I am asking and need clarification about deploying oi to workgroup environment.No server, all xp home or pro.Does these limitation exist?

a) You cannot run OI on the computer it is load onto. This is because OpenInsight will only perform network locking from a network drive. Windows XP will not let you map a local drive as a network drive. This is a restriction built into Windows XP by Microsoft so that it forces you to purchase Windows Server.

b) The revelation network products will not work in a Workgroup environment.So you would just buy OI SDP's, not the Universal Driver Lite.

Has anyone tried this before? Care to share some views on this issues?

]I am asking and need clarification about deploying oi to workgroup environment.No server, all xp home or pro.Does these limitation exist?

We do not support XP Home but OI should run fine on XP Pro.

] a) You cannot run OI on the computer it is load onto. This is because OpenInsight will only perform network locking from a network drive. Windows XP will not let you map a local drive as a network drive. This is a restriction built into Windows XP by Microsoft so that it forces you to purchase Windows Server.

Yes you can run OI on the computer it is installed on (think of a site with a single user runtime). Now when you are speaking of running a multi-user site with no network product, well, there are a few issues to look at. Maybe the next response will solve the dilemma.

I know that you can share a local drive on XP Pro - which is what you mean by mapping it as a network drive, correct?

] b) The revelation network products will not work in a Workgroup environment.So you would just buy OI SDP's, not the Universal Driver Lite.

Our Network Products do not need a server per se - they need to be installed on a machine that has Services (as that is what we run as in a Windows Server environment). So you could run say, the Universal Driver, on a NT4.0/W2K/XP machine that is acting as the server in your five-user workgroup.

Has anyone tried this before? Care to share some views on this issues?

Perhaps others will share there experiences. Again, we do not support XP Home, but anecdotally, I know there are shops out there running OI that have XP Home machines connecting to an XP Pro with one of our Network Products installed.

Hope it helps.

Tests without OI 'SERVER' based products

]]a) You cannot run OI on the computer it is load onto. This is because OpenInsight will only perform network locking from a network drive.

Not true. On my laptop running xp pro if i edit a record using an OI databound form THEN try to edit a record using the system editor I get

'Entity is already locked by this station' in the status of the system editor. Locking is working.

If i go to my xp home system and do the same .. the results are the same .. locking works

]]Windows XP will not let you map a local drive as a network drive. This is a restriction built into Windows XP by Microsoft so that it forces you to purchase Windows Server.

Not sure what you mean but will try this ..

XP home .. set sharing for my c:\revcto directory .. all uses can modify. Then go to my laptop and create a map of Z to \\emachine\revcto

Then explore into z and dig into openinsight directory and right click/drag oinsight.exe to my desktop selecting create shortcut.

Then I dclick the new shorcut and it brings up the development wihdow. So both machines have the development window open. (just to be sure there is no hanky panky going on here i have already renamed the revcto directory on my laptop to revcto-testing .. no attachment will be able to find it now.)

Ok. On the home machine I open the 'problems' window and bring up an existing record 'SLB'. I then do the same with the laptop and get the message the ten record is already locked. I say OK to look at the record. They appear to be the same.

Hmm i say .. lets be sure we are looking at the same data.

So I close the problems screen on the laptop and on the emachine (server or better name 'fileserver') I make a change to the data. Now I go back to the laptop and bring up the same record .. first i get the 'this is locked' message and i OK. When the data is showed it shows the new information.

So it appears to me that

a) i have mapped the HOME machine

b) I have run OI from the home machine on my laptop

c) I have locked record correctly

d) i have changed data and viewed same on the client

]]b) The revelation network products will not work in a Workgroup environment.So you would just buy OI SDP's, not the Universal Driver Lite.

]]Has anyone tried this before? Care to share some views on this issues?

Now you are talking about server products. I have not tested the products running on HOME but since HOME has services I would hazard a guess that it should work.

Have you installed and tested? What exactly happens since your statements about sharing and locking appeared to be incorrect maybe you have just missed something.

Thank you for running those test.U are great.

Yes i have installed and tested them. They works and the result contradict with my previous believes of (a).So i needed someone to confirm these results for me.Actually the whole statement in (a) is to be taken as a whole cause i am testing how to install an oi runtime in a workgroup environment where i do not have any servers, only workstations running on xp home or pro and i do not have to manually dedicate the workstation with the oi runtime installed in its local drive as a server.Meaning the worksation with the oi runtime installed in its local hard drive can also be used to run the oi application( properly with the correct locking with other workstations with a network drive maped to it), instead of just sharing out its oi directory for other workstation to map it as a network drive.My previous believes was that oi multiuser locking or the sdp(5 user) works with networkdrive only and xp do not let u map a network drive to your own local drive but only other workstation drive.So this means i have to manually dedicate one of the workstation as some sort of server just for sharing the oi directory for other wokstsation to map.The smallest workgroup will have to be for 2 users i will need 3 workstation.What i wanted was 2 workstation for 2 users, meaning the so call server(emachine in your case) will also be able to run the oi application with all the proper locking in place.My thought was if i am able to make xp map a network drive to its own local hard drive then it will work.So i tried and to my surprise it works.There was no xp restriction.Ha Ha.

This is what i did, on the wokstation with the oi runtime installed on its local drive, which is the emachine in your case, was to map a network drive to its own local harddrive instead and it works.

Now did u map a network drive to its own local drive for emachine or u just attach the data from your local drive c: or what ever u use? If u did not then this means i dont even have to map a network drive to its own local drive.Ha Ha Ha. Please let me know.

This is great.All the previous restriction is gone or there was no restriction at all.Actually this restriction (a) is from one of my friend which i respect a lot and tought me a lot and i have been following it until this research.

From mine and your testing, it seems oi with sdp will work in a workgroup environment without a server.So the next question is how stable?This will be good news for my future customer with budget constrain and only 2 users.I see a new horizon comming.

As for (b) i have not tested.But like u say, if services is in xp then it should work or hmm…..Anyway if the customer cannot afford a server most probably then will not have user more than 5 so not really need the server products.My 2 cents only.

Anyhow this test will help me to provide another solution to my customer with budget constrain.

So please gives more view so we can confirm this.

]We do not support XP Home but OI should run fine on XP Pro.

Huh?? What does that means?

]Yes you can run OI on the computer it is installed on (think of a site with a single user runtime). Now when you are speaking of running a multi-user site with no network product, well, there are a few issues to look at. Maybe the next response will solve the dilemma.

I know that you can share a local drive on XP Pro - which is what you mean by mapping it as a network drive, correct?

Yes, i am speaking of running a multi-user site but with only sdp and with 2 workstation only.Where both must be able to run the oi application and not manually dedicate one of them.If not for 2 users i will need 3 machine.I need to install an oi runtime with sdp for 1 workstation and share it out to the other workstation for network drive mapping.But i also need that installed machine to run oi apps as well.So i thought of mapping a network drive as well to its own local drive but it seems now i dont even have to do that.So when these 2 user start using/enter and update data the locking will work properly.I need clarification on this.

Sorry, did not catch u on these.

1)What are the issues? Please let me know.

2)What was the next respond? Yes it seems i can share my own local drive to myself for mapping as a network drive to myself.This was i can use the workstation as well ans for 2 user only 2 workstration.But it seems now i dont even have to map the network drive.So actually the sdp locking is it still based on network drive?

]Our Network Products do not need a server per se - they need to be installed on a machine that has Services (as that is what we run as in a Windows Server environment). So you could run say, the Universal Driver, on a NT4.0/W2K/XP machine that is acting as the server in your five-user workgroup.

Great news.Thanks for the confirmation.

]Perhaps others will share there experiences. Again, we do not support XP Home, but anecdotally, I know there are shops out there running OI that have XP Home machines connecting to an XP Pro with one of our Network Products installed.

Hope it helps.

Huh?? Works but not supported?????

So can anyone confirm that oi can be deployed onto a workgroup for 2 users with only 2 workstation?

While testing the workgroup without server, i also tried some sort of client server type installation.I install 2 oi runtime application on 2 workstation and 1 set of data on one of these workstation.The locking works even though its 2 different runtime on 2 different workstation. So how does the locking mechanism of the sdp works? In the data itself? Food for thoughts.

Hope someone else can also confirm these.

OK without addressing your many specific queries - to clarify one thing.

The whole point of the NPP and subsequent drivers was to remove the reliance on the old DOS Int 21h interrupt for locking. In other words you COULD run on the same machine without redirecting the drive letter. It has been this way for nearly a decade now. If you're using a form of the NPP you're fine.

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]Perhaps others will share there experiences. Again, we do not support XP Home, but anecdotally, I know there are shops out there running OI that have XP Home machines connecting to an XP Pro with one of our Network Products installed.

Hope it helps.

Huh?? Works but not supported?????

Hi William. I think what Kevin is saying is that it may or may not work with XP Home on your machine. It's not "supported" because we cannot, through our thorough testing procedures, certify that it will be able to work consistently on all XP Home machines. It may be a hardware related issue, vendor specific issues, etc. If we cannot get it to work properly on a consistent basis, then we don't label it as supported. Hence, it may or may not work.

I generally advise users contemplating a new machine purchase to upgrade the OS because of that possibility or to make sure they are able to return the machine after testing the app if it does not work. That's the issue with buying a non-supported OS. It's like telling Arev users purchasing a new machine to make sure that it supports expanded memory before buying. It generally become a hassle after the exchange period has expired.

Hope that clarifies that part of the discussion.

Regards,

Bill

You are welcome. Your friend, though wrong in this instance, is right that MS has taken many networking capabilities out of HOME (don't remember the os test mag that had the report but it was several years ago).

If you are only going to have a 2 user system then stick with the simple 'fileshare' methodology. I would suggest that the files reside on the PRO machine but that is up to you.

If you are going to have more than 2-3 users then get the Lite .. run it on a PRO machine.

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