. The search path for locating this Config.db file is as follows: first dBASE IV will look at the current directory, then the \DBASE directory and finally it will follow the DOS search path. Thus, if each user would like to maintain his own Config.db file, he can put the file on the local drive of his workstation, put his local drive on his DOS search path and make sure that there are no other Config.db file in the \DBASE directory. Thus, it is suggested that you follow these steps to share dBASE across the network once it has been installed on the dBASE server. 1. Log into the dBASE server and redirect a drive designation to the root directory. i.e.: net login \\ {Where is the name of the dBASE server, and an account for with (if applicable) has been configured on the server} net use f: \\\ {Where is a resource which has been created on the dBASE server for the root directory. The physical link path may be something like c:\} 2. Set up the DOS path on your workstations as described above. It should contain at least these 3 segments: , f:\DBASE and f:\DBNETCTL.300. 3. When configuring dBASE for the first time, each workstation should run the setup program called DBSETUP, which configures the (local) Config.db file to set up the workstation-specific parameters like default printers, screen display, temporary file locations, etc. 4. To set up printers, select Printers, Drivers, press Shift-F1 to select printers and Ctrl-End to save. DBSETUP will ask for the location of the Config.db file. Save it to the local drive of each node. 5. Set all f:\DBASE files to read-only (using ATTRIB +r *.*). 6. To share data with other users, you can cd to the directory containing the common data files before you start dBASE. If that directory happens to be on a drive other than the drive containing dBASE IV, you should invoke dBASE with the following command: dbase #df=f {or dbase #df=, where is the drive containing \DBNETCTL.300} Disk Caching with DBCACHE dBASE IV v1.1 standard edition does not use extended or expanded memory, except if you choose to install DBCACHE. The DBCACHE program (also known as Hyperdisk) provided within dBASE IV does not improve the network data transfer rate because it doesn't cache network drives. Borland/Ashton-Tate suggests that you move certain system and temporary files to your local workstation to make use of local disk caching to improve performance. Make sure that you read all 3 of these documents before you start implementing this disk caching utility: 1. p.1-3 of the Getting Started Manual, Disk Caching with DBCACHE. 2. p.4-5 of the Getting Started Manual, Network Installation. 3. p.6 - p.7 of the README.DOC file, which should be in the f:\DBASE directory. You may want to run LANcache on the server for performance optimization at the operating system level. Please refer to p.37 - p.51 of the LANtastic NOS Reference Manual for details on LANcache. Both LANcache and DBCACHE can make use of extended or expanded memory on the machine. If you are using the Artisoft 2Mbps adapter, any memory driver should be configured to exclude the RAMBASE used by the network adapter. For example, when using Quarterdeck's QEMM.SYS and an Artisoft 2Mbps adapter with a RAMBASE selection of D000-D800, the config.sys file should include this line: DEVICE=QEMM.SYS RAM X=D000-D800. File and Record Locking dBASE IV v1.1 provides automatic file and record locking. This allows multiple users to simultaneously access and update different parts of the same database file without requiring explicit file and record locks. Locking happens in dBASE at four levels: Automatic file locking, Automatic record locking, Explicit file locking and Explicit record locking. Please refer to your documentation for more information. Again, DOS SHARE must be loaded on the dBASE server for file and record locking to function correctly. Opening Files A file can be opened under dBASE IV in one of two modes - exclusive or shared. If a file is opened in exclusive mode, only one requesting user can access the file at a time so there is no need to lock the file or any record in the file. If a file is opened in shared mode, multiple users on the network can access the file so files and records should be locked before updating. The user can change how the file is opened with the SET EXCLUSIVE command. The default for multi-user is SET EXCLUSIVE OFF, which allows the files to be shared. If the user reports difficulties with file sharing, check to see that SET EXCLUSIVE is OFF. Printing A user may print to both a local and a redirected device through dBASE by using the SET PRINTER command. This command can be used to establish the actual link to a network printer. There are several ways a printer can be configured using dBASE. The following are two methods: Method 1: Issue the NET USE command through the operating system to establish the printer connection. Tell dBASE which redirected port to send output to. i.e.: net use LPT1 \\\@printer -Issued from the network DOS prompt; links the 's @printer resource to LPT1. set printer to LPT1 -Issued from the dBASE dot prompt; tells dBASE which port to direct the output to. Method 2: Do not issue a NET USE command from the network and allow dBASE to control all network printer links through the SET commands. i.e.: For redirected printers: set printer to \\\@printer= -Issued from the dBASE dot prompt; redirects (LPT1, LPT2, etc.) to the server's @printer resource. For local printers (assume LPT2 is a local device): set printer to LPT2 -Issued from the dBASE dos prompt; instructs dBASE to send the output to that local device. If the user establishes a printer connection via the NET USE command prior to running dBASE, that NET USE command will override any SET PRINTER command given afterwards, i.e., if the user issues a net use LPT1 \\\@printer from DOS and then a set printer \\\@printer=LPT1 from the dBASE dot prompt, the output will be directed to 's @printer device. Printing Problems Earlier printing problems were reported when printing with dBASE IV v1.1 and LANtastic 3.0. Fixes have been provided by both parties, and users only need to choose either one (but not both) of the options: - Borland/Ashton-Tate provides a maintenance version (X507A) which resolves this problem in dBASE v1.1. This version uses a DOS environment variable (set NOXON=ON) which may interfere with Postscript printing. ( Thus, you should only consider this option if you are not using Postscript printing on your application. ) - The Artisoft Sales department can be contacted for an update to LANtastic NOS 4.0, which also fixes the problem. Security Security may become an issue when sharing data among multiple users on a network. dBASE IV provides a PROTECT command, which includes three types of database protection; Log-in Security, File and field access security, and data encryption. Once PROTECT is used, the security system will always control access to database files. If you decide to implement security, a user profile must be created for each operator. There are eight user access levels, assigning a lower number gives the user greater access privileges and assigning a higher number limits the user's access. The access level is established for each user in the user's profile. Please refer to your documentation for more information on PROTECT. Summary This document has been designed to help with the installation and setup of dBASE IV v1.1 (standard edition) and to provide a guideline for trouble shooting. If a problem arises which cannot be resolved through this bulletin, please contact our technical support staff at (602) 293-6363. Additional support is also available through documentation provided by Borland/Ashton-Tate. The 1.1 Release Edition of their TechNotes/dBASE IV contains some useful pointers under the section Transaction Processing and LANs. Any questions or suggestions regarding this bulletin may be mailed to our offices: Artisoft, Inc., 691 East River Road, Tucson, AZ 85704 ATTN: Compatibility Department / dBASE IV v1.1 Support. Vendor Info Borland International/Ashton-Tate Technical Support (Database) P.O. Box 660001, Scotts Valley CA 95067-0001. (408)431-9060.