ATD NEWS SOFTWARE NETWORKING / DATABASE FAQs... 2 Database Issues:... 2 Q: What are the system requirements for installing MSDE server?... 2 Q: What is networking support offered by MSDE?... 2 Q: What are the assumptions made for deploying ATD News applications?... 3 Q: How to install MSDE?... 3 Q: What if the server doesn t start automatically, after I change my NT password?. 4 Q: How to Uninstall MSDE?... 6 Q: What is Back Up?... 6 Q: What is Restore?... 6 Q: What is Archiving?... 6 Q: How can I transfer database from one computer to another?... 7 Q: How to setup ATD News on one computer to access database on another computer?... 7 Q: What can I do if my system slows down after running ATD News for some time?... 11
ATD NEWS SOFTWARE NETWORKING / DATABASE FAQs Database Issues: The term Database means, a repository of data (like Access database). For ATD News, the data is all the density values, Print settings, etc. for each measurement taken. ATD News uses Microsoft s MSDE as the database. The following is a description of MSDE. Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) is a reliable and robust data engine that's easy to work with and its scalability to grow directly in SQL Server 7 is a significant advantage. MSDE is actually SQL Server 7; for the most part, MSDE is the SQL engine with the administrative functions of full SQL stripped out. ATD News Database is located at /Data/NewsPaper.mdf under the directory you chose to install. FAQ s: Q: What are the system requirements for installing MSDE server? A: PC with a Pentium (166 MHz or higher) or Alpha processor Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system version 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 4 or later (Service Pack 4 included) Microsoft Internet Explore 4.01 with Service Pack 1 or later (both included) 32 MB of RAM Hard Disk space required: 65-180 MB of Server; approximately 170 MB for typical installation CD-ROM drive VGA or higher-resolution monitor; Super VGA recommended Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device Q: What is networking support offered by MSDE? A: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT built-in-network software (additional network software is not required unless you are using Banyan, VINES, or AppleTalk ADSP, Novell NetWare client support is provided by NWLink) Clients Supported: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT Workstation, UNIX, Apple Macintosh (Requires ODBC client software from a third party vendor), and OS/2 (Requires ODBC client software from a third party vendor.).
Q: How much data can MSDE store? A: MSDE databases are limited to 2 Gigabytes of data. This limit is per database, and not per server, so a single MSDE server can support multiple MSDE databases, each containing up to the 2 Gigabyte limit. If you anticipate that your database is currently or will grow beyond 2 Gigabytes, upgrading to SQL Server Desktop will remove this limit. SQL Server Desktop has no limit on data, but requires a SQL Server CAL (Client Access License). Q: Can MSDE databases serve multiple users? A: MSDE is tuned for desktop and shared solutions where there are less than 5 concurrent users hitting the database at any one time. SQL Server Desktop also shares this optimization at five concurrent users or less. If your need to support more than this number of concurrent users, we highly recommend you migrate to SQL Server or SQL Server Enterprise editions for optimal performance at this higher level of scalability. Q: What are the limitations of MSDE operations under Windows 95 and Windows 98? A: MSDE cannot use integrated security features of Windows NT when operating on a Windows 95 or Windows 98 platform. Also, on Windows 95 and Windows 98, MSDE cannot be started remotely. Additionally, Windows 95 and Windows 98 do not support some third party network protocols with MSDE. For further information on MSDE refer to www.microsoft.com Q: What are the assumptions made for deploying ATD News applications? A: If you want to install ATD News Database on an existing MSDE or SqlServer7 Database, make sure that your username is sa & password is blank. If you do not wish to change your login to the above mentioned then you may let ATD News database create a new database server on a different machine. These are the assumptions made apart from the above-mentioned FAQ s. Q: How to install MSDE? A: ATD News automatically installs MSDE, let it install all your defaults and this installation process may take a few minutes. The server status is shown in the taskbar tray. If you do not find this icon, go to start - programs MSDE - Service Manager, open it and close it, and this icon is created. The tool tip text shows the Machine name, e.g. TIMWALKER_NT4, which is the default server name. The green arrow indicates that SQL Server is running (See Graphic Below).
To disable SQL Server temporarily, right-click on the icon and choose Stop. The green arrow turns to a red square. Repeat and select Start to restart SQL Server. You can also right-click and select SQL Server Service Manager. Here you can indicate if you want SQL Server to start automatically when Windows does. Q: What if the server doesn t start automatically, after I change my NT password? A: Note that SQL Server is bound to the name of your computer and your login. If you change those parameters without informing SQL Server, your SQL Server won't start automatically as it does now. You can certainly change logins and such on an NT machine that is serving as your local SQL server, but remember to change the login for MSSqlServer service in the services utility which can be found in control panel s Administrative Tools folder as shown in the following graphic.
Q: How to Uninstall MSDE? A: Make sure that server is stopped and you don t have service manager icon in the task bar. Then go to control panel - Add/Remove programs, select MSDE and select remove. Q: What is Back Up? A: Backing up database is like making a copy of a file for future emergency. ATD News-Settings Tool provides the functionality for backing up database. (See graphic below) Q: What is Restore? A: You restore the database from the backed up copy incase of emergency. ATD News-Settings Tool provides the functionality for restoring database. (See graphic below) Q: What is Archiving? A: Archiving is to make a permanent backup of old data, which might not be needed day to day and proceed with a fresh database again. Useful in case your hard drive is getting full. (See graphic below) ATD News-Settings Tool provides the functionality for backing up & restoring databases.
For archiving, it is very important that you save factory shipped backup Database that is empty. These backup files have a.bak extension. When it is time to archive the data, just backup Newspaper database to a different.bak file and restore the empty.bak file as Newspaper database. All these are done using Settings Tool. If you do not have the empty database, then once you backup your data, reinstall MSDE and answer yes to overwrite the data. Q: How can I transfer database from one computer to another? A: Transferring existing databases from one machine to another, is almost similar to Backup and restore, except you will backup the database on a one machine and restore it on another. But MSDE must be installed on both. Significance of DSN Entry: Q: How to setup ATD News on one computer to access database on another computer? A: ATD News gets its knowledge of which database to access, from the DSN Entry in the ODBC Data source administrator located in the control panel (see graphic below). ATD News uses NewsPaper DSN. Select that DSN and Click configure, you ll see a window like below.
From the Server list box, select the database server you wish to connect to and click Next to go to the following window. If the server you wish to connect is not listed then go to next window and follow the instructions to create an alias. NOTE: Make sure that the server is running before clicking next. If you want to connect to your own machine choose (local). If you are not running Windows 98, make sure that the settings are as shown and click next. If you are running Windows 98 or if you want to use special network protocols or if you want to create an alias, click on Client Configuration button, and from the following
window, select your protocol from Network libraries group. Typically for Windows 98 you will use TCP/IP protocol with port number 1433. Click Ok. If the Server alias was not in the server list in the previous window, go back to that window now and reselect the server to connect to. Make sure that the settings are as shown and click next.
Make sure that the settings are as shown and click Finish. Click on TestDataSource button
Click ok. From now on ATD News will use that database. Q: What can I do if my system slows down after running ATD News for some time? A: In this case you must archive your database & restore an empty ATD News database.