Configuring Athenaeum as a "Server" or "Host"

January 1997

Flick the Switch - Option 1

Athenaeum makes it very easy to share your databases across the network. All you need to do is flick the multi-user switch to on (you will find this on the "Admin" screens) and, after a few moments, the databases are available to other computers on the network. Those computers simply need the "browser" (client) software and they are ready to use Athenaeum.

Factors you might to consider when planning network access are:-

• how many computers need to access Athenaeum?
• what do these computers need to do?
• what performance would you like out of the entire system
• how reliable are the computers on the network (do they crash?)

Used in the above situation, Athenaeum allows another 5 computers to simultaneously connect pretty easily (we have schools connecting with many, many more than these). Using the standard browser software, any one of these computers can perform any task from searching/browsing the catalogue, administration and issuing and returning, depending upon the password used when connecting.

If the remote computers need only to search and browse the catalogue, then you should use the "slim" browser (supplied with version 2.0 and higher) that only opens the necessary files1 . This allows faster access because less files are open in the computer's memory and more computers can simultaneously connect. Further more, a computer connected with the slim browser will have slightly less performance impact on the main computer than the normal client (that is, it will cause the main computer to slow down a little less). The compromise is that a "slim" client computer will no longer be able to perform administration, issues nor returns.

For optimum performance, you should have, at least, a standard Ethernet network (10baseT orThin Wire Coax). Schools with Macintosh computers using Apple's LocalTalk networking (the boxes that use standard phone wires) should remember that LocalTalk was designed as a low cost networking solution for sharing printers and provides quite unsatisfactory performance.

Schools with a mixture of network computers will find 10baseT (twin twisted pair) the most flexible option as it provides good performance and any kind of computer can use it (these computers should use "IPX" as the protocol).

Because there are some pretty intensive calculations occuring in library system when issuing, returning and analysing the catalogue, the main computer should have the most processing power (that is, be the faster computer), it should also have plenty of RAM (random access memory) - 16 megabytes is pretty much a minimum these days, 32 or more is better and does help performance.

The FileMaker Pro Server - Option2

When you need to connect a large number of computers, and performance and reliability is critical, you should invest in FileMaker Pro Server software and run this on a dedicated computer. FileMaker Pro Server runs on Windows NT and Power Macintosh only.

The server computer should be dedicated to the task of serving databases and maybe some file serving. In other words, this computer should not be used for word processing or any other tasks. However, we have a number of schools using their FileMaker Pro Server computer for normal file sharing and an email server at the same time!

FileMaker Pro Server is not cheap, but is very, very stable and accelerates network performance (we frequently experience twice the network performance with FileMaker Pro Server). It also allows up to 100 computers to connect to Athenaeum simultaneously. Another benefit is that if a client computer crashes, FileMaker Pro Server will almost always deal with the situation in the appropriate way, without too much effect on the other computers. If you have any other FileMaker Pro based solutions for administration or assessment, then speak to your computer reseller or SumWare Consulting about purchasing FileMaker Pro Server.

Configuring the Server

To set-up FileMaker Pro Server, you need to do the following:

• Dedicate a computer to FileMaker Pro Server (this needs to be a Windows NT computer or a Power Macintosh)
• Install FileMaker Pro Server onto that computer
• Also, configure enough memory (RAM) for FileMaker Pro Server. This should be at least 20 megabytes for the FileMaker Pro Server application. Usually, the more the better (this is not always true, but call SumWare Consulting if you have questions).
• Copy the main Athenaeum folder/Directory into the same folder as FileMaker Pro Server
• Copy any other FileMaker Pro based solutions such as (your administration, assessment programs such as Kidbase, ScoreCard, Yardstick, Evaluator, etc) into folders inside the FileMaker Pro Server folder
• Start Athenaeum in the normal way and then turn multi-user on (the switch is on the "Admin" tab)
• Quit Athenaeum
• Start FileMaker Pro Server. FileMaker Pro Server will automatically open all Athenaeum files (and any other files you install for administration or assessment).
• Configure your "client" or "browser" computers
• Computers that need to do administration or issuing need the standard browser
• Computers that can "look but not touch" can use the slim browser
• Start connecting with the client computers. The slim browsers will not ask for a password. The standard browsers will need either the issue/return password or the administration password.