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From: Dennis Rose on 18 Jun 2010 15:41
I currently have a VB5 application installed on one customer PC(used as a
server) in an office and use the customer's network to connect all other PC's
in the office(client PCs) to my application.

Is it possible, and if possible, how could I use the Internet for client
computers in this office to connect(network) to my VB5 application on the
customer's computer which acts as a server for my application. This is a low
volume environment so I don't need a true "Server computer" (hardware wise).
This is desirable because my customer would also like to use my application
from home.

When you click the Icon for my application's exe on the Windows destop
screen, I display a screen for the customer to enter a password, and then,
based on the password entered, direct him to other screens.
From: Helmut Meukel on 18 Jun 2010 17:34
"Dennis Rose" <DennisRose(a)discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:03991D85-0873-4C68-B9CE-5085E730A5E9(a)microsoft.com...
>
> I currently have a VB5 application installed on one customer PC(used as a
> server) in an office and use the customer's network to connect all other PC's
> in the office(client PCs) to my application.
>
> Is it possible, and if possible, how could I use the Internet for client
> computers in this office to connect(network) to my VB5 application on the
> customer's computer which acts as a server for my application. This is a low
> volume environment so I don't need a true "Server computer" (hardware wise).
> This is desirable because my customer would also like to use my application
> from home.
>
> When you click the Icon for my application's exe on the Windows destop
> screen, I display a screen for the customer to enter a password, and then,
> based on the password entered, direct him to other screens.



Dennis,
I've now read your post four times but I still don't quite understand
what you/your client/your app are doing.
Your app sits physically on one computer - acting as file server - right?
But you still need some files on the local PCs: runtime files, OCXs, isn't it?

There is the problem of the restriction to maximal 10 inbound sessions
including the local session on the "server" if it has no server OS.
This has nothing to do with hardware, it's a limitation of the Windows
operating systems. The "Home" editions are limited to 5 sessions.

This session limit is an NT and higher thing, there was never a session
limit with Win95. (Don't know for 98 and Me, but I guess no limit either).

For connecting computers via the internet: you could setup a VPN.

Helmut.

BTW, with some clients I use a similiar approach: My app gets initially
installed on the local PCs, then the installing person changes the destination
in the link to the exe on a network share. When I have to install a update,
the old exe on the network share gets renamed while the app is still running
on the user PCs. The new exe gets copied to the network share. Done.
The next time the user starts the app he has the new version.

From: MikeD on 18 Jun 2010 23:07


"Dennis Rose" <DennisRose(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:03991D85-0873-4C68-B9CE-5085E730A5E9(a)microsoft.com...
> I currently have a VB5 application installed on one customer PC(used as a
> server) in an office and use the customer's network to connect all other
> PC's
> in the office(client PCs) to my application.
>
> Is it possible, and if possible, how could I use the Internet for client
> computers in this office to connect(network) to my VB5 application on the
> customer's computer which acts as a server for my application. This is a
> low
> volume environment so I don't need a true "Server computer" (hardware
> wise).
> This is desirable because my customer would also like to use my
> application
> from home.
>

Why can't your client just install your app on his home computer? Assuming
the client has a VPN or other network connection to the "office" (which is a
reasonable assumption if he's able to work from home and presumably needs
access to the office network to be able to do that), there shouldn't be a
problem. That's not to say there isn't some configuration involved and
perhaps you'll need to change some things in your app (which should be able
to be changed via options in your program), but it should be doable.

But I'm with Helmut in that I'm a little confused about this scenario too.
It's a little non-conventional (at least *I've* never heard of doing what
you're doing before). I mean, it's one thing to install an app on a Terminal
Server and all users run it from there. Shoot, even installing it to a
shared network folder and users run it from there (usually involves some
files be locally installed or at least locally registered too though). From
what I can gather, your app is installed locally on a desktop PC and other
users run your app from that installation? Is that right?
That's...unconventional. I'm not even sure how you could do that except for
the other users RDPing to the desktop PC that has it installed.

--
Mike


From: Dennis Rose on 19 Jun 2010 11:32


"MikeD" wrote:

>
>
> "Dennis Rose" <DennisRose(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:03991D85-0873-4C68-B9CE-5085E730A5E9(a)microsoft.com...
> > I currently have a VB5 application installed on one customer PC(used as a
> > server) in an office and use the customer's network to connect all other
> > PC's
> > in the office(client PCs) to my application.
> >
> > Is it possible, and if possible, how could I use the Internet for client
> > computers in this office to connect(network) to my VB5 application on the
> > customer's computer which acts as a server for my application. This is a
> > low
> > volume environment so I don't need a true "Server computer" (hardware
> > wise).
> > This is desirable because my customer would also like to use my
> > application
> > from home.
> >
>
> Why can't your client just install your app on his home computer? Assuming
> the client has a VPN or other network connection to the "office" (which is a
> reasonable assumption if he's able to work from home and presumably needs
> access to the office network to be able to do that), there shouldn't be a
> problem. That's not to say there isn't some configuration involved and
> perhaps you'll need to change some things in your app (which should be able
> to be changed via options in your program), but it should be doable.
>
> But I'm with Helmut in that I'm a little confused about this scenario too.
> It's a little non-conventional (at least *I've* never heard of doing what
> you're doing before). I mean, it's one thing to install an app on a Terminal
> Server and all users run it from there. Shoot, even installing it to a
> shared network folder and users run it from there (usually involves some
> files be locally installed or at least locally registered too though). From
> what I can gather, your app is installed locally on a desktop PC and other
> users run your app from that installation? Is that right?
> That's...unconventional. I'm not even sure how you could do that except for
> the other users RDPing to the desktop PC that has it installed.
>
> --
> Mike
>
>
> .
>

Thanks Mike and Helmut for your response,

I obviously didn't explain my setup correctly. I install all of my runtime
files and database files in various shared folders on 1 PC in my customer's
office(which I call the Server Computer). I then go to each of the other
computers in the customer's office(which I call client computers), browse the
network for the "computer with my runtime files and databases", select my
shared folder with my exe file, rightclick my exe file and click "send to,
desktop create shortcut". The customer then clicks this Icon to run my app
from the server computer.

They don't have a VPN just a LAN since they usually only have 1 location.

If there is a better way, I'm open for suggestions.
From: MikeD on 19 Jun 2010 21:41


"Dennis Rose" <DennisRose(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6ACBF1F7-AB5F-4B2B-B05B-AFAA40BF4262(a)microsoft.com...

> Thanks Mike and Helmut for your response,
>
> I obviously didn't explain my setup correctly. I install all of my
> runtime
> files and database files in various shared folders on 1 PC in my
> customer's
> office(which I call the Server Computer). I then go to each of the other
> computers in the customer's office(which I call client computers), browse
> the
> network for the "computer with my runtime files and databases", select my
> shared folder with my exe file, rightclick my exe file and click "send to,
> desktop create shortcut". The customer then clicks this Icon to run my
> app
> from the server computer.
>
> They don't have a VPN just a LAN since they usually only have 1 location.
>
> If there is a better way, I'm open for suggestions.

Egad. That just doesn't seem "right" to me. <g> Since you need to go
around to each "client" PC anyway, why not just install the app locally on
each of them? If the database files need to be shared, then place those on a
network folder each client computer can access (or better yet, use a
"server-type" RDBMS; even the free SQL Server Express would do and there are
other free ones as well).

As far as the problem you originally asked about, a VPN or using remote
desktop to the office PC (remote desktop, if you're not familiar with it,
only requires an internet connection but you do need to open firewall ports)
are the only things I can think of to allow users to work from home.

--
Mike


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