need network suggestion

[vasant panjabi]

a5v4 build 230 -
we have set up peer to peer networking -
one main station (800MHZ- 256 MB MEMORY - installed 3 weeks back - windows me) + 4 work stations.(ALL 450MHZ + 128MB - windows 98 2nd edition).
we connect thru 3com lan card 10/100 & 3 com 6 port hub. all this done about 8 months back - so probably the latest models.

on the main station have made `c:a5v4a5data` a shared folder - as "a5datashare" (no mapping)and just alpha five installed on the work stations `c:a5v4"

in the beginging the network was reasonably fast enough on the work stations but as time passed it started becoming slow. so decided to upgrade the main computer with the latest available. but this made no significant
improvement but since a week it has become too slow. could it be due to the increase in data substantially - though about 30 tables and each about 900 records or so..

i need advice as how to improve this.
shall i map the drive or run network optimization (this not done yet)or both as thought no need for such a small peer to peer networking.

in case run network optimization do i have to do this on the main station only or only on all the 4 workstations.. or on all 5 machines..

i understand this will create a shadow database - do i have to change any folder settings on any of the machines..

i am willing to spend further in case new equipement required like an auto switch as i read somewhere that auto switches are better than hubs..

as you must have guessed i am a novice in networking- so need all the help & instructions i can get but i need to desperately improve networking perfomance. thought that windows me would help or is it a problem that have windows me on the main & windows 98 on the other machines - though when 45v4 used on the main station - it flies all over & super fast - but on the work stations it can be accessed very slowly. it loads fast enough but access & saving of records & viewing records is v e r y slow..

thanks in advance,
v.p

[Finian Lennon]

RE: need network suggestion

Hi Vasant:

You don't specify, but I'll assume that your hub is capable of 100mps transfer. If not, it should be. Your hardware is more than fast enough and the table/record sizes you describe should have no effect on performance.

You'll see an immediate improvement with network optimization, which requires no additional investment, so I'd do that first. It's very easy to do. No changes are needed on the server. Open the program on the workstation as you do now, go to the Control Panel and click File/Network Optimize. You'll see the blue line as it copies the shadow files on to the workstation. Then change the workstation desktop shortcut to point to the shadow database instead of the server version. By default the shadow is saved in c:/program files/a5v4/shadow/database/database.adb if your workstation version of A5 is installed in c:/program files/a5v4. Repeat for each workstation.

You'll be amazed with the result.

Finian

[ROBERT SULLIVAN]

RE: need network suggestion

Optimization will speed up your system dramatically. The other thing I would look at would be open files, open indexes and fragmented files. Your current system shouldn't slow down that dramatically by adding one more station. Especially with the system you described. It might be software conflicts more than hardware problems

Bob Sullivan

[vasant panjabi]

RE: need network suggestion

the hub is capable of 100mps transfer.

thanks for your detail explanation - will optimize on all work
stations & point the shortcut to the shadow database.

just one more question. think a stupid one. i presume the folder
c:a5v4a5data - on the main machine, should remain as a shared folder - named - `a5datashare` or is that not necessary once run optimization..

will let you know how it goes. hwr, that will be about a week later as
travelling & will be back at work only then..

thanks again,

v.p

[Finian Lennon]

RE: need network suggestion

Leave the data folder shared on the server. Also leave it mapped as a network drive on each workstation, remember the workstation will still be accessing the server for the data.

Finian

[vasant panjabi]

RE: need network suggestion

sir,

i refer to your suggestion on about end august ref: msg id 26946 - "need" network suggestion".

i just arrived at my destination (dubai-u.a.e.) this tuesday, and first thing
on wed. morning - opened one of the work stations - went to control
panel "nivaco.adb" and clicked on "network optimize". it went smoothly
and then created a shortcut
c:/a5v4/shadow/a4datashare/nivaco.adb
(the / pls read as backslash).
i did not map any drive as i am not so sure or confident doing that..

it worked perfectly and noticeably faster. i repeated the process on the
other 4 workstations. the result were excellent and we tried all day wed/thurs with no problemand we were all happy that this problem is solved.

matter of fact, was going to report to you today .

hwr, then i got more inquisitive and on one of the work stations opened the "nivaco" control panel and ran "refresh shadow" (network optimize was greyed)

here the problem started. the short cut would not open the main menu (nivaco main menu) which is supposed to open in `dummy.dbf" - (load form at startup) on this
and constantly getting error `cannot find
c:a5v4a5 datadummy.dbf`

(this on this workstation only - others still working fine..)

this is strange as this folder `a5 data` exists only on the server.
instead i can see the control panel and all dbf files as they supposed to be
c:/a5v4/shadow/a5datashare/******.dbf

from here also cannot open any table or form & get the same error.

i thought refresh shadow does what it is supposed to do - refresh the shadow and changes nothing else..

sir, what have i done wrong and sincerely would appreciate if could give some help - how to correct this for i understand that it would be necessary to run refresh shadow on a regular basis as and when any form etc has changed.

Besides this do I have to make any changes in a5v4 - settings - shared & private path. At the moment they are:
C:/a5v4

thanks & regards,
v.p