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Platinum for Windows - Installation to NT Server\NT Client
Considerations and Configuration Suggestions
Pre-Installation Steps
On the server and each client machine isolate all versions of Btrieve. Only a single version of Btrieve may be run on a system for all installed programs. Running different versions of the Btrieve record manager may cause data corruption as well as extremely slow processing.
Using the DIR command with the /S parameter is the most effective means of locating these program files. By executing the below commands on each server and client volume all Btrieve programs will be located.
DIR BT*.* /S
DIR WB*.* /S
The files located must either be renamed or moved (copy and delete) to the directory of the applications requiring this version of Btrieve. Btrieve versions which are not version 6.15 should not be in the PATH statement
The only exception to the above will be the BTI.INI file in the client Windows directory or WINNT35 directory.
Installing Platinum for Windows to the Server
Follow the documented installation instructions in Chapter 2 of the System Management manual.
Installing Platinum for Windows Client
Follow the documented installation instructions in Chapter 2 of the System Management manual.
Defining the Platinum Application Servers
NT Server will allow one or several Application Servers (PASs) to be setup on the Server machine. As with other network configurations a separate machine or machines for the PAS is also possible.
If the PASs are to be set up on the NT Server machine there are two methods to achieve this result.
1. When logged in as the Admin user on the PFW client define all the PASs before defining any clients. First define the company drive specifications specifying the drive letter where the company data files will reside in respect to the server. This will most likely be drive C: or D:.
Next define all of the Application Servers. Then the printers in respect to how they are viewed from the Server. Printers should be shared and attached to a specific port.
Under User Setup select each PAS in turn. This will create the directories for the each PAS containing the correct company drive spec.’s and printer setups.
To define Users the company drive definition must be changed to reflect the drive letter the users will use with respect to the location of the volume on the server.
2. The second way of the setting up the PAS is to define the PASs the with the same company drive specifications as the user’s. After starting each PAS, see starting the PAS below, change the company drive spec.’s manually from the Company Setup - Company Maintenance option within Platinum.
Establishing Platinum Application Servers on NT Server 3.51
The Platinum Application Server (PAS) runs within the DOS environment. Certain steps are required to establish a PAS or multiple PASs to run on the NT Server 3.51 computer before a PAS session can be launched. Depending on the volume of network traffic, number of users, and type of computer, several PAS sessions could be running simultaneously on one NT Server.
NT Configurations could include the following:
NT Server 3.51 as the File Server running multiple application servers.
Single or Multiple NT Servers connected to an NT Server File Server or a Novell Netware Server.
Prerequisites
All Companies, Printers, Queues, and PAS users have been created using the appropriate wizards within PFW. If this has not been done, please do so before continuing.
There should be a CONFIG.NT file in the SYSTEM32 directory. The file should contain the following:
FILES = 125
Creating the PAS Batch File in the Platinum Directory
The /USER: switch is required in the batch file that will ultimately launch the PAS session. The switch identifies the user directory that will be used by the PAS. This directory contains the information for printers, companies, security and other Platinum system related files.
When setting up users within PFW, the User ID is specified. The following example shows the batch file to start a PAS.The NETSTART.BAT file was copied to the new file POST.BAT. A PAS has been created that will monitor the Posting Queue. Once the PAS user is created by the User Wizard, a directory named POST will be created as a sub-directory of the PLATINUM directory.
The batch file to launch the PAS on the NT Server would be as follows:
echo off
echo Starting Platinum (Multi-user) ...
set Platinum_Shell=Platinum Shell -
set PltPrm=
utload1 /f
plt /USER:POST %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
The file has been named POST.BAT.
As you can see, this file is identical to the NETSTART.BAT file with the addition of the /USER:POST switch added to the PLT line.
You would create a separate batch file for each application server running in an NT Server environment.
Creating the PIF file on the NT Server
The last step is to create a PIF file to launch the batch file created.
The Program Filename, Window Title and Startup Directory will change based on your preferences.
Start the PIF Editor and define the Program Filename: as the drive and path to the batch file you will use to start Platinum as a PAS. In this example the entry would be, where x is the drive where Platinum is installed.
x:\PLATINUM\POST.BAT
The Startup Directory would then be specified as:
x:\PLATINUM
The Memory Requirements KB Required and KB Preferred are -1. Likewise both the KB Limit for EMS Memory and XMS Memory are defined as -1.
Save the record as POST.PIF in the Platinum directory.
Adding Program Items to a Program Group
The last step is to add the Program Item to launch the PIF in the PFW Program Group.
Get focus on the Program Group where you would want to launch the PAS.The following shows the properties necessary for creating the new program item. These options will change based on your preferences.
From the Program Manager File menu select Properties. The Description Line is your choice. The Command Line parameter is x:\PLATINUM\POST.PIF.
The Working Directory is x:\PLATINUM. Click Ok and Select an ICON to assign to the Program Item.
Repeat the above sets for each PAS you wish to define on the NT Server.
Other Considerations
Security - Although using the NTFS file system will allow greater resolution in assigning security than using the FAT system several sites have had problems with file locking when using NTFS. For this reason it is suggested to use the FAT file system.
Sharing Drives
When the client connects to the server volume where Platinum is installed the volume must be shared from the root of the drive. This is necessary because Platinum will be a drive path for creating files assuming Platinum as the first level off the root.
