OS Configurations

Windows Firewall

I just love the fact Windows 7 Firewall gives you the option to display when programs are trying to communicate, but doesn't actually show it, and don't get me started on logging that doesn't log anything… (Have I mentioned I hate Microsoft!) So if you are running into problems where you can't communicate to the SWMFS server, here are a few tidbits…

• On the server, you can bring up the configuration GUI and Query Server and your response looks correct. continue.
• On the client, you bring up the configuration GUI and Query Server the server, and all you get is "unknown." This is a classic sign of firewall problems…
• You need to add swmfs.exe to your firewall settings. Note, not the swmfs.exe that is in the product directory (that would make too much sense)… You need to add the swmfs.exe that is running in the task manager. The best way to determine this is to bring up the task manager and select "Show all users." Select swmfs from the list and do right mouse click Properties. Note the Location. For me it was C:\Windows\SysWOW64. So the program you want to add to your firewall is C:\Windows\SysWOW64\swmfs.exe…

Authorization File

On Windows systems, the SWMFS stores it's authorization settings in %SystemRoot%\system32\swmfs.auth (SystemRoot is typically C:\Windows for 32bit systems and C:\Windows\SysWOW64 for 64bit systems). I believe you could make changes directly to this file, but you would have to restart SWMFS…

Performance

Databases on MS Windows XP Very Slow

+ show block

Have you noticed Creating Alternative Extremely Slow on MS Windows XP, or doing anything with the database is slow. MS Windows XP introduced a barbaric and stupid way of allowing users to go restore their computers to a previous states. I'm not going to say why MS needs to do this but all of you know why… This "feature" is very stupid in the way changes are recorded, it copies the original file before allowing the system to modify a file. So if this is turned on, your DS files will be copied every time you touch them write to them (creating an alternative or committing). And if you are like anyone with Smallworld, your DS files are going to be large and you can imagine the amount of time it will take for a 2+GB file to be copied again and again.
There are 2 solutions to this problem. Shut the stupid feature off. This is done by:

1. Go to Control Panel —> System, and on the tab labeled System Restore, ensure that the checkbox named "Turn Off System Restore" is selected. (thx Tim Minto)
2. If your System Admin thinks this feature is a great idea, you can individually shut off the functionality on the file type or directory level. In teh file: %SystemRoot%\System32\Restore\Filelist.xml there is a line "<REC>DS</REC>" that can be removed or there are other ways of configuring the file to prevent your database from being consistently copied.

Database Connections VERY Slow

Run swmfs_trace. If SERVER_INFO takes a very long time >15 secs to respond try the following.

• Try resetting the IP addressing using netsh inet ip reset. Can someone elaborate about what this does?
• If using WINS rather than DNS for IP host naming. The problem may be resolved by entering the server's name and IP address in its %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file, as discussed in the Smallworld 3 System Administration document, section 7.6 ^{quote from Zareh Langridge 2001}

Databases on Microsoft Cluster Server

+ show block

Symptoms:
Took around 10 minutes to connect to the customer's Smallworld database. Using swmfs_trace, it became clear that SERVER_INFO requests were taking around 15 seconds to process each time.

Resolution:
The customer used WINS rather than DNS for IP host naming. The problem was resolved by entering the server's name and IP address in its %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file, as discussed in the Smallworld 3 System Administration document, section 7.6.

_{quote from Zareh Langridge 2001}