Operational Environment

The c-treeACE Server for Windows Server 2003/XP/Vista uses the Windows multi-threading functions and is named ctsrvr.exe. The c-treeACE Servers for Windows are distributed on a CD containing Setup.exe, which installs the product, including the following Windows communication DLL’s:

The c-treeACE Server for Windows defaults to the TCP/IP protocol. To activate any other DLL, use the COMM_PROTOCOL keyword in a ctsrvr.cfg file (discussed in "Advanced Configuration Options"). Use the DLL name as the token following the COMM_PROTOCOL keyword in the ctsrvr.cfg. This disables the default protocol, so if you want to load the default and another protocol, each must have a COMM_PROTOCOL entry in ctsrvr.cfg. For example, to load all supported communication protocols for the c-treeACE Server on Windows Server 2003, add the following lines to ctsrvr.cfg:

COMM_PROTOCOL  F_TCPIP

COMM_PROTOCOL  FNETBIOS

COMM_PROTOCOL  FSHAREMM

COMM_PROTOCOL  DISABLE

Specifies a communications module loaded by the Server. Some c-treeACE Servers support several protocols simultaneously, (i.e., Windows and Macintosh). For example, the c-treeACE Server could be communicating with users through a telephone line, and others on an Ethernet connection. All that is needed is a separate COMM_PROTOCOL line in the configuration script for each communication module to be loaded by the c-treeACE Server. The following example loads TCP/IP, NetBIOS, and Shared Memory Model for a c-treeACE Server for Windows Server 2003/XP/Vista. See "c-treeACE Server Installation" for the communications options available for your platform:

TCP/IP Encryption

Encryption of c-tree’s TCP/IP communication protocol allows an added level of security for client/server applications. FairCom’s proprietary encryption algorithm disguises communication packets between the client and the c-treeACE Server making it difficult for a casual user to inspect the information being exchanged. Since FairCom’s proprietary encryption algorithm is designed primarily for performance, the FETCPIP protocol is only marginally slower (10-20%).

Use the Server keyword COMM_PROTOCOL FETCPIP in the Server configuration to specify encrypted TCP/IP communication. The c-treeACE Server simultaneously supports both encrypted and non-encrypted TCP/IP communication when both COMM_PROTOCOL F_TCPIP and COMM_PROTOCOL FETCPIP are specified in the Server configuration. Clients must be compiled with either encrypted or unencrypted TCP/IP. The Application Developer will specify the appropriate protocol.

Automatic LANA Support for c-treeACE Server for Windows

The c-treeACE Server for Windows offers automatic LANA support. When COMM_PROTOCOL NETBIOS, or COMM_PROTOCOL NB, is listed in the c-treeACE Server configuration file, the c-treeACE Server listens to all LANA ports. To specify a specific LANA number, use the following format:

COMM_PROTOCOL FNETBIOS@1

This disables automatic listen and sets a specific LANA number, LANA 1 in this example. Lana 0 is the default. Specifying a desired LANA number from a client side application uses the following format:

FAIRCOM2@1^NETBIOS

Identifying the c-treeACE Server host machine

Every protocol makes assumptions about the location of the machine hosting the c-treeACE Server. Use the following table to determine the proper method for the client to find the c-treeACE Server based on the protocol selected. SERVER_NAME is the name specified by the SERVER_NAME keyword, FAIRCOMS by default. ZoneName is the Mac zone hosting the c-treeACE Server. HostName is the network ID for the host machine. It can also be an IP address with TCP/IP.

Protocol	Default host	Specifying a host
ADSP	In local zone	SERVER_NAME@ZoneName
NetBIOS	On local network	Only default
Shared Memory	Local Machine	Only default
SPX	Default NLM Server	SERVER_NAME@HostName
TCP/IP	Localhost (127.0.0.1)	SERVER_NAME@HostName
UNXMSGS	Local Machine	Only default

Disable Communications

COMM_PROTOCOL DISABLE inactivates all communications.

When this keyword is specified in the c-treeACE Server configuration file, the server’s communication subsystem is disabled at server startup, and remains disabled during the entire lifetime of the server process. This feature is useful when the c-treeACE Server is loaded as a .dll or shared library into an application server process. Although external clients are prevented from using the c-treeACE Server, threads in the application server process can use the c-treeACE Server subsystem. This option can also be used to prevent ISAM-level access to a c-treeACE SQL Server.

When this option is in effect, the server logs the following message to CTSTATUS.FCS:

c-treeACE Server communication subsystem is disabled.

Default: Platform dependent (most Servers load TCP/IP as default)

Note: If COMM_PROTOCOL is specified for one protocol, all protocols to be used must be specified. If no COMM_PROTOCOL is specified, the c-treeACE Server uses the default, F_TCPIP.

The Shared Memory protocol eliminates the overhead of the TCP/IP protocol stack resulting in very fast communications. The only drawback is the client and server must reside in the same physical memory space. For client server applications running on the same machine, this can result in communications performance increases of almost 500% over TCP/IP in some instances.