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Real Time eXecutives,
Inc.
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Technical Tips
Optimizing
Performance for Dial-up Users
There are two main areas which can be optimized for dialup
users.
- Loading the description files
- Loading client applications
Optimizing performance for dialup users involves copying files
from the server to the dialup user's PC or Laptop, so that the
dialup user loads these files from the local system rather than
trying to load the files across the dialup connection. If the
dialup user is using single seat licensing, they will always have
the applications locally, so only loading the description files
need to be optimized.
Note: if either of these optimization techniques
is utilized, you need to remember and update the dialup users
files whenever any of the file server files are updated, which
were originally copied to the dialup user's system.
Loading the description files
Description files always come in pairs. These are the and HS_DESC.NDX files. There may be separate description file sets each of your databases, or you may have
only one set of description files for all of your databases, or
some combination. Each time you browse a list of tags in a client
application, the description file set will be loaded into the
application, for the database you are working with. If the
description files are located on the file server (as is normally
the case), then the description files are loaded across the
network. When the network is a dialup line, this can be very
slow. To overcome this, you can locate a copy of the description
files on the local system and modify the local system
configuration to use these local description files instead of the
files located on the file server. However, if the file server
description files are updated (as a result of tag list
maintenance), the dialup user's local description files will be
out of date.
- Locate your primary Data Base Configuration file,
"HDB_DATA.CNF". This is normally located on
your HDB data server in the share call RTXDatabases (the
name \\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases\Hdb_data.CNF
is used in this example.) If you are unsure exactly where
this file resides, find the RTX.INI file in your Windows
or WinNT directory. In the [RTX] section in this file
there is a keyword "HDBDir=\\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases".
This is the location of your starting HDB_DATA.CNF. Find
this file. If it contains lines starting with the '@'
sign, then it chains together one or more HDB_DATA.CNF
files in a tree type structure. By following this tree to
the end of its branches, you will eventually see the
databases normally displayed in the client applications.
The Data Base Configuration file, assigns names to the
data bases and indicates the location of the Root
directory and Index files. These usually use relative
notation where 'PATH = .' indicates the same directory as
the configuration file, and 'ROOT = HOUR' indicates in a
directory HOUR which is located off of the directory containing the configuration file.
The following example shows the contents of an
HDB_DATA.CNF file which defines three databases, HOUR,
SHIFT and DAY:
- SECTION:
- NAME = HOUR
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT = HOUR
- PATH = .
- SECTION:
- NAME = SHIFT
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT = SHIFT
- PATH = .
- SECTION:
- NAME = DAY
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT = DAY
- PATH = .
- Make a copy of this file on the dialup user's
PC (e.g. in the C:\RTX directory.) Then modify this file
to point the ROOT entries to the network as follows:
- SECTION:
- NAME = HOUR
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT =
\\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases\HOUR
- PATH = .
- SECTION:
- NAME = SHIFT
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT =
\\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases\SHIFT
- PATH = .
- SECTION:
- NAME = DAY
- TYPE = 0
- ROOT =
\\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases\DAY
- PATH = .
- Now copy the Description files (HS_DESC.DBF and
HS_DESC.NDX) from the network to the
same location as this file. If any relative directories
were specified for the 'PATH =" statement, you must
create a similar directory tree on the dialup user's PC,
off of the directory containing the new HDB_DATA.CNF
file, and copy the HS_DESC files from the corresponding locations on the network to the new local locations.
- Lastly, modify the user's
RTX.INI file in his Windows or WinNT directory, so
that the HDBDir entry in the [RTX] section now points to
the new file. Do not
modify any of the other settings in this section.
- [RTX]
- HDBDir=c:\rtx
Use HDBVIEW32.exe to examine the new
configuration. It should show the same databases that were
previously shown, however when you select a database, and click DB
Info you should now see that the location of the INDEX FILE
has changed and is now on the local system. Check this for all
databases.
Loading client applications
There are two methods for installing client applications on a
dialup user's system.
- You may reload the server applications directly on the
dialup user's system. If you install all the Server Apps
into the C:\Rtx directory, the installs will
automatically create a subdirectory "C:\Rtx\RTX
Applications". This contains all of the shortcuts to
the applications on the local system. This directory may
be copied to the user's "Start Menu' folder. If this
is performed in conjunction with Loading the
description files, the directory containing the
new HDB_DATA.CNF file should be specified when the
installs prompt for the HDBDir.
- Perform a normal setup by running the NTSetup.CMD or
95Setup.bat file from the \\RtxDataServer\RTXDatabases
directory. Next copy all the application
folders from the network to the local system (e.g.: to the
C:\Rtx directory). These are usually located on the
network in the share "\\RtxDataServer\RTXApps".
Lastly, explore your windows "Start
Menu", locate the "RTX Applications"
folder, and modify all of the shortcuts in this
directory to point to the new location of the
applications on the users local system.
If the file server application files are updated (as a result
of bug fixes/maintenance upgrades), the dialup user's application
files will be out of date.
