Tech Bullitin 03

Tech Bullitin 03

Installing CDA Clients in a Terminal Server Environment
CDA Technical Support Release 04/10/06.

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The following information is provided to address the proper installation of CDA clients logging on to a Microsoft Terminal Server. There are several major advantages in using a Terminal Server environment. First, this will allow remote users to run the CDA program in a real-time mode from any location that has an internet connection. Second, in a heavy usage environment, the network traffic will be decreased tremendously allowing for a large number of users to access and manipulate data without noticing a decrease in performance. And finally but certainly not least, all CDA clients can load and run the same installation. Therefore, upgrades only need to be applied once instead of to each separate workstation. We recommend the assistance of a network administrator to install and configure your Terminal Server.

1. Run the CDA WS setup installation program directly on the server and select the default C:\CDAWIN folder when prompted. This installation will be used to serve all CDA clients who logon to the Terminal Server via a Remote Desktop connection.

2. The installation will create three short cuts in a CDA Service Manager program group named "CDA Service Manager", "Registration", and "Uninstall". Edit the properties of the CDA Service Manager short cut and enter the path of the CDA data folder (CDASERV) in the START IN field. Then do the same with the Registration short cut.

3. Next, if you prefer, copy the CDA Service Manager short cut to the desktop.

4. Launch the CDA program to be sure it loads properly.

Terminal Services provides for Remote Printing allowing each client to direct print jobs to there local or network printers. For this to work, you must make sure that all of the printer drivers to support all remote printers are installed on the local Terminal Server computer. Now, since all CDA clients will be using the same Workstation installation, we need to provide a way for each client to have it's own folder for user defined data tables.

1. When a user account is created on the Terminal Server, a folder is also created in the Documents and Settings folder with the user's name. Our first step is to copy the following files from the C:\CDAWIN folder into each user's folder. Some of these files may be missing if you are not on our most recent verson.

PRNDRV.DBF JOBSLOG.DBF JOBSLOG.NTX JOBSDATE.NTX

ROUTES.DBF COMP_XML.DBF WOPARTS.DBF

2. After these files have been copied into each user's folder, delete them from the C:\CDAWIN folder. This is an important step. If this files remain in the C:\CDAWIN folder, then every client will be sharing the same user defined data tables which will cause problems .

3. Next, we need a way to let CDA know where these user defined data tables are located. We do this by assigning an environment variable for each user.

4. Open Control Panel and double click on the SYSTEM short cut.

5. Now click on the ADVANCED tab.

6. Click on the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES button.

7. In the Environment Variables window, you will see two sections named User Variables and System Variables.

8. Click on the NEW button in the User Variables section.

9. Enter CDAWS for the variable name. (This is case sensitive so be sure to use all UPPER CASE letters)

10. Enter %USERPROFILE% for the variable value then click OK.

11. THIS PROCEDURE MUST BE DONE FOR EACH USER ACCOUNT.

Now, when this TS user logs on to CDA, the system will see the CDAWS environment variable and set the default workstation folder appropriately. This installation only supports CDA Service Manager version 8.6 or later. If you are using MS Terminal Server Client and an older version of CDA, you must upgrade. Please Contact Us for upgrade information. If you need additional help setting up environment variables on your TS server, please consult your network administrator.

The following information is for Windows 2000 Server

Terminal Services Shared File Bug Fix
The network redirector mrxsmb.sys creates one data structure per computer for every user that accesses a shared file on a Win2K system. The redirector per-computer data structure causes problems when a Win2K system is configured as a Win2K Server Terminal Services server and multiple Terminal Services clients access the same file. To properly maintain connection information, the redirector needs one data structure for each client session. In the current implementation, when two or more Terminal Services clients open the same file and one of the clients closes the file, the redirector incorrectly closes the connection for all Terminal Services clients. You can find documentation about the unexpected behavior in two Microsoft articles: "Programs Run from Network Share on TS Close or Generate Errors" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=294816) and "PRB: 'Error reading file' Error Message on Windows 2000 Terminal Services" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=299603). Microsoft now has a permanent solution for this problem, which exists in all versions of Win2K through SP4. Call Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) and ask for the June 4 version of the redirector components mrxsmb.sys and rdbss.sys. These new components have an option you can enable to create data structures on a per-user, rather than a per-computer, basis. On Terminal Services servers, after you install the new redirector, you need to activate the per-user data structure feature by modifying the registry. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MRxSmb\Parameters registry subkey, and add the value entry MultiUserEnabled:REG_DWORD: 1 in the right pane. Note that this modification is unnecessary on Win2K systems that aren't configured as Terminal Servers. For more information about this problem and solution, read the Microsoft article "Problems When More Than One User Accesses the Same File Through Terminal Services" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=818528).