` Printed Icetips Article

Icetips Article



Par2: VCS using the internet
1999-07-07 -- Scott Buchanan
 
Currently, the VCS only recognizes mapped drives.  This may be accomplished easily 
over a network or WAN, but can also be done over the Internet.  This does not require 
CWIC or Java, etc. To map a drive over the Internet:

1) edit C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS.  you want to add an entry for the computer you are 
    mapping to.  The entry is formatted like:

       12.34.56.78 John

   and is simply their IP address and a descriptive name.

2) Launch the Windows Explorer.  On the menu select Tools -> Map Network Drive.  
    Select a drive letter.  as the path, enter the UNC for the remote drive, like 
    \\john\cdrive.

By default, the VCS is very conservative with files.  That means when you access an 
archive the following occurs:

a) the archive file is copied to a temp directory with a new name
b) the operation is performed (e.g. APP is checked out)
c) the archive is copied back to the archive dir with the temp name
d) the old archive is deleted and the new one renamed properly.

This can be very time consuming on a dial up connection.  If the temp dir is local 
(default) then the whole archive is copied twice.  If the temp dir is set to the network,

then the archive essentially gets copied four times (from one network location to the 
other via the local machine!)  

This was the inspiration for the VCS Server, which would perform all of the copying and 
archive operations on the server and then move only the result file to the local machine.



Printed May 4, 2024, 10:43 am
This article has been viewed/printed 35117 times.