Clientele 7.3 wont work on Terminal Services

[ipuk]

Hi Guys,

We are in the process of implement Clientele 7.3, we have a database server that has an upsized clientele install on it, this works fine. We also have a terminal server machine, the client works fine only when one user is logged into clientele. When another user trys to login we get the following error
There is a problem with your precompiled forms.

Any ideas?

TIA

Ian

 

[cpastre]

Hope you've straightened this out by now, Ian, but if someone needs this later, you'll need to use a shortcut that uses command line switches to specify the relevant data paths and shared mode:

MARS32.exe -L[Local Clientele path] -D[Server Clientele path] -S

For example,
"C:\Program Files\Epicor\Clientele 7.3 Local Files\MARS32.exe" -L"C:\Program Files\Epicor\Clientele 7.3 Local Files" -D"\\SERVER\Clientele" -S

For Terminal Services, the -S (shared) is required for multiple users. One thing to remember is that design mode is not available while the user is logged in in shared mode.

Charlie

Charlie Pastre, MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA, CCEA, CCNA, CCDA
Transition/1 MAS
cpastre@t1mas.com

 

[ipuk]

Thanks Charlie, I found out the solution on Citrix's support website.

Ian

 

[jeffinperth]

Hi
Just touching on this subject.
By running this command over a citrix connection, is it your belief that

1.if a new ctel.sys has been published to the network share, only the first user to logon will bring down the ctel.sys to the citrix server.

2.if a new ctel.sys has been published to the network share, every user will bring down the ctel.sys to the citrix server.

3.if a new ctel.sys has been published to the network share,
the move to the citrix server has to be done manually.


our belief was 3.

any comments ?

cheers

 

[cpastre]

I don't have any documentation to refer you to, but I've always relied on Option 1 above and never been disappointed.

Charlie

 

[ipuk]

We go for option 3, we have a timed batch file that runs every night to copy accross any newer version.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JeanLucPicard]

Hi,

we also are using Clientele 7.2 on Terminal Servers. To start Clientele on a Terminal Server, you need to start directly the MARS32.EXE with some important switches.
You MUST use the switch "/S" to have multiple users running on the same installation.

Please follow the answerbook article from Epicor to understand this.


WTS, INSTALLING CLIENTELE ON TERMINAL SERVER OR CITRIX - #1279HQ

PRODUCT: Clientele
VERSION: 2.1, 3.0, 7.x
MODULE: CS, IS, HD
ENVIRONMENT: Shared or SQL
KEYWORDS: wts, Windows Terminal Server, Citrix, Winframe, Metaframe

Question :

How do I setup Clientele to run from Windows Terminal Server and Metaframe or Citrix Winframe server?

Answer :

1. Log into Windows Terminal Server or Winframe as an administrator on that computer.

2. At the DOS command line run:

CHANGE USER /INSTALL

(NOTE: To learn more about this installation mode browse to

http://206.103.132.14/texpert.nsf

and do an exact word search for the document entitled "General Installation of Applications on WinFrame".)
Citrix recommends that all applications be installed after running CHANGE USER /INSTALL. They note that doing this will ensure that all INI and DLL files are installed into the Windows Terminal Server system directories.

3. Run CTELWIN.EXE. Running CTELWIN.EXE will copy and register the necessary DLLs on this computer.

4. When this completes, run the following from a command line:

CHANGE USER /EXECUTE

Citrix recommends you run this command after installing an application.

5. Once this has been done, your users will run Clientele via the MARS32.EXE command line options. (See Command Line Options section below.)


CLIENTELE LOAD ARCHITECTURE AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CTELWIN.EXE AND MARS32.EXE

Clientele uses the local hard drive on each user's computer to store the executable file (MARS32.EXE) and the database containing the forms (SETUP.MDB) This is done to maximize performance as it avoids constantly loading them across a busy network. Normally, your icon is set up to run CTELWIN.EXE. CTELWIN.EXE's primary purposes are to:

1. Verify the user has the most current copies of all the local files and DLLs and if not, update them.

2. Read the CTELWIN.INI to find the local and net paths

3. Pass control (run) to the main Clientele executable, MARS32.EXE

Once your are at the Clientele login screen, your are actually running MARS32.EXE. MARS32.EXE is the "engine" of Clientele. It assumes that all the necessary checking for updated files (DLLS, CTEL.SYS, SETUP.MDB) has been done by CTELWIN.EXE before MARS32.EXE runs.

The reason you need to log into the Terminal Server/Winframe computer as an Administrator and run CTELWIN.EXE once is to create the local work directory and update the necessary files on this computer.

Then you will set up an icon on the Terminal Server/Winframe desktop that your users will use to run Clientele. This icon will run Clientele using MARS32.EXE directly (see Command Line Options section below). You do this because CTELWIN.EXE may attempt to update files on the Terminal Server/Winframe computer, which requires Administrator rights on that PC. Normally, your users will not have Administrator rights on this PC.

You may specify one Clientele working directory either on the network or on the Terminal Server/Winframe computer itself that all users share, or you may decide to have separate working directories for each user.

NOTE: In order to check in and out forms, Clientele developers MUST have their own private Clientele local working directory. This is to keep their form changes separate from the other users' forms until the Clientele developer is ready to check in those changes.


RUNNING CLIENTELE VIA THE MARS32.EXE COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

The command line options for MARS32.EXE are:

MARS32.EXE -Lworkpath -Ddatapath [-Aaccesspath] [-S] [-Nusername] [-Ppassword]

An example would be: (note that this command line is all on one line, with no spaces after the parameters)

"C:\PROGRAM FILES\PLATINUM SOFTWARE\CLIENTELE LOCAL FILES\MARS32.EXE" -L
"C:\PROGRAM FILES\PLATINUM SOFTWARE\CLIENTELE LOCAL FILES\"
-D"M:\CLIENTELE" -S -L (Working Directory - Required)

The -L parameter specifies the directory where MARS32.EXE is located. This might be a directory on the Terminal Server/Winframe itself or a directory in some other location on the network. Usually, this would be the directory you setup when you ran CTELWIN.EXE as an Terminal Server/Winframe Administrator. All the Clientele users can share this directory as long as the optional -S parameter is used on the command line as well.

-D (Data Directory - Required)

The -D parameter specifies the directory where CTEL.MDB is located.

-S (Shared Working Directory - Required for a shared installation)

The -L parameter should be used when the Clientele working directory specified by the -L parameter is shared with other users. Users running with this switch will NOT be able to redesign forms. For that reason, administrators should always specify a private directory for their working directory and not include this switch when loading

-A (Microsoft Access Directory - OPTIONAL)

The -A parameter specifies the location where Microsoft Access is installed. Usually, you would install Microsoft Access on the Terminal Server/Winframe computer and this is the path you would use with the -A parameter. If your users need to be able to run reports from Clientele or make changes to list box queries, this parameter is required.

Clientele 3.0 and higher should be able to find Microsoft Access via the registry and should not require this parameter. (Remember to install Microsoft Access using the Change User /Install parameter as well.)

-N (Username - OPTIONAL)

The -N parameter specifies the login name

-P (Password - OPTIONAL)

The -P parameter specifies the password.

NOTE: Clientele 2.1 will run on Winframe but Clientele 3.0 and higher requires Windows Terminal Server. The Metaframe add-on, supplied by Citrix Solutions, gives Windows Terminal Server access to the client file system, local printers and additional client operating systems. Windows Terminal Server out of the box only supports Windows NT, Windows 95/98, Windows For Workgroups and Windows devices. The Metaframe add-on gives DOS, Unix, Macintosh, Windows 3.1 and other client operating systems access to Windows Terminal Server. Metaframe also has a more robust load balancing feature for Windows Terminal Server clusters.

NOTE: Windows 2000 Terminal Server does not require "CHANGE USER /INSTALL" as the document describes, you just have to install Clientele from Add/remove Programs while in Terminal Server mode.

NOTE: After every customization that you make to the controls and forms in Clientele, you will have to manually copy the SETUP.MDB and CTEL.BIN files from the Clientele network directory to Clientele's local directory on Windows 2000 Terminal Server.