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The contents of this chapter is only relevant to the Enterprise Edition of Alventis.
Alventis Server is a standalone application which implements the Server side of the Client-Server mode of operation of Alventis.
The Server application is part of the DBISAM database engine manufactured by Elevate Software (www.elevatesoft.com). It is remarkably compact and easy to set up. As easy as launching a single executable. This chapter will be largely quoting Elevate Software's instructions.
The Server consists of one small executable file dbsrvr.exe accompanied by a same-name dbsrvr.ini configuration file. There is no installation or deployment procedure to follow. Place the above two files in an empty (preferably) directory of your choice, and you're ready to launch the Server.
When running in normal interactive mode, the Server appears as an icon in the System Tray. Right-clicking it displays a context menu with a few obvious entries.
Double-clicking it displays a status window.
Server Configuration. The dbsrvr.ini configuration file specifies the Server's setup and configuration parameters. It's a regular Windows INI file, and as such can be edited in Notepad or any other plain-text editor. When launching, the Server tries to load its settings from an INI file with the same name as the executable and the .ini extension. If such a file does not exist, the Server starts with default settings which would be fine for most circumstances. You can also launch the Server with command-line switches that would specify the desired parameters. Each switch has an equivalent INI file setting, and they are listed in the following table:
| /sn | Server Name. Specifies the user-defined Server name that will be used to identify the Server to remote sessions. You must enclose the Server name in double quotes if there are spaces in it. The Server name is informational only. |
| /sd | Server Description. Specifies the user-defined Server description that will be displayed in the caption of the Server's user interface. You must enclose it in double quotes if there are spaces in it. The Server description is informational only. |
| /sa | Server Address. Specifies the main Server IP address that the Server will bind to for accepting inbound data connections. The IP address must be specified directly after the /sp switch using dot notation (i.e. 192.168.0.1). The default IP address that the Server will bind to if this switch is not specified is all IP addresses available on the machine. Using this option will cause the Server to only listen on the specified address. This means that it will no longer listen on the local loopback 127.0.0.1 address. |
| /sp | Server Port. Specifies the main Server port that the Server will bind to for accepting inbound data connections. The port number must be specified directly after the /sp switch. The default main port that the Server will bind to if this switch is not specified is 12005. |
| /aa | Administration Address. Specifies the administration Server IP address that the Server will bind to for accepting administrative connections. Same considerations apply as for Server address. |
| /ap | Administration Port. Specifies the administration Server port that the Server will bind to for accepting administrative connections. The port number must be specified directly after the /ap switch. The default administration port that the Server will bind to if this switch is not specified is 12006. |
| /st | Server Thread Cache Size. Specifies the main Server thread cache size. The thread cache size controls how many threads the Server will cache in order to speed up connect/disconnect times. The thread cache size must be specified directly after the /st switch. The default main thread cache size that the Server will use if this switch is not specified is 10. |
| /at | Administration Thread Cache Size. Specifies the administration Server thread cache size. Similar to "/st" above, but this controls administration threads and defaults to 1. |
| /cf | Configuration File. Specifies the Server configuration file name. The configuration file is where the Server stores its internal configuration information including databases, users, permissions, etc. You must enclose the configuration file name in double quotes if there are spaces in the configuration file name. Do not specify a file extension for the file since the Server always uses the ".scf" extension for all configuration files. The default configuration file name that the Server will use if this switch is not specified is "dbsrvr". |
| /cp | Configuration Password. Specifies the Server configuration file password. The configuration file password is used to encrypt the contents of the configuration file. You must enclose the configuration file password in double quotes if there are spaces in the configuration file password. The default configuration file password that the Server will use if this switch is not specified is "elevatesoft". Note: Do not lose this password. If you do, the Server will not be able to read the configuration information. |
| /en | Encrypted Only. Specifies that the main Server will require encrypted connections only. Note that the administration Server always requires encrypted connections. |
| /ep | Encryption Password. Specifies the password to use for encrypting all data between any remote sessions and the Server. This switch can be specified without the above /en switch to change the password for encrypted connections to the administration Server only. If combined with the above switch, this switch will change the password for encrypted connections to both the main Server and the administration Server. You must enclose the encryption password in double quotes if there are spaces in the encryption password. The default encryption password that the Server will use if this switch is not specified is "elevatesoft". This password must be correctly specified in the Remote Encryption Password column in the Servers grid of the Database Explorer form. |
| /ni | No User Interface. Specifies that the Server should not display any user interface at all. When this switch is used you must use the task manager to stop the Server process. This switch only applies to running the Server as an application and does not apply to running the Server as a service, which instead uses the /nointeract installation switch to determine if it should interact with the Windows desktop in any fashion. The Server defaults to having an interface when it is run as an application. |
| /al | Append to Log. Specifies that the Server should append to any existing Server log file when the Server process is started. The default behavior is to overwrite the log every time the Server process is started. |
| /lf | Large File Support. Alventis does not support this feature, so you should never use it. By default, the Server supports a maximum file size of 4Gb for any physical file (data, indexes, or BLOBs) that is part of a logical table and a maximum of 200 million records within a given logical table. Enabling this parameter sets these limits to 128Gb and 1 billion records respectively. Once again, we only mention this as a matter of "full disclosure", but this feature is not supported by Alventis. |
The Server can be run as a normal application as we have discussed above. The Server can also be run as a Windows NT/2000/XP service. To do so, you must install it as a service by running the Server with the /install command-line switch: dbsrvr.exe /install. If you wish to install the Server so that it does not interact with the desktop at all, which is required in instances where the current user will be logged out of the system, you should use the /nointeract flag along with the /install command-line switch: dbsrvr.exe /install /nointeract. This will install the service as a non-interactive service and the database server will not display a user interface when it is started.
To uninstall the Server service run it with the /uninstall switch: dbsrvr.exe /uninstall
The only difference between starting the Server as a normal application and as a service is in the way the switches are specified. When starting it as a normal application, you may specify the switches directly on the command-line that you are using to start the Server. For example, the following command will start the Server using port 13000 for the main port and 13001 for the administration port: dbsrvr.exe /sp13000 /ap13001. When starting the Server as a service, you may specify the switches via the Startup Parameters in the Services dialog of the Control Panel, or directly on the command-line that you are using to start the database server with the net start command. For example, the following command will start the database server as a service using port 13000 for the main port and 13001 for the administration port: net start dbsrvr /sp13000 /ap13001. Note that in order to start the Server as a Windows NT/2000/XP service the Server must have already been installed as a service using the /install command-line switch. To start the Server as a Windows NT/2000/XP service automatically when the operating system boots up, you must use the INI file since there is no other way to provide parameters in such a scenario.
You can run multiple instances of the Server on the same physical machine. When running it as an application, it is sufficient to make a second copy of the Server's executable (and INI file) in a second directory, thus effectively creating two independent Server installations. When running the Server as a service, this is insufficient since the service name is set to match the name of the Server's executable, and you can't have two services with the same name. You must therefore rename one of the Server executables (together with its accompanying INI file and other files, such as settings, if already created).
Aside from the Server configuration settings listed above, all other Server settings (Databases, Users, Security, and a few options) are controlled via the Alventis Administration interface.
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