PBM Terminals

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The Daily Cycle Machine is like the PBM Terminal running under DOS or Win 32 but has some special use for reporting purposes.

Installation of the client software and connectivity to the server will not be covered here as it is just the same as in the previous sections. For Daily Cycle Machines running on DOS, please refer to the PBM Terminal discussed earlier. For machines running on Win 9x, refer to the FEP machine.

The DPRX Teleclaim system can be accessed locally or remotely via any of the following software which will be discuss in the next section. When we mention Remote Login, it means that accessing the system via other means of communication aside from network providers such as NDC, ENVOY, etc. It means utilizing asynchronous communications using modems. A host system or an application server can be installed on a PC co-located with the File Server, FEP and Adjudicator machine with modems connected to it and serving as a dial in server.

Remotely logging in and hosting a dial in server can be accomplished by using the CITRIX components. CITRIX has several components that can be used for remotely logging in and for serving dial in clients. The MULTIUSER application server is a software that provides remote computing for Windows, DOS and OS/2 applications across standard telephone lines and wide area network links. With a MULTIUSER server, users can run Windows, DOS and OS/2 applications through local or remote async connected workstations or terminals. This can be suited for DPRX Teleclaim System. For additional information on the CITRIX software components, go to www.citrix.com .

Another method of providing remote computing that is also suited for the DPRX Teleclaim System is PC Anywhere from Symantec Corporation. At DPRX headquarters, we currently used PC Anywhere 5 for DOS and pcAnywhere 9 for Windows 9x/NT. The software is installed in a variety of ways depending on the business requirements.

A Sample configuration is shown in Figure 24. For installation instruction on pcAnywhere 9, please see your documentation that comes with it.

Figure 24

The Internet Gateway machine is a PC running on Windows NT 4.0 workstation operating system. It is connected to the DPRX network and publicly seen on the Internet. It has its own Internet Protocol (IP) address. Installed on it is pcAnywhere 9 and the machine is configured as a Gateway. For configuring pcAnywhere as a Gateway, please consult your manual. See Figure 25 for the pcAnywhere application running.

Figure 25 (pcAnywhere running as an Internet Gateway)

The PBM Host Terminal is configured like any other PBM Terminals except that it has no dial-in modem capabilities. It has PC-DOS 7 operating system and as a host, it can be access through the Internet Gateway machine running PC Anywhere. In fact, it is also running PC Anywhere 5.0 for DOS in Host mode.

The machine that will be controlling the PBM Host Terminal through the Internet Gateway (PC Anywhere 9) must also be running PC Anywhere 9 for Windows. It must be configured to search the available IP addresses among the list of available internet gateways. To configure, start pcAnywhere and click on the "Tools" menu and then click on "Network Options…" menu. The Network Options dialog box will pop up. On the field box provided, enter the IP addresses you wish to add to your search list. Or you may add the IP addresses you wish to restrict connections. See Figure 26.

Figure 26 (pcAnywhere running Network Options Dialog Box)

No matter how you implement fault-tolerant disk drives, there is always a possibility that data could get corrupted beyond repair, or even more common, that something could get accidentally deleted. It is very important then to maintain current backups on your system’s data. The damaged cause by either failed hardware or accidental deletion range from minor nuisance to major catastrophe. To help protect your data, you should evaluate its importance and the impact data loss would have on your organization and then develop an appropriate backup plan. In most cases, if a system failure causes data loss, restoring the system is very high priority.

Choosing a tape drive is at least as important as choosing the other components that go into making your system.

When choosing a tape backup device, here are a few things to look at:

• Tape Style: If you have a tape backup units in more than one machine, you should consider standardizing on tape formats. Two of the most common and respected tape formats in standards use today are 4-millimeter (4mm) and 8-mm tapes.
• Capacity: When selecting a tape format, make sure you get one that meets your current needs but also covers you as your system grows.
• Speed: With 4mm tapes, you can easily achieve data transfer rates of at least 30 MB/minute. With 8mm tapes, the transfer rate are usually much higher.
• Cost Of Media: You need to carefully consider the cost of media when purchasing a tape drive.
• Autoloader: An autoloader is a magazine that holds multiple tapes, and the backup software can automatically access any tape in the magazine as needed. There are two major reasons to use an autoloader. First, if you need to backup up an amount of data that wont fit on a single tape, an autoloader eliminates the need to manually change tapes, thus allowing the job to run overnight unattended. Another common reason to use an autoloader is to be able to put a whole weeks worth of tapes in a system at a time. If you want to use an autoloader, you have to buy a third party backup software since Windows NT does not support autoloaders.

Every site is unique and this makes it difficult to provide a general formula for developing a backup strategy. You have the option to use NT backup that comes with Windows NT installation or you can purchase your own backup software from third party vendors.

At DP/Rx we used centralized backup/recovery system for fast, efficient and reliable system. This machine is running on Windows NT 4.0 workstation and backup data at a specific period of time. Installed on the machine is an Adaptec AHA 294x/394x PCI SCSI Controller and an HP SureStore Dat24 Tape Drive. Refer to your Windows NT installation manual on how to install a SCSI controller or ask your System Administrator for assistance. On installing the HP SureStore Dat24 tape drive, please refer to your HP manual that comes with the package. Of course, you can also use any other SCSI controller or any other tape drives that may suit your needs. In any case, refer to the documentation that comes with your hardware on how to install it.

At the DP/Rx headquarters, here’s how we setup our backup/restore system:

We installed Windows NT 4.0 Workstation on one of our workstation with a 20 Gigabyte hard drive (UDMA enabled). The latest service packs (sp6) is also applied and optimized the system. We mapped network drives which are needed to be back up. Of course, the servers which contains important data are also shared to be able the backup machine to access. This is a pre-requisite to be able the NovaStore Backup software to work. We install also the backup software called NovaBack on this machine. This would enable us to run the backup software and schedule it on this machine. See Figure 27.

Figure 27 (NovaBack Software)

Figure 28. NovaStore Scheduler

The most common way to restore data to the server is to copy it from the backup files and place it to the directory where it originates. This is only effective if we are storing our backup files in another hard drive of another machine. This is another backup strategy which we currently implement. Our backup machine is currently installed with a 20 Gigabyte hard drive, so it pretty much can accommodate the backup data (approximately 7 Gigabytes) currently required by our system. We are also using another third party file backup/synchronizer called mrmirror.exe (free for version 1.3, version 2.1 has a little registration fee) which runs a scheduler. You may go to www.warpgear.com to download mrmirror.exe. The only time it takes a longer time to run is during setup and initial backup of the system because its going to copy all of the files configured to be backup. The succeeding run takes only a few minutes since its going to update only those files which has changed.

You can restore back the data by copying from the mirrored disk drive (hard disk, zip drives, etc) to the server’s hard drive. This utility comes in handy, fast and efficient utility. If you are using a tape drive, use the restore utility that comes with your backup software. This will restore the data to the original location as configured by your backup software.

If you think that using a 4mm or an 8mm tape is not fast or not reliable enough for your requirements, you should consider using another type such as a DLT (Digital Linear Tape). This type of tape drive run on a variety of platforms and operating systems and has a huge capacity. Please refer to the internet on more information regarding type of DLT and their current prices.