BDE woes
Peter Rousseau
I have three machines to test Paradox stuf: 2 are Win2000 Pro, 1
Win98se. The Win2000 machines use Pdox10sp4, the Win98 machine uses
Pdox9sp4.
I decided to update the BDE's to be the same on all the machines. I did
that, and now big problems.
The version on 2 machines was 5.1.0.4, the other was 5.1.1.1 11/11/1999.
I updated the 2 machines to 5.1.1.1 11/12/1999 - curious date.
I checked the .NET location and all 3 BDE's point to the same place.
Now I can open a table place it in edit mode and begin making changes to
a field which places a lock, and without posting the record, go to the
other machines and edit the exact same record! Also if I use the
Tools|Security|Display Locks on each machine, none of them sees the
other machne's lock.
I triple-checked the location of the net files and that the tables are
of the same directory. I noticed that the IDPROV32.dll is 4.0.0.36 on
the Win98 machine, N/A on another and doesn't exist on another.
Where do I start to fix this thing? BTW I did make a backup directory on
the two machines that I updated the BDE on.
Peter R
Tony McGuire
Now I can open a table place it in edit mode and begin making changes to
a field which places a lock, and without posting the record, go to the
other machines and edit the exact same record! Also if I use the
Not sure if this pertains, but have you verified that LOCAL SHARE = TRUE is
set on every machine?
--
--
Paradox Support http://www.thedbcommunity.com/support/
Tony McGuire
_____________
Peter Rousseau
No, I didn't. I thought local share was only if you were using non-BDE
application to access a table?
Peter R
Peter Rousseau
Three deep breaths.
My path for .NET file was C:\. The other day I read some suggestions by
Dennis that suggests locating in the root directory was a nono.
I created a new directory and put the net file in "D:\Knight\"
I searched out all other instances of the .net file and deleted them
On the other 2 machines I mapped the network (using letter K) to the Knight
folder - "D-Drive\Knight"
The BDE admin showed "K:\" - seems ok, it is not the "root" of the drive
A few minutes ago I remapped "K" to the D drive itself instead of the
"Knight" folder.
I changed the BDE to show "K:\Knight"
Well, apparently that makes a difference. All instances of Paradox now sees
the others' locks.
Peter Rousseau
My findings may be inaccurate.
In response to Tony's question about Local Share being turned on I did some
checking and found that I may have changed it to true and not written it down
in my notes.
I then made sure Local Share was FALSE on all machines
I locked a record on one machine and none of the other machines saw the lock
I then set Local Share to TRUE on one machine
I locked a record on the same machine and the machines saw it
I guess the lesson is that Local Share has to be set to true and my *mapping*
findings are inaccurate-or not proven-at this time. Why is it recommended to
set Local Share to TRUE for every machine?
Peter R
Tony McGuire
: findings are inaccurate-or not proven-at this time. Why is it recommended
to
: set Local Share to TRUE for every machine?
So Paradox accurately sees/sets/honors locks between machines. <g>
Tony McGuire
Peter,
Are you running Paradox on the machine hosting the data (peer-to-peer)?
If so, I think it is CRITICAL that LOCAL share be True, since you are
sharing LOCAL data with instances of Paradox on other machines.
Dennis Santoro
No, it should always be set to true.
Where did you place the .net file?
Where is the data?
Are you using aliases?
Denn Santoro
President
Resource Development Associates
http://www.RDAWorldWide.Com
Offices in the United States and Germany
Providing solutions to health care, business, governments and non-profits since
1982
Peter Rousseau
Dennis Santoro wrote:
> No, it should always be set to true.
> What is Local Share for then?
>
> Where did you place the .net file?
> In a folder called "Knight" which is in the root of D drive
>
> Where is the data?
> In the same directory as the .net file
>
> Are you using aliases?
> no
Peter Rousseau
Tony McGuire wrote:
> Peter,
>
> Are you running Paradox on the machine hosting the data (peer-to-peer)?
> I think so. I'm not sure if I would recognize peer-to-peer if it bit my
> peepee.
Tony McGuire
: > Where is the data?
: > In the same directory as the .net file
GET IT OUT RIGHT NOW!
NEVER put ANYTHING in the same directory as the .net file!
If possible, put it in its own directory at the same level, or below but
'beside' the data.
ie.
d:\pdox ; nothing but directories in here!
d:\pdox\net ; .net file
d:\pdox\data ; data files
d:\pdox\program ; scripts, forms, libraries, reports, etc
d:\pdox\privdirs ; nothing here directly, solely for priv subdirs
d:\pdox\privdirs\priv ; actual priv dir
: > Are you using aliases?
: > no
Use aliases to point to d:\pdox\data and d:\pdox\program
This makes your app very portable, since once you move your data or program
files all you have to do is change the path to the alias and you are good to
go.
I resisted this for years, but once I made the switch it was INSTANTLY
obvious why I should have done this in the first place.
As far as 2 layers to the actual :priv: goes, it has been proven that under
some circumstances, Paradox places files that SHOULD go in PRIV one
directory UP from the assigned PRIV.
Peter Rousseau
Oops, my mistake. The data IS in a separate directory than the .net file AND the
..net file IS in its own folder. I'm getting myself all twisted up here, I've
been trying to figure out what's going on for 4 hours in addition to a late
night session.
Peter R
Peter Rousseau
> If possible, put it in its own directory at the same level, or below but
> 'beside' the data. ie.
>
> d:\pdox ; nothing but directories in here!
> d:\pdox\net ; .net file
> d:\pdox\data ; data files
> d:\pdox\program ; scripts, forms, libraries, reports, etc
> d:\pdox\privdirs ; nothing here directly, solely for priv subdirs
> d:\pdox\privdirs\priv ; actual priv dir
>
Thank you. I will frame this!
Peter R
Tony McGuire
: Oops, my mistake. The data IS in a separate directory than the .net file
AND the
Good deal. The other stuff is far less critical.
But :PRIV: 2 layers deep is important.
And referencing everything by alias (including tables in
forms/reports/datamodels/etc, as well as scripts/libraries pointing to each
other by alias as well as tcursors/table vars) will simplify your
programming life as well. Trust us <g>.
Peter Rousseau
Tony McGuire wrote:
> : Oops, my mistake. The data IS in a separate directory than the .net file
> AND the
>
> Good deal. The other stuff is far less critical.
>
> But :PRIV: 2 layers deep is important.
>
> And referencing everything by alias (including tables in
> forms/reports/datamodels/etc, as well as scripts/libraries pointing to each
> other by alias as well as tcursors/table vars) will simplify your
> programming life as well. Trust us <g>.
>
I do.
I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will
I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will
I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will
I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I will I
will I will
: )
Thank you.
Peter R
Peter Rousseau
Then yes, I have a peer-to-peer network
Peter R
Tony McGuire wrote:
> : > I think so. I'm not sure if I would recognize peer-to-peer if it bit my
>
> Peer-to-Peer means workstation A hosts the data.
>
> Workstation B Paradox accesses the data on workstation A.
>
> Workstation A Paradox ALSO accesses the data on its own drive.
>
> In other words, you don't have a machine dedicated to hosting the data - it
> is also a workstation.
>
> You could also have a situation where multiple machines have data, and
> multiple other machines' Paradox access each other's data.
Peter Rousseau
Tony McGuire wrote:
> But :PRIV: 2 layers deep is important.
d:\pdox\privdirs ; nothing here directly, solely for priv subdirs
d:\pdox\privdirs\priv ; actual priv dir
> Just starting to plan this out and I'm a little confused with the privdir
> part. Do you mean like this:
d:\pdox\privdirs\user-1
d:\pdox\privdirs\user-2
d:\pdox\privdirs\user-3
(I know not to take the names literally)
What is the advantage of having the private dir., on the "server" as opposed
to the local machine?
Peter R
Tony McGuire
: What is the advantage of having the private dir., on the "server" as
opposed
: to the local machine?
NOT on the server.
On each workstation.
And you need only ONE subPRIVdir, for the local instance of Paradox.
Sorry, I confused the issue by saying to put the PRIV on D:; it should be
local to each workstation. But still as a subdir of a main:
c:\privdirs\privdir
My appologies for the confusion.
--
--
Peter Rousseau
Got it, Thank you.
Peter R
Bertil Isberg
Peter
<<<
Then yes, I have a peer-to-peer network
>>>
>From an old Borland paper
<Quote>
A Peer-To-Peer network (a network where each machine acts as a client and a
server) can be one of the following, including other network platforms that
are compatible with these:
Windows 95
Windows NT
Lantastic
Netware Lite
The BDE automatically detects when tables reside on a network drive, but it
cannot detect whether the tables are on a dedicated server or a
server/client. Dedicated servers notify client applications that a file has
been modified or locked. This functionality is not present in Peer-To-Peer
(non-dedicated) networks. To achieve this functionality with Peer-To-Peer
networks set "LOCAL SHARE" to TRUE in the BDE Configuration Utility on the
System page. This must be done on all BDE clients that access the tables on
networks listed above. This is not necessary for Novell File Server type
networks.
If the tables that are being used are Paradox, there must also be a
directory used for network control. This directory must also reside on the
network for all client applications to use. It is good practice to have a
separate directory for the application, network, and tables.
</Quote>
--
Bertil Isberg - CTECH
Paradox buglist:
online: http://w1.826.comhem.se/~u82608896/
FAQ newsgroup: corel.wpoffice.paradox-faq
Bertil Isberg
Peter
<<<
Then yes, I have a peer-to-peer network
>>>
>From an old Borland paper
<Quote>
A Peer-To-Peer network (a network where each machine acts as a client and a
server) can be one of the following, including other network platforms that
are compatible with these:
Windows 95
Windows NT
Lantastic
Netware Lite
The BDE automatically detects when tables reside on a network drive, but it
cannot detect whether the tables are on a dedicated server or a
server/client. Dedicated servers notify client applications that a file has
been modified or locked. This functionality is not present in Peer-To-Peer
(non-dedicated) networks. To achieve this functionality with Peer-To-Peer
networks set "LOCAL SHARE" to TRUE in the BDE Configuration Utility on the
System page. This must be done on all BDE clients that access the tables on
networks listed above. This is not necessary for Novell File Server type
networks.
Dennis Santoro
Actually, Peer to peer just means there is no domain controller or true
"server" on the network and all the machines communicate at the same level of
control.
But it is important even in a p2p environment to have a machine that hosts the
data and isn't used as a workstation.
Larry DiGiovanni
Maybe it's useful to summarize that peer-to-peer really encapsulates two
distinct issues for Paradox:
(1) If the machine sharing the Paradox files is also running Paradox (or
some BDE app) to access those files, LOCAL SHARE must be True.
(2) Sharing Paradox tables from a "peer" machine suggests that the
machine may be less stable in it's operation than an actual "server" and
could result in more frequent and ungraceful outages. Servers tend to be
more fault-tolerant (RAID, UPS) and even when not, they are typically not
under the control of a user running applications which could result in
lockups or restarts.
Either one of the above reasons is cause for concern, but if you must do
(2), you *have* to do (1). I know most will argue that LOCAL SHARE should
be on for any computer running Paradox.
--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources
Peter Rousseau
I am at my client's place now and have surveyed the situation.
The data is on a "server", meaning the data is stored there and it is
not used as a workstation, however, it is used for printing and data
storage for other applications. There is no Paradox or BDE on this machine.
All other (Win2000Pro) machines have BDE version 5.1.0.4 and one Win95
machine has version 5.0.1.22. ALL machines have local share set to FALSE.
All machines run 2 instances of Paradox and use the same .NET file.
I am not aware of any data corruption at this time
Do I still set Local Share to TRUE?
Do I bother upgrading BDE version?
Should both instances of Paradox use the .NET file?
Peter R
Larry DiGiovanni
Let's clarify a couple of things:
(1) The problem is that machine A and machine B can both edit the same
record in the same table at the same time?
(2) When machine A posts a change to a record, is that change seen by
machine B? (i.e., are we really talking about the exact same table? -
Drive mappings can make it look that way sometimes, but maybe there's 2
copies of the table)
(3) The .NET file is on the server only?
All machines point to it along the same path? i.e. F:\PDOXNET\ where
F:= some //SERVER/folder that is identical for all machines?
(4) The location of the shared table follows the same rules as the
location of the network directory. (Same name, same absolute path.)
To answer your questions: I don't think there is every any harm in setting
local share to true for all machines. I don't recall that BDE version.
The version is the version of IDAPI.DLL and nothing else. All machines
need to use the exact same network directory to share Paradox tables.
Peter Rousseau
Larry DiGiovanni wrote:
> Let's clarify a couple of things:
>
> (1) The problem is that machine A and machine B can both edit the same
> record in the same table at the same time?
No. I just ran a test and confirmed that pdox reports when a record is
locked by another machine if another machine tries to make a change.
>
> (2) When machine A posts a change to a record, is that change seen by
> machine B? (i.e., are we really talking about the exact same table? -
> Drive mappings can make it look that way sometimes, but maybe there's 2
> copies of the table)
When a change is made to a record on one machine it is seen on the other
machines.
>
> (3) The .NET file is on the server only?
> All machines point to it along the same path? i.e. F:\PDOXNET\ where
> F:= some //SERVER/folder that is identical for all machines?
Yes. The path is identical for every machine "I:\Delta"
> (4) The location of the shared table follows the same rules as the
> location of the network directory. (Same name, same absolute path.)
Yes
>
> To answer your questions: I don't think there is every any harm in setting
> local share to true for all machines. I don't recall that BDE version.
> The version is the version of IDAPI.DLL and nothing else. All machines
> need to use the exact same network directory to share Paradox tables.
>
I right-clicked on idapi32.dll and got the version #. Should it be
idapi.dll instead?
Peter R
Bertil Isberg
Peter
<<
Do I still set Local Share to TRUE?
Do I bother upgrading BDE version?
Should both instances of Paradox use the .NET file?
>>
My reply is based on your answer to Larry saying, you don't have the
problems you describe in your intial message in this thread.
LOCAL SHARE: A Win2000 Pro is not a server OS even though the PC is used
that way in your case. I would recommend LOCALSHARE=TRUE. If you had a
Win2000 Server, the answer would have been it's not necessary but
recommended to LOCALSHARE=TRUE.
BDE VERSION: I do prefer all users sharing the same data, to use same
version of the BDE, but it's not neccessary as long as all users are on 32
bits BDE.
NET file: "Should both instances of Paradox use the .NET file?"
I don't understand your question. Both instances of Paradox running on the
same machine are using the same idapi32.cfg file. And as the NET DIR is
specified in the .cfg file, both instances are using the same net file.
Dennis Santoro
No, you have the right one.
Peter Rousseau
At the beginning of this thread it was the configuration in my office,
now it is the configuration at my client's office.
Thank you very much for the information, I will implement changes now.
Peter R
Peter Rousseau
In the case of my client's setup, is it okay to change the LocalShare setting
to TRUE one machine at a time or do I need to shut them all down?
Peter R
Dennis Santoro
one at a time should be fine unless they are sharing the same .cfg file.
Peter Rousseau
Dennis Santoro wrote:
> one at a time should be fine unless they are sharing the same .cfg file.
The same ".cfg" file? Oh man. How do I check that?
Peter R
Bertil Isberg
Peter
<<
The same ".cfg" file? Oh man. How do I check that?
>>
In Registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Borland\Database Engine
Look at the value
CONFIGFILE01=
Peter Rousseau
I just checked my machines and they each have their own local config
file. I noticed that on the Win98 machine it has an extra setting titled
"Saveconfig" and the value is WIN31. Should this be there?
Also, on the Win98 machine, the "UseCount" is set to "5", one Win2000
machine it is set to "2", the other is set to "1". Should these all be
the same? What value? What is it? Thanks.
Peter R
Steven Green
Peter Rousseau wrote:
> I just checked my machines and they each have their own local config file.
> I noticed that on the Win98 machine it has an extra setting titled
> "Saveconfig" and the value is WIN31. Should this be there?
when you tell the BDE to use "Win31" mode, that means old Win 3.1 or WFWG
mode.. and *that* tells the BDE to only read the config file, and not the
registry settings..
> Also, on the Win98 machine, the "UseCount" is set to "5", one Win2000
> machine it is set to "2", the other is set to "1". Should these all be the
> same? What value? What is it?
don't know the answer to that one..
--
Steven Green - Waldorf Maryland USA
Diamond Software Group
http://www.diamondsg.com/main.htm
Paradox Support & Sales - Corel CTech Paradox
---------------------------------------------------
Diamond Sports Gems
http://www.diamondsg.com/gemsmain.htm
Trading Cards and other Sports Memorabilia
---------------------------------------------------
Bertil Isberg
<<
Also, on the Win98 machine, the "UseCount" is set to "5", one Win2000
machine it is set to "2", the other is set to "1". Should these all be
the same? What value? What is it? Thanks.
>>
made on that PC. If you uninstall, the number will decrease by 1. When
reaching 0, BDE will be removed completely.
It should not be the same on every machine.
<<
I noticed that on the Win98 machine it has an extra setting titled
"Saveconfig" and the value is WIN31. Should this be there?
>>
It does not hurt. You can change this setting in BDE Administrator.
Activate Database tab. From the menus select Object | Options and check
Win95/NT only.
Peter Rousseau
Hmm, how is it that one of the machines has "5" for "Usecount"? I only see 1
BDE.
Peter R
Bertil Isberg
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Peter
<<
Hmm, how is it that one of the machines has "5" for "Usecount"? I only
see 1 BDE.
>>
Every installation of a version of Paradox will add 1 to useCount to
prevent BDE from being uninstalled when one Paradox versuion is
uninstalled.
--
Bertil Isberg
CTECH
FAQ newsgroup: corel.wpoffice.paradox-faq
Paradox Buglist: http://w1.826.comhem.se/~u82608896/
remove spamfilter (reversed) to reply
Bertil Isberg
Peter
<<
Hmm, how is it that one of the machines has "5" for "Usecount"? I only
see 1 BDE.
>>
Every installation of a version of Paradox will add 1 to useCount to
prevent BDE from being uninstalled when a Paradox version is uninstalled.