RapidRMA - Windows Network Server Installation

Table of Contents

01. Introduction

02. Installation of Application Packages

03. Create a User Work Folder

04. Make RapidRMA Shortcuts

01. Introduction

This paper discusses network server installation of RapidRMA under Windows.

The RapidRMA installation package (Windows version) is engineered toward standalone installation on the client's personal computer. It assumes that Java is installed on the local computer. In the current implementation of the installation process, RapidRMA will try to locate the appropriate release of the Java run-time (JRE) through Java entries in the Windows Registry. If it fails, it creates the “start script” rma.bat as a stub that will retry that check on the Windows Registry. It also issues a message that you should rerun this after the appropriate Java is installed. When this part of the installation process does locate the Java run-time, it creates the real “start script” rma.bat that invokes Java (using the full path name it determined from the Windows Registry entries) with the RapidRMA class.

For evaluations and for users that purchase node-locked licenses, this design works quite well. When clients purchase floating licenses, they may prefer to install the application on a network server for the users to share, rather than install the software locally on every client host. The usual tradeoffs are present. There may be some performance gains when the software is installed locally at each client host. However, system administration can be reduced when a site makes use of a single shared copy of software on a server.

In large-network, multi-user situations, it may well be preferred to install the the software on one or a few servers rather than every client host. This technote describes how one may setup such a configuration and what needs to be installed locally at the client host in order to run the application.

Now let's consider the installation when we have a floating license and we wish to install one copy of RapidRMA that all the end users will share. I'm not sure there is much utility in doing this with a node-locked license but it could be done. In summary, one would create a folder called License in the RapidRMA work area, and put the local license.lic file in that folder. One would need to always start the application with the RapidRMA work area as the current working directory. (The RapidRMA work area is discussed in Section 03.) That case won't be considered any further.

Let's map out the situation we want to address.

• The FLEXlm license manager runs on the host licserv (basically as described above in the section on floating licenses).

• The Java JRE (version 1.3.1_01) is installed on the host javserv in the C:\Program Files\Javasoft directory. Furthermore, suppose that the directory C:\Program Files\Javasoft\JRE\1.3.1 is readonly shared with everyone and has the resource name JRE-1.3.1.

• The RapidRMA application is installed on the host appserv in the C:\Program Files\RapidRMA directory. Furthermore, suppose that the directory C:\Program Files\RapidRMA is readonly shared with everyone and has the resource name RapidRMA.

  Also, in Windows there is a “system” folder located in the “system root” folder, and that is one of the standard locations where Windows looks for DLLs. Usually the “system root” folder is C:\WINDOWS for Windows 9x and C:\WINNT for NT-based Windows. And within that, the system folder is named “system” in Windows 9x (thus C:\WINDOWS\system) and “system32” in NT-based Windows (thus C:\WINNT\system32). RapidRMA's DLLs are installed here, and we will need to take some action to ensure these DLLs can be found by the client.

• The enduser keeps their data in a folder in the My Documents folder. I am thinking of this as the location pointed to by the My Documents desktop icon. This might resolve to a location on the local computer or it might be on a file server. We assume the enduser creates a RapidRMA folder inside the My Documents folder ane this will serve as the current working directory when they run RapidRMA.

  Unlike many Windows products, our file chooser does not offer the desktop abstractions like My Computer, My Documents, and Network Neighborhood. So one needs to know the actual drive letter and the chain of folders to navigate to the enduser's local data area when opening or saving a model.

• The installation of application packages on the server (Section 02) would be done by a system administrator. It requires administrator privileges on the servers. Creating the enduser's work folder (Section 03) and adding Start Menu and desktop icons (Section 04) may be done by the endusers themselves.

02. Installation of Application Packages

There are no changes in the installation of the FLEXlm license manager and the Java JRE on their servers. The RapidRMA application requires some hand tweaks to get it ready to run. The activities described in this section are done on the server and administrator privileges are required.

Let us suppose that, as a system administrator, we are installing the RapidRMA application on the appserv host. We are logged into that host. There are two points of concern here.

• The RapidRMA installation process will try to find the Java JRE in order to create the rma.bat “start script”. Even if it did find something, it might not what we want the clients to use. So we will create the client rma.bat ourselves. A full “start script” is derived in the next paragraphs.

  Even if the installation process found a suitable JRE, the pathname it provides is almost inevitably unsuitable for referencing the JRE from the enduser's host, given the drive mapping and resource names that are used to export the folders from the server. So regardless of what occurs here during the installation, we will need to create a “network version” of the rma.bat.

• The RapidRMA installation puts some DLLs into the appserv's C:\WINNT\system32 directory. But let's assume that directory is not shared, and even if it were, it would not be a default location where the client system would look for libraries. So we'll move the files back to the RapidRMA installation directory (which is shared), and set the path on the client so that the libraries will be found.

Now let's step through the process and apply our fixes. This starts with the installation of RapidRMA. Everything runs like normal until at the end, the RapidRMA likely complains it could not find Java registry entries. At the dialog box to search for the Java JRE Click on the Cancel button to quit the process.

Now copy or move four DLL files from the server's system directory (say, C:\WINNT\system32) back to the RapidRMA installation directory (say, C:\Program Files\RapidRMA):

RapidRMA.dll
OT2RapidRMA.dll
WV2RapidRMA.dll
lmgr326b.dll

I think the clearest way to reference the resources on other hosts, is to “map drives”. I am going to incorporate the mapping in the rma.bat file we are create. Of course, each client host may have different sets of drive letters in-use and available, so each client may need to make minor modifications of the drive letter to adapt the script for use on their computer. It is certainly feasible to create the script to use the UNC names and not use drive letters at all, but it would be more difficult to read this documentation.

Let's say we use drives “J” for the Java and “J” for the RapidRMA. So our first step will be to map the drives.

NET USE J: "\\javserv\JRE-1.3"
NET USE K: "\\appserv\RapidRMA"

Next, set our executable search path to find the RapidRMA libraries. We'll invoke Java with its full path name, so we don't need to include a specification for it into the executable search path. Let's save the old path so we can restore it at the end.

SET OLDPATH=%PATH%
SET PATH=K:\

Tell the RapidRMA application where the license manager is located.

SET TRIPAC_LICENSE_FILE=27006@licserv

Run the application

J:\bin\javaw.exe -cp K:\;K:\jbcl.jar;K:\dx.jar;K:\RapidRMA.jar com.tripac.rapidrma.RapidRMA

Restore the environment, and disconnect drives when the Java application ends.

SET TRIPAC_LICENSE_FILE=
SET PATH=%OLDPATH%
SET OLDPATH=
NET USE K: /DELETE
NET USE J: /DELETE

And so that is our network version of the rma.bat file. As the first step we might also turn off the display of the lines as the execute. Incorporating that and consolidating the lines we have the file whose contents are shown in Figure 02-A.

@ECHO OFF
NET USE J: "\\javserv\JRE-1.3"
NET USE K: "\\appserv\RapidRMA"
SET OLDPATH=%PATH%
SET PATH=K:\
SET TRIPAC_LICENSE_FILE=27006@licserv
J:\bin\javaw.exe -cp K:\;K:\jbcl.jar;K:\dx.jar;K:\RapidRMA.jar com.tripac.rapidrma.RapidRMA
SET TRIPAC_LICENSE_FILE=
SET PATH=%OLDPATH%
SET OLDPATH=
NET USE K: /DELETE
NET USE J: /DELETE

Put a copy of this into the RapidRMA installation directory:

1. Change directory to the RapidRMA installation directory.

   cd C:\"Program Files"\RapidRMA

2. Move aside the old rma.bat stub program left by the installation process. Perhaps rename it.

   RENAME RMA.BAT RMA-STUB.BAT

3. Move this new rma.bat file we just created into the directory.

It is intended that the enduser will copy this file to their own host and run it from their machine. Whoever sets this file up on the enduser's host may need to change the drive letters.

03. Create a User Work Folder

We need to copy some files from the RapidRMA installation to the enduser's work area. This task may be done by the enduser, it does not require an administrator. Let's assume the enduser will keep their RapidRMA work in a subfolder of their “My Documents” folder.

1. In the enduser's “My Documents”, create a folder. Perhaps RapidRMA would be a reasonable name.

2. Now copy some files and folders to the RapidRMA work area. Using Windows Explorer and the Network Neighborhood, you can drag the files and directories from \\appserv\RapidRMA to My Directory\RapidRMA. Here is the list of files to copy.

   rma.bat (required)

   This is the “start script” for the RapidRMA application. We constructed this in the previous section (Figure 02-A). Edit and make any modifications as appropriate (eg, perhaps the drive letters there are allocated and need to be renamed).

   RapidRMA.ico (optional)

   This is the RapidRMA icon file for use with shortcuts. We discuss the creation of shortcuts next. It's nice to use a special icon for the application.

   data (optional)

   This folder contains example models. Copy this folder across so the user can conveniently view, modify, and save the examples.

At this point, one could use the DOS Command Prompt to start RapidRMA. When the command prompt window appears, change directory to the RapidRMA user work area and start the rma.bat program by typing

rma

Alternatively, one could open “Start Menu” “Run”. Then browse to select My Documents\RapidRMA\rma.bat and click on “OK” buttons to start it.

However, to tie the application into the enduser's desktop, we want to create a shortcut in the “Start Menu” and possibly on the desktop. The next section describes how to do that.

04. Make RapidRMA Shortcuts

To make the application installation look professional and integrated into the desktop, we want to create a shortcut in the “Start Menu” and possibly on the desktop. We proceed to describe that process here. These operations may be done by the enduser, it does not require an administrator.

Each version of Windows seems to have some differences among the labels and layouts of the dialog boxes. However, navigating to the dialog boxes is quite similar among the different versions, so I will describe it fairly generically. The screen shots come from Windows 2000 Professional. (One non-standard configuration element that shows up is that my “My Documents” location is E:\My Documents rather than C:\Documents and Settings\donp\My Documents).

To give the client machine an entry in the “Start Menu”, Windows provides a couple methods. One may drag the icon for the rma.bat file to the Start button. Another method is navigate through “Start Menu” button “Settings” “Taskbar” to bring up the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” dialog box. Click on the tab labeled “Start Menu” “Programs” or “Advanced” to see a page similar to that shown in Figure 04-A.

FIGURE 04-A. Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Dialog Box

Click on the “Add” button to start a “wizard” for creating a shortcut. Fill out the form on several dialog boxes to create a shortcut to the My Documents\RapidRMA\rma.bat.

Having created the shortcut, let's review and fix the properties in a more detailed way. In particular, we want the RapidRMA icon to display with this entry. In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” dialog box, click on the “Advanced” button. This brings up the Windows Explorer on the “Start Menu” “Programs” subtree. In the left panel, click on “Programs” to get view analogous to that in Figure 04-B.

FIGURE 04-B. Windows Explorer on the “Start Menu” “Programs” Subtree.

FIGURE 04-C. RapidRMA (Shortcut) Properties Dialog Box

Let's consider the significant attributes of the shortcut as relates to our concerns here. Not all the versions of Windows have exactly the same set of textboxes in this dialog box. Hopefully it is easy to relate the attributes to the textboxes that you do have.

NAME

This is the name of the shortcut and the name that appears in the “Start Menu” “Programs” menu. The name can be changed using any of the standard Windows Explorer methods to rename a file (Figure 04-B).

TARGET (COMMAND)

The target is the command-line string to invoke the application. In our case, there are no options or arguments to pass, so we just give the full pathname of the rma.bat file to invoke the application. This target can be changed by editting the entry. The name of the program file can be changed by browsing if you click on the “Find Target” button and selecting a file in the subsequent dialog.

START DIRECTORY (START-IN)

The start-directory is the folder in which the application starts when invoked. That is, it is the current working directory when the application starts. In the way we have configured things (Section 2), this should by the folder “My Documents\RapidRMA”. There should be a subfolder resources and the “start script” rma.bat in this directory. Change the attribute by editting the value in the "Start in:" textbox.

WINDOW TYPE (RUN)

The DOS command window may be set to one of three modes “Minimized”, “Normal window”, or “Maximized”. Initially, the shortcut uses “Normal window”. This (and the commenting out the first line

@ECHO OFF

of the rma.bat file) can be useful for debugging. Later it may be nice to minimize the window so only an icon appears in the taskbar. Then the application window appears without the command window showing on the desktop. Change this attribute with the by making a selection from the “Run:”. pulldown menu.

ICON IMAGE

This is the name of the image file that serves as the icon image. Change the icon image by clicking the “Change Icon ...” button and selecting an image file in the subsequent dialog. Based on the discussion above, we expect this to be the enduser's RapidRMA\RapidRMA.ico file in their “My Documents” folder.

Once the shortcut is all fixed up appropriately it could be copied to the desktop if you use this application frequently. You can drag it from the Windows Explorer pane (Figure 04-B) to the desktop. I suggest you use a right-button drag, and then you can specify whether you want the icon moved, copied, or a shortcut made, and you should specify it is to be copied.