|
|
I have a client with lagging performance at the workstations. Noticeable for certain forms (like Estimates), and certainly for a report like the daily Income by Provider, which they like to run at one of the reception stations rather than the server.
This is a peer-to-peer network, by the way, with the Avimark server running Vista business (32-bit), and the reception stations and lab computer running XP Pro (32-bit), and the owner's laptop on Vista business. In total, two Vista PC's and two XP -- one hosting an nComputing L130 terminal to serve as a second reception station.
I set up Client/Server not long ago for the sake of the bookkeeper running reports on the owner's laptop. I think this helped the bookkeeper, but overall performance was not markedly improved -- perhaps just a slight bump.
The main reception station also now regularly generates an error like this one:
Access violation at address 00BD997F in module ‘Avimark.exe.’ Read of address 0000001A (or 00000019, etc.)
Once the error appears, clicking OK seems to spawn half a dozen instances of the error in succession.
I ran some tests yesterday during a less-busy part of the day with the Income by Provider report on the two XP stations, both initially accessing via Client/Server, but then some tests with the /standalone switch. The reception station ran the report in 1.5 to 3 minutes, with no apparent correlation to client/server or standalone mode. But the lab computer ALWAYS ran the report in client/server mode at around 3 minutes, and in standalone at around half that.
Based on the unexpected but reliable results with the lab computer, I left both machines set up to use /standalone.
But I was working with another client yesterday running a different client/server kind of application (for an auto shop), and their client machines were seeing slow load times after reinstalling the McAfee security suite on the server. Program permissions in the McAfee firewall were as they should be, but what solved their problem was opening ports 137-139 for NetBIOS/File Sharing.
That got me thinking, since the vet also runs McAfee (comes free with AT&T Yahoo DSL here). I think Avimark and some other client/server program publishers like to recommend no software firewall, but that runs against some other common wisdom. So if there is a problem with Avimark interaction with the server's software firewall, I'd like to solve that rather than simply uninstalling it.
I haven't been back to run tests with the firewall disabled, but I would also like to come fully prepared to review the server firewall settings.
For program permissions, Full access for these?
AVImarkServer.exe
Upgrade.exe
AvimarkGuardian.exe
Avimark.exe for the sake of stations running in standalone mode?
Ports:
9191 for AVImarkServer.exe assuming configured for default
8090 for Upgrade.exe
Does AvimarkGuardian.exe listen on some port?
Likewise Avimark.exe for standalone access?
137-139 for file sharing?
What say you all? |
IP Logged
|
AVImark Forum 
