Network Installation Basics (Athena Only)
Document 4715
Revised 10/12/2007 LD1


WinTOTAL has been designed from the ground up to operate in a networked, multi-user environment. Our user guide (available through the Help menu and on the installation CD) has a great set of guidelines and suggestions for setup.  This document summarizes some of the most common issues. 

Athena users:

  • Click here for the Networking chapter of our user guide.
  • If you're migrating from a local setup to a networked setup, see document 4701.
  • If you're wanting to connect a laptop to your network, see document 4716 for details.

  
 

 

What are the Benefits of Running WinTOTAL in a Networked Environment?

When set up properly, you're going to gain a lot of productivity over the long haul when everyone in the office runs off the same installation.

  • You'll save hard costs by not having to purchase individual licenses.  (Did you know it's illegal to install WinTOTAL on multiple appraiser's PC's?)
  • All of your reports, databases, images, updates, etc are centralized.  Just think, when one person puts an image in the database, it's available to everyone.  Or, you get updates from one station and they automatically apply to everyone else.
  • Support is centralized.  It's a lot easier to track down a problem if you can try it on another workstation and see if the problem exists there, too.

What Preparations Should I Take Before Installing WinTOTAL on a Network?

These tips will make your networked WinTOTAL run as smoothly as a standalone version.

  • First, we recommend a dedicated server running Windows XP Pro.  PC's are really cheap these days, so you shouldn't have to force a system into double duty as both a workstation and server - you're just going to slow everyone down.  Your server should sit off to the side somewhere and never need to be touched.
  • When choosing a server, focus on a large and fast hard drive (at least 7200 RPM), lots of RAM (at least 1GB) and a moderately fast processor (3 Ghz or better).  Video, sound and multimedia capabilities aren't all that important for a server.
  • For best results, create a "share" on the server and then have all the workstations map that share to a common drive letter such as "S".  You're likely to run into errors when using just the "path" to the server such as "\\file_server\drive_S" because Athena wasn't designed to run that way.
  • You can have a workstation access a share with a drive letter by browsing to the share and then clicking the Windows XP Explorer Tools menu and selecting "Map Network Drive..." 

         
      Note: Our techs can't help you with this since it's not a WinTOTAL feature.  
         

  • Make sure all your workstations have read/write and directory create/delete permissions on the share and all directories below it.  Likewise, make sure all other basic functions such as Internet access and shared printing are operational.

These are all things that happen outside of WinTOTAL and they should be "set and forget".  Most computer technicians should have no problem getting it all going.  If don't have someone you use locally, consult our reseller network at www.alamode.com/reseller to see if a registered WinTOTAL consultant is in your area.

Athena users:  If you already have WinTOTAL on one or more stations in your office and you're migrating to a network, we have a specific document for you.  See Tech Doc 4701 for more targeted instructions on merging multiple local installs. 

How Do I Install WinTOTAL on a Server?

This is actually changing with our new Aurora version.  You used to be able to install Athena from a workstation to the server - just direct it to the shared drive and directory we set up previously in this document.  With Aurora, you need to install from the actual server so that the SQL database engine is also installed.

     
  Note:  If you are upgrading a networked Athena installation to Aurora, you'll need to launch Aurora's WinTOTAL.exe executable at least once before starting the Aurora upgrade - this logs INI entries which tell Aurora that Athena was installed on the PC and where it is.  
     

After the initial setup, WinTOTAL will launch and take you through the setup just as though it were running on a local PC.

  • Once you're through with the install, go to a workstation and browse to the shared WinTOTAL folder (i.e. S:\WIN2000) and run WINTOTAL.EXE.



  • From that point, our "SafeStart" system will kick on and do a local workstation setup - registering system files, setting up icons, etc.  Not many programs have this kind of functionality - we built our SafeStart system to make your life easier!  Load a file and perhaps do a test print to make sure everything appears in order.
  • Before setting up the other workstations, run the Instant Customer Update function first so everything is current.  Then, start the program again from that initial workstation to make sure that is all okay.  (It should be fine.)
  • Now, we need to get the other workstations setup.  From each workstation, browse to the WinTOTAL program directory, (i.e.  S:\Win2000) and run WINTOTAL.EXE. 

That's it.  Everything is setup and ready to go.  Note that WinTOTAL may not seem quite as fast when running over the network.  This is normal, since everything is being run from the server.  Be sure and optimize network performance in all areas, even taking into consideration things like bypassing virus and compressed file scanning on the networked WinTOTAL directory.  And once again, having a lot of RAM and fast hard drive on your server will also make a difference.