Installation and Configuration

Sambar Server Documentation

Server Installation

Pre-Installation

This section lists the pre-installation requirements for installing the Sambar Server.

Hardware Requirements (mimimum tested on):

Pentium PC (75 MHz, minimum)
16 MB RAM
5 MB disk space (minimum)
TCP/IP (either Ethernet card or dialup adapter)
Monitor with a minimum of 640x480 resolution and at least 256 colors

Software Requirements:

MS Windows 95/98 or NT
ODBC32.DLL (see www.microsoft.com)
TCP/IP must be installed
Netscape Navigator 2.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later (for support of frames, Java, and client image maps)

The above is the minimum recommended configuration. One user has written they are successfully using Sambar Server 4.02 on a 486/33 with 8MB of memory.

Web browsers require a TCP/IP protocol stack to communicate with a Web server, even if the server is on the same machine and there is no intervening network. You must have TCP/IP installed to use the Sambar Server.

Installing the Sambar Software

To install the Sambar software:

1. If downloading from the network, unzip the downloaded file into a temporary directory. Otherwise, proceed to step 2.

2. Double-click on the setup executable. This is a standard Install-Shield application which prompts you for a directory in which install the software. To uninstall the software, use the Windows Add/Remove Software tool found on the Control Panel.

Important: The Sambar Server cannot be installed and run in the root directory of any drive (i.e. c:\).

Other than InstallShield entries (used for the uninstall utility), no Registry Entries are created or used by the Sambar Server.

Testing the Sambar Server

1. Start the Sambar Server by double-clicking on the Sambar Server icon (Windows NT 3.51) or selecting the Sambar Server from the Programs menu (Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0).

If you are a Windows 95/98 user or Windows NT user, the Sambar Server Icon should appear in the tray at the bottom of your screen. Right mouse click on this icon and select open to see the status of the server. Note: NT 3.51 users should see the Sambar Server dialog popup.

If the Sambar Server icon does not appear, a failure has resulted in the premature shutdown of the server. An error message indicating the cause of the failure can be found in the log/server.log file (found in the directory in which the Sambar Server was installed).

2. Start Netscape Navigator.

3. Connect to the Sambar Server by typing the machine name into the "Location:" input box and pressing Enter (i.e. http://localhost).

Note: To shut down the Sambar Server, enter the System Administration forms, and select 'Shutdown' from within the System Management form. Alternatively, you can exit from the application GUI.

Running as an NT Service

To install the Sambar Server as an Windows NT Service run the following from the command line:

C:\Program Files\sambar\bin> ntserver -i

The above command will install the Sambar Server NT Service which can then be started using the Services control panel. To uninstall the Sambar Server NT Service, run the following from the command:

C:\Program Files\sambar\bin> ntserver -u

Finally, the Sambar Server can be executed directly from the command line as a console application by executing the following from the command line:

C:\Program Files\sambar\bin> ntserver -d

Running as an Win95/98 Service

Windows 95/98 has two registry keys that allow users to run applications before a user logs in when the system first starts up. This functionality is similar to the NT Service Control subsystem.

At boot time, the Windows 95/98 system checks two registry keys: RunServices and RunServicesOnce. To run the Sambar Server at startup, use the registry editor to edit the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices

Add the following String to the above registry key (assuming you installed the server in c:\Program Files\Sambar):

Sambar="C:\Program Files\sambar\bin\server.exe"

In addition to the above registry entry, add the following to your autoexec.bat file:

SET SAHOME=C:\Program Files\sambar

This environment variable indicates the location of the Sambar Server installation when the "working directory" cannot be used or is unavailable. A bug in the server GUI code prevents the server from properly recognizing that the operating system is Windows 95/98; as a result, the server is started maximized rather than minimized in the icon tray.

Alternatively, you can use Windows Explorer to put a shortcut to the Sambar Server in the C:\Win95\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp. The Properties of the shortcut file should have the Target point to C:\Program Files\sambar\bin\server.exe and the Start In point to C:\Program Files\sambar (assuming the default Sambar Server installation). The server will properly start minimized in icon tray.

Running the Sambar Server Non-hidden

By default on Windows 95/98, the Sambar Server starts "hidden", but it can be configured to run "showing" by passing the argument -s to the server on the command line.

In addition, the argument -t can be used to indicate that the server should not send trace data to the GUI when it is in the icon tray. By default, if the server is hidden, trace data is still captured/maintained. For high-performance sites, the server should either be run as an NT Service or run with the -t option to minimize the impact of tracing data when iconified.

Notes

In beta 5, the documentation was moved to the syshelp directory. This enables the server documentation to be available even after moving the Documents Directory.

When upgrading from a previous server installation, the following steps are recommended:

Always install in a new directory.
Copy previous *.ini and messages files on top of your new installation.
Make sure your Documents Directory is located outside your install directory(s) (i.e. d:\docs)
Shutdown your old server and startup your new one.
Rebuild your search indexes.
After it's run well for a week, delete your old installation directory.