Set Up VDOS and Q&ASet Up VDOS and Q&Afor Manziel Law Offices
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For new Windows installations, Right click on Desktop |
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| Make sure the last names of files are
visible From any Explorer window: View |
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Go do My Computer
select C:
Make New Folder
C:\VDOS
C:\QA4
| Windows Desktop | Windows Run Command Window |
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Cmd mkdir C:\VDOS mkdir C:\vDosWP mkdir C:\QA5 Then type Exit |
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Download
ot
www.CICorp.com/setup$/vDosSetup.exe
into C:\VDOS or your Downloads
Folder
Click vDosSEtup.exe to run and direct the installion also into C:\VDOS
It is ok to Run
C:\vDos then Next
Yes
Finish
The Setup procedure will create icons on the desktop
automatically for
vDos DOS
If a DOS icon has not been created then create one manually.
Right click then select Send, then to Desktop (create shortcut)
Edit the AutoExec.txt
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use C: C:\
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"REM" out (make into just a REMark) or better yet REMOVE all the
remarks below
which are already explained in the FAQ.PDF, including:
"rem This is essentially DOS autoexec.bat
rem ========================"
(expecially the command that starts the DP demo for DataPerfect.)
Edit the CONFIG.TXT to add
| WINDOW = 50 Admin=on |
Admin=on avoids the error message about Elevation
G:\Setup
or
www.CICorp.com/setup$/QA4.zip
into your Downloads folder
Open the QA4.ZIP with Windows Explorer
Open up the QA folder within it
Then you should see many files that make Q&A run
Ctrl+A to select all
Copy into C:\QA4
on Manziel
set global options t
Database: G:\
Documents: G:\
Set up MicrosoftOneDrive, if not already
Map the O: Drive to the OneDrive
https://www.usa.canon.com/support/p/imagerunner-advance-c5250
IP Address for printer: 192.168.0.119
DOS PRN to printer
Install the Driver
Canon iR-ADV C5250/5255 UFR II
GPlus us_PCL6_Driver-V311-32-64_00.exe
320426fs
Share
for Pd
Select Properties
File, Design, Security, Declare Sharing Mode
Allow Sharing Mode
Users
Rick Reinckens
10. Set up Server
for Remote Desktop Connection - https://www.anyviewer.com/how-to/how-to-set-up-rdp-on-windows-server-2012-jkzbj.html
Then they can share the same DTFs on the \\Manziel server (Reg2015,
Stat15, etc.)
Each of up to 25 Users will have his/her own Desktop folder with background
color and icons placement of their choice, their vDOS and Q&A folders can be in
their folders. Each user will need Read/Write rights to their folder, and the
shared DTF folder on the G: drive.
The Server can map one of its own folders as G: for consistency with how it has
been mapped to the folder containing the DTF & IDX files.
Here is a screen photo from my Server set up for a simulation.
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Q&A on C10 logged in as Admin on black desktop |
Q&A on C10 logged in as Rick on brown desktop |
Q&A running on Computer C10 in 2 Remote Desktop sessions as Rick and Admin007
simultaneously
Q&A is running twice in the same RAM on the same server.
There is no danger of a workstation suddenly disconnecting from the DTF causing
corruption
A suddenly disconnected user simply logs back on via RDP and continues where
left off.
Manziel Server is set up with User folders including their own
custom Desktop (background color and icons)
vDOS folder and Q&A folder.
Each user can use their eMail, Word processing and Excel sheet
work as normal
with a window into their custom Desktop of the Manziel Server with their
instance of Q&A in vDOS
\
Q&A gives a warning on the F1 Help page of its main menu:
CAUTION: Sudden loss or interruption of power can damage a data file. Never turn your machine off or reboot the system UNLESS you are at one of the main Q&A menus. However, if a power loss does occur, you can probably recover the file (see User Manual 3-124). Make backups frequently (Pg.3-124).
To minimize the possibility of a user (Lisa, Carol, Judy, etc.) we can set them up to Remote Desktop Connect (MSTSC - MicroSoft Terminal Services Client) to the Manziel Server in different sessions using the same RAM (Random Access Memory). It is safest to minimize the "distance" between the user and the database. Presently the user's computer's RAM's copy of QA1.EXE gets a copy of the record for changes, then sends them back to the Server. This works ok as long as there is no sudden power loss or network interruption.
No computer is closer to the data than the computer hosting it. By logging in with RDC/MSTSC there is no distance between the QA1.EXE software and the DTF. Q&A considers the database as a local file.
Customers come to me to recover data from sudden disconnects, and often at least 1 record (the one the user was editing) gets corrupted and lost. The vDOS system introduces an additional layer between the user's computer and the DTF on the Server.
The Server is always running and has an Unterruptible Power Supply (UPS, or should). We can set up so Q&A is running twice in the same RAM on the same Server. There is no danger of a workstation suddenly disconnecting from the DTF causing corruption. A suddenly disconnected user simply logs back on via RDP and continues where left off.
I tested it on my own network and it works fine. Let's check with Rick Reinckens, to see if he concurs.
Rick Shaddock
202-365-6100
Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive, and Apple's iCloud are fine
for storing documents
such as Word, Excel, and PDFs where they are worked on one person at a time.
The file is picked up into RAM, edited, then saved back to disk.
But database programs typically have many people working on records
simultaneously.
Sudden disconnects from a database, due to power interruptions,
or network glitches, cause data corruption.
Q&A's DTF data file format is not very rebust against such situations.
I have been called upon to fix DTFs and some record has to be sacrificed.
I am concerned that a long distance connection between the staff running Q&A and
the data over on one of Microsoft's computers
dBase solved this problem by having a fixed number of bytes of
each record.
One computer can "check out" a record to edit, by putting a lock on it.
Another computer cannot edit that record until the first person is done and
moves on to other records.
But Q&A has no fixed field and record size. It works by beginning
and ending field markers.
Even the FirstName and LastName fields have varying widths for each record (or
Form in Q&A)
With Remote Desktop Connection, even if there is a data
interruption between the user and the Server
the Server running the Q&A software in a session never gets disconnected from
the DTF/IDX, even for a millisecond.
The user logs back in and picks up where he/she left off.
I feel much more secure promising there would be no data corruption, even with 5
users editing the database
because that is the way Q&A was designed to run, with the software and data file
on the same network.
One Drive is actually making a connection, through hundreds of
miles of internet cable
between your network, and Microsoft's.
1. Data is copied from the disk into a computer's RAM memory
2. Changes are made to the data
3. Then saved back to the disk
For 1 user, this is easy for a computer
but with multiple users, the server needs to keep in mind several changes going
on at once.
It is best to minimize the distance between the user's RAM and the data on disk
With a One drive, the user's RAM is in your office, and the disk
is on one of Microsoft's server,
such as Redmond, Washington. Along the way there is much more room for
errors.
If the power goes off at a remote users' workstation, while a
record is being edited.
SHARE - Record locking (RL) by multi-user applications
In the DOS days, RL was provided by the SHARE program. If more than one need to access the same data, the
(mostly a database oriented) program occasionally requires exclusive access to some parts of files (RL data and
indexes). “I’m going to modify those, can’t have someone else interfering while doing that”.
The operating system (OS) in control of the disk maintains a table of file regions granted a RL request by a program.
DOS is since Windows NT no longer that OS, SHARE useless: Its functionality provided by Windows, or the OS
managing the network drive. vDos secures RL is functioning for a drive, then mostly just forwards RL requests to
Windows. RL (by database programs) is more complex, but this will do.
Some DOSBox mods claim RL support, but turn out to be a disaster. Besides granted exclusive access, the internal
program data has to match what’s actually on disk that moment. DOSBox (mods) however caches disk operations,
possibly outdated data lurking all around (the network). One DOSBox mod ‘solution’ first updates the caches with RL.
That doesn’t do it either: Local caches at other PC’s can still destroy the database. Especially indexes are vulnerable
due to the compact and structured organization.
FYI, this results in
C:\Users\Admin007\vDosVP\vDosPlainDOS.exe
and 62Setup.exe in
C:\Users\Admin007\vDosWP\Setup
Desktop Icon
C:\VDOS\vDOS.exe
3.Download
vDosWP.zip to
c:\vDosWP
Then unzip the contents of the Zip into C
cd \
C:\QA\QA1.EXE-aiF :\calaisnet!2\Z_MACROS\AS\QAPSPHON.mcr
drvltrs6.bat
use C: C:\ >nul
AutoExec.txt
use X: \\C16\D
Hostname: Manziel
192.168.0.10 server
191.168.0.1
Windows 11
Carol LAM-13
Judy LAM-3 new computers (was Lam2)
RIck1 lam3
LAM24 for downloads
LAM10 on Windows
LAM1 on Window11
192.168.0.10 = Server
50 = Lisa new LAM1
81 = Carol:AO
MANXIEL-LAW\Administrator
then Server password (whatever it is)
https://www.minitool.com/news/an-authentication-error-has-occured.html
https://groups.google.com/g/symantec.support.dos.qa.database.general
OLD
Each user needs his/her own vDOS folder on the Server, and QA4 folder.
vDOS1 and QA41
vDOS2 and QA42
vDOS3 and QA43
etc.
