ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/MISC/NETWORK/BLTS.ZIP/BLT14

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TECHNICAL BULLETIN
3.28.90 JCR

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE: AccPac Plus 5.1, Computer Associates


NETWORK INSTALLATION

Installing WSM
The Windowing System Manager (WSM) should first be installed on the
network server.  The network does not have to be present to install,
however, SHARE must be loaded (they recommend running as SHARE /L:250
/F10000), and FILES should be present in your config.sys file (they
recommend running FILES = 250 NOTE: WSM Installation notes and
recommendations can be found on page 2-4, Installing ACCPAC Plus and
Setting Up Data, from the ACCPAC Plus Windowing System Manager
manual).  Server and Workstation share and file arguments can be found
on page 2-17, Planning Your Network, from the ACCPAC Plus LanPak
manual.  The WSM is installed by typing A:INSTALL at the C: prompt
with the first WSM disk in drive A:.  I had no problems installing to
a substituted drive, a redirected drive or a local drive, however, I
would recommend reviewing "Network Operation" on the following page
for configuration.

Once WSM is installed, it should automatically bring you to a menu
with an option to Install Product.  If you are returned to the DOS
prompt, check to be sure SHARE is loaded and that no errors have
occurred.  You may run WSM from this point by typing in PLUS.  Press
the F3 key to select your option and I to Install Product.

Installing ACCPAC Plus Products
Insert the "Product One" disk of the product (Order Entry, Accounts
Payable, etc) you are installing, and select Continue from the
installation box.  Follow the prompts to insert additional disks if
necessary.

Installing the LanPak
Install the LanPak product disk following the instructions above.
The system will then prompt you the following questions:
Are you installing on a Novell Network? --- answer no
Have you read the README.TXT file?      --- answer yes if you have

The Network Activator Installation screen should appear.  The status
should indicate that the network units on this disk have not been
installed.  The system will then ask you (Y/N) to Activate the
Network. Select YES and a Host Network scroll box will appear.  Move
the arrow key to the entry field, select IBM PC LAN and press enter.
Select YES to confirm your network name and a message will indicate
that activation of the network is taking place.  After installation,
the status should show that 4 Network units have been installed and
the Host Network field should display IBM PC LAN.  After activation,
select CONTINUE and a message will display "Completing Activation."
The system will then prompt you (Y/N) to install another program,
select NO.

To check the LanPak installation, exit WSM to DOS (press ESC at the
Start List and select YES).  Re-start WSM and the network name should
be displayed on the screen header line.

Additional LanPak Installations (Network Units currently installed):
Install LanPak product disks using the Install Program function as
defined above.  The Network Activator Installation screen should
appear and the number of Network Units currently installed should not
include the units on this disk.  Select YES to install the units.
After installation, the status should indicate that the Network Units
have been added to the existing Network Units.  Select CONTINUE and
select NO if you do not wish to install another product.


Note on LanPaks...
Each LanPak disk contains four Network Units.  You cannot install one
LanPak disk twice. Refer to the LanPak manual to determine the number
of Network Units required for each configuration.

Workstation Names...
The Workstation Name identifies each workstation to other users on
the network.  To give each workstation a unique name, the workstation
must first be assigned its own Option directory.  This can be
accomplished through the DOS SET command; SET plususer = d:\pathname
where d:\pathname is the drive and directory containing the user
options.  This can also be accomplished by starting WSM with the "/u"
command; PLUS /ud:\pathname.

Once this has been done, you may change the Workstation Name at the
ACCPAC Start Menu by pressing F3 for System Manager and selecting
Options. You will see the workstation name in parenthesis (the
default is UNNAMED).  Press enter to change the name.  NOTE: We have
received reports indicating that the Network Name must be unique in
the first four characters.  ACCPAC uses that four character prefix to
create work files for various situations.  Problems may occur if they
are not unique.


NETWORK OPERATION

Once the ACCPAC products have been installed on a server, the node
must log into the server, share the root device on which ACCPAC has
been installed, and any necessary printing devices.  If the server is
also a workstation, the server should run ACCPAC from his own
physical device.

When ACCPAC is initially installed on the server, it creates a series
of directories and files from the root, therefore, the root must be
shared instead of any particular directory.  If security is a concern
or you do not wish the users to have access to the entire root, you
may install ACCPAC to a subdirectory which has been substituted or
redirected with a drive designation as follows:

1.  Make a directory on your server called \ACCPAC.
2.  Issue a DOS SUBST command to redirect \ACCPAC to a drive designation;
     SUBST E: C:\ACCPAC, Where E: is the first available drive designation
3.  Install ACCPAC WSM and any subsequent products onto drive E:
    (instead of drive C:).
4.  Run NET_MGR and create a shared resource called ACCPAC with a link path
    of C:\ACCPAC.
5.  Issue a NET USE command to link to the ACCPAC resource;
    NET USE E: \\SERVER\ACCPAC, Where E: is the redirected drive designation
    and \\SERVER is the name of the server on which the ACCPAC program has
    been installed, and \ACCPAC is the resource name which was set up in
    NET_MGR on \\SERVER.
6.  Switch to the E: prompt and run WSM.

NOTE: This operation may be preferred, however, once installed in
this manner, ACCPAC must always be run from the new drive designation
on both the server and the workstations.  The server is not required
to net use his own \ACCPAC resource (which would slow things down and
may cause other problems), but may instead use the SUBST command to
run ACCPAC from drive E:.  To avoid path confusion, keep each user to
the same redirected drive (have them all run ACCPAC from drive E:).
ACCPAC Plus requires each node to have a minimum of 640K RAM.


QUICK OPERATING NOTES

There really are no "Quick Operating Notes" for ACCPAC.  All products
are executed through the WSM program's Start List.  The four
functions available from that point are:

       F1 = Help
       F3 = System Manager
       F7 = Learn Macro
       F8 = Run Macro


SUMMARY
Avoiding Problems
Since we've received so many calls from ACCPAC / LANtastic users,
here's a summary of things to "watch out for" during installation:

- Make sure ACCPAC Plus has been installed for IBM PC LAN; NOT Novell.
- Make sure DOS SHARE and FILES= are appropriately configured on the
  server AND workstations (refer to page 2-17, Planning your Network,
  from the ACCPAC LanPak manual).
- If you have assigned workstation names, make sure their first four
  characters are unique and the environment variable has been properly
  set.
- If you are running expanded memory, make sure your memory exclude
  switch is set correctly.
- Make sure each workstation has a minimum of 640K RAM.
- If your server is also an ACCPAC workstation, make sure it is
  running ACCPAC from a physical or substituted drive.  While it should
  also work on a redirected drive, we have received reports which
  indicate that when running ACCPAC on a server on a redirected drive
  (using the NET USE command), problems may occur.  I have been so far
  unable to verify this report.

Comments
ACCPAC Plus is a high-end, sophisticated accounting product.  Because
of its complex functions, one may notice some degradation when
multiple users are accessing the same product.  Additional memory,
cache utilities or high- performance equipment may effectively
enhance the overall operation of ACCPAC Plus on LANtastic.

Finally, the Macro function of ACCPAC Plus was easy to implement and
the menus are very user friendly.  ACCPAC Plus is compatible with
LANtastic and can be found on our compatibility list as a recommended
product.


Vendor Info

Computer Associates International, Inc.
1240 McKay Drive
San Jose, CA  95131
[phone]


CONFIGURING A WORKSTATION USING PROFILE.LD4

We have received various reports that one may experience problems
when using different redirected drive designations for each
workstation with ACCPAC. I have not been able to verify these
reports.  To eliminate any possibilities, we recommend that each user
specify the same drive designation (see Network Operation, pg 2 of
this bulletin).

In some cases the user must access the server through a modem which
may cause certain performance limitations.  For these users, Computer
Associates recommends an alternate installation method (which
includes the modification of PROFILE.LD4).  Please refer to Adding a
Remote Workstation, pg 4-16 of the 5.1 LanPak manual, for more
information.

If your users do require different drive designations to run ACCPAC,
it is possible to modify PROFILE.LD4.  Be sure to modify the file on
each workstation - do not attempt to modify the file located on the
server.  To modify the file (pg 4-19 in LanPak manual), you must
first:

1.  Ensure the file is located on the root of each workstation and is
    not read-only (for edit purposes).
2.  Set a path to the location of the local profile.ld4 file on the
    workstation so the system will know which .ld4 file to reference.

The file should contain at least two pieces of information (I've
listed the defaults here):
       \ASP   {The location of the \ASP directory on the server
       10     {the number of windows that workstation can have open

Edit the file so that the first line reads X:\ASP where X: is the
redirected drive designation to the server's ACCPAC directory.  For
example, if you've issued a command such as
NET USE F: \\SERVER\ACCPAC (where SERVER is the server's machine name
and ACCPAC is the name of the resource created on the server for
ACCPAC), the first line should be changed to F:\ASP. Save the changes
to the file, ensure your path is properly set, redirect your drive
designation (X:) to the server's ACCPAC resource and you should be
able to run PLUS from that redirected drive.

These steps must be taken on each workstation.


TESTING

Computer Associates has a series of tests required for AccPac Plus.
Each test was conducted thoroughly, and I have briefly outlined any
particulars below.

Installation Test Procedures
These procedures tests the various installation configurations for
WSM, the products and LanPak.  No problems were encountered.

Start List Test Procedures
These procedures tests the Start List, which is an initial menu
selection of products.  No problems were encountered in creating,
editing or deleting products on the list, and the DOS Programs
supported all of the network-supported DOS functions.  Multiple
windows were opened simultaneously (up to 10) with no problem.

Multi-User Test Procedures
These procedures test the multi-user access to various records within
the ACCPAC products.  Again, no problems were encountered.

Resource Test Procedures
This series of tests allowed me to test the file
sharing/creating/editing/deleting aspects of ACCPAC.  No problems
were encountered.

Printing Test Procedures
These procedures tested printer sharing.  The server was configured
with a variety of printers, and each series of control codes worked
fine.  NET LPT TIMEOUT was not required on either the server or the
workstation, however, both required that the user appropriately
issued the NET USE LPT1 and/or NET USE LPT2 so the network could
recognize the device.  If a user did not issue a NET USE command,
ACCPAC would print either to a local device or a printer error would
result.

I would like to note that in order to request a device change for a
specific report (for example, I wanted to generate invoices on
printer already loaded with forms), one must be at that report menu
to change the device, or the device will remain at <DEFAULT>.  Once
you have configured a report for a specific device, that report will
always print to that specific device until you change it.  If that
device is currently unavailable (not attached, not powered up) an
error message will appear and if that device is currently busy, your
print job will be despooled.

Expanded Memory Test Procedures
These procedures test ACCPAC Plus with Expanded Memory.  When it is
loaded properly, the initial CA screen will display the amount of
memory available.  ACCPAC uses expanded memory to help optimize
certain functions, such as a search.

For these tests, I ran a CompuAdd 386 with a total of 2Meg RAM (1Meg
reserved for CompuAdd).  I loaded Quarterdeck's QEMM device driver to
address the RAM with the following syntax: DEVICE=QEMM.SYS
EXCLUDE=D000-D800, where D000- D800 is used by the network adapter.

I did encounter problems with the CompuAdd 386's enhanced keyboard
during this test.  Further testing will need to be conducted to
determine the nature of the problem.  A swap to a generic enhanced
keyboard proved to be a temporary fix.