TECHNICAL BULLETIN 3/25/91 jcr dBASE IV 1.1 dBASE IV 1.1 has been tested as compatible with LANtastic 3.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. 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. Configuration Each workstation's autoexec.bat file should include a path to the dBASE server root drive. When installed, dBASE creates two directories (\DBASE and \DBNETCTL.300). dBASE must have access to both directories on the same drive specification. If the user links to only to the \DBASE directory, he will receive a "Network Load Failure" error, indicating that dBASE cannot find the \DBNETCTL.300 directory. Once installed, the following steps are necessary to share dBASE across the network. 1. Log into the dBASE server and redirect a drive designation to the root directory. i.e.: net login \\server username password {Where server is the name of the network server, and an account for username with password (if applicable) has been configured on the server} net use f: \\server\c-drive {Where c-drive 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. When configuring dBASE for the first time, each workstation should run the setup program called DBSETUP, which configures the CONFIG.DB file. This file contains setup information for dBASE, such as Command and Printer locations. At the \dBASE directory prompt, run DBSETUP. 3. To setup 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, this can be setup on the local drive of each node. 4. Set all \DBASE files to read-only. 5. Once configured, the user may log into the server, share the server's root device and run dBASE from the redirected prompt. Expanded and Extended Memory Support dBASE IV can utilize any memory above the 640K limit (which follows the LIM 4.0 requirements) for local disk caching.* Any memory driver used should be configured to exclude the RAMBASE of the network adapter when applicable (Artisoft's 2Mbps adapter uses RAMBASE). That RAMBASE selection is usually excluded through a command line switch. For example, using Quarterdeck's QEMM.SYS and an Artisoft 2Mbps adapter with a RAMBASE selection of D000-D800, the config.sys file may look something like: DEVICE=QEMM.SYS RAM X=D000-D800 * Please refer to the Getting Started Manual, Disk Caching with DBCACHE, for more information. 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. 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 LANtastic (or through the NET or LANPUP programs) to establish the printer connection. Tell dBASE which redirected port to send output to. ie: Net use LPT1 \\server\@printer -Issued from the network DOS prompt; links the Server'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. IE: Set printer to \\server\@printer=port -Issued from the dBASE dot prompt; redirects the PORT (LPT1, LPT2 etc) to the server's @printer resource. Set printer to LPT2 -Issued from the dBASE dos prompt; in this case we can assume LPT2 is a local device and instruct dBASE to send the output to that local device. If the user establishes a NET USE command prior to running dBASE, that NET USE command establishes the link which overrides any SET PRINTER command given. Ie, if the user issues a NET USE LPT1 \\Server1\@printer and a SET PRINTER \\Server2\@printer=LPT1, the output will be directed to Server1's @printer device. Printing Problems Earlier printing problems were reported when printing with dBASE IV 1.1 and LANtastic 3.0. These problems did not occur in dBASE IV 1.0 or prior versions. If printing problems occur, please check the versions of LANtastic and dBASE IV. Ashton-Tate provides a maintenance version (X507A) which resolves this problem in 1.1. This version uses a DOS environment variable (set NOXON=ON) to acknowledge and correct printing problems. If the version of LANtastic is 3.0, please make sure your Artisoft products are registered and contact our offices for an update to 3.03. Security 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 PROTECT is used, a user profile must be created for each operator. There are eight user access levels, assigning a low 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 1.1 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 Ashton-Tate. Any questions or suggestions on this bulletin may be mailed to our offices: Artisoft, Inc., 575 East River Road, Tucson, AZ 85704 ATTN: Compatibility Department / dBASE IV 1.1 Support. Vendor Info Ashton-Tate, 20101 Hamilton Avenue, Torrance, CA 90502-1319 (213) 329-8000