Maximum concurrent connections

[Donb01]

I'm famous for not asking easy questions, and this one is no different!

I am running PageGate 5 on my WinXP Pro PC in my office. This PC has the server and database on it, etc.

I currently have about 70 clients installed out of a potential maximum of 1300. I am licensed for 5000 devices even thought I may never exceed 300.

I have found that Win XP Pro has a maximum concurrent connection limit of 10 people. This is causing problems when computers are brought online in large numbers - I am getting an Error 91, and being told the database directory does not exist. This is because all 10 connections are in use and no more computers can activate PageGate at that moment.

My first question is whether any of you hacker type folks out there knows how to increase the maximum number of simultaneous connections on Win XP Pro. The KBB Article says the limit is 10 and is enforced for file, printer, etc connections, but not enforced for TCP connections (but the license says I need to be a good boy and not exceed 10). It's kind of implied there's a way around it, but I can't find it.

I have set the server autodisconnect timeout down from 15 minutes to 5 to see if that helps. An idle session would be dropped sooner and then re-established if someone uses the pc to page - hopefully keeping more slots free.

So, for the Notepage folks.... What exactly does PG need to do on the server? Does it make a copy of the database locally on each client to keep the directory active, and then only phone home again if someone sends a message? If that was the case I can set the autodisconnect parameter really low so it gets dropped as soon as the program is up and running.

How do you guys work around this?? I'm going to need to have 1300 clients installed eventually and I can imagine that at least 40 or 50 messages could be going out at any one time once this thing gets rolling.

Do you have any larger-scale customers that have a lot of clients? How are they working around this?

People here are going to start getting pissed really fast if their connection bombs every time they go to use PG or restart their computers, and Doctors are some of the whiniest customers to have to deal with. I had no real way to test/evaluate for this problem until I really started to roll the product out across the organization, and now I'm going to have some major egg on my face. :o(

THANK YOU!

[Tech Support]

Some answers:

For starters, I don't know how to up the 10 connection limit of the Pro version of XP... sorry.

The PageGate GUI Client accesses the server's database over a network shared folder. This involves a 'real' network connection and no just TCP/IP access.

PageGate's database will technically support around 240 concurrently connected clients. So, what is considered a 'connected client'. Well, if the PG GUI client program is up on the screen, or has messages pending, then it is 'connected'. If the program is minimized AND has no pending messages, then it disconnects itself from the database until it is restored to normal size. It would be worth wile to get people into the habit of minimizing their PG GUI Client when they aren't using it (or closing it altogether).

For 1300 clients, you would probably have to implement more than one PageGate server. PageGate is capable of a master/slave configuration where all administration of recipients/groups/carriers/etc. can be handled on a 'master' server, and the changes will propagate out to the 'slave' servers.

Hope that helps.

[OzCom]

Alternatively - you should consider the getWEB module - this will eliminate the need for loading a client instance on each PC - it allows an authorized user to initiate messages from a browser interface

_________________
Aaron D. Osgood
Streamline Communications, LLC
* Authorized Notepage, Inc. Development Partner and Re-seller
TEL: 207-518-8455
AOsgood@streamline-solutions.net
Creators of AutoPage Spillman CAD interface for PageGate

[Donb01]

I understand the master/slave configuration, and it's good to know that minimizing the client will disconnect it from the server.

From what I gather elsewhere the 10 user limit is hard coded into the DLL files and is not changeable by a simple registry tweak. The suggested workarounds are to either run the PG server on Win98, which does not have a limit, or on a full version of 2003 Server (or 2000 Server) which also supposedly do not have the limits (or such low limits anyway).

It will take me a long time to get the client installed on all 1300 workstations, although lord knows - the users think this thing walks on water and they want it on every PC in the organization NOW! I do have access to a 2003 server, and before I install anymore clients I'm going to go through the hassle of moving the server onto there - I have a few smart users who would be able to edit their pathnames and push save so it may not be too bad.

It's been a while since I read the sales pitch, but you guys might want to let people know that a large number of active users will require a higher PC platform than XP. XP Home is worse - that only allows 5 concurrent connections. I have no idea what Vista does - I haven't played with it yet.

[Tech Support]

A note regarding Windows 98: we don't support PG v5 on anything older than Windows 2000.

[Donb01]

I'm running a product called "Intellidesk" that has a dedicated Dell server that IS doesn't manage. It was supposed to have a lot more stuff running on it but we changed the config at the last minute so it's probably idling most of the time. That has Win Server 2003 on it. My biggest hassle in this whole situation is that IS "is unable to support any telephony applications because we have no one on staff with that experience." No amount of telling them it's just a client they need to install and nothing else does any good - they are brain-dead and sound like a broken record. They won't even support PCs that departments have purchased from vendors other than their vendor because they shouldn't have to learn other vendors' hardware....

I'm going to move PageGate onto the 2003 server. Is it going to be any more difficult than installing PageGate and then overwriting the PageGateData directory with my current data??

I will have to touch every client to change the pathname to the server, but I think I have a couple of users that are intelligent enough to help me so I don't have to do them all myself. I really wish they were intelligent enough to reinstall the client - then I would move to the updated version as long as I'm doing this, but that wish isn't going to happen.....

[OzCom]

The getWEB option would probably work better for you - since it is a browser interface, you will not need to touch every client

_________________
Aaron D. Osgood
Streamline Communications, LLC
* Authorized Notepage, Inc. Development Partner and Re-seller
TEL: 207-518-8455
AOsgood@streamline-solutions.net
Creators of AutoPage Spillman CAD interface for PageGate

[Donb01]

Unfortunately the appeal of PageGate is that the client can live on the taskbar or in the system tray and is activated immediately upon start or login for all users of a PC. Our situation involves nurses that will not lift one extra finger to get the job done, and having to launch a web browser - even if PageGate is the homepage, is probably more than they will do.

I'm definitely going to play with it and see how it works though - maybe that is a possibility that would allow me to eliminate the master/slave server need for 1300 clients, and may also allow access from home (using VPN).

Besides, a little additional education for me never hurts!