Local network configuration

The DbNet system may be easily configured for local network access. You can quickly hook up all of the PC's in your office to connect to the system, without requiring expert knowledge of networking concepts.

Local network diagram

A local network implies that the computers are in close proximity to one another, and share a common access point, such as a hub, so that they may communicate with each other. If you are familiar with the concept of TCP/IP networking, this configuration is defined as a sub-net.

In this configuration, one of the computers is selected to be the server. The others are considered to be clients. The server is the computer that has the database installed and is running the DbNet server program. Each of the clients is running the DbNet program, but is accessing the database through the network. Anyone running the system will have basically the same experience, as the network will be transparent to the user.

Server configuration

The most important requirement for the server is that it have the database set up on it and it is running the DbNet server program. The server program can be found from the Start button in the DbNet System program group and is named "Server". When it is running, it appears as pictured below. The server screen provides some basic information about the system. These are the parameters that the system has configured for itself when it was installed.

Once the server program is running on the server computer, all that is left to do is to configure the client machines.

Client configuration

There are basically three steps to configuring the client computers. Install the DbNet program, set the parameters to Network, and set the server name for the database. To set the network configuration, run the DbNet program from the icon on the screen, then click the System Functions button, then click the Parameters button. At the top of the parameters screen, there is a drop down box that you click to open, then select Network. The screen will appear as pictured below.

You will need to set the database parameter to point at the server set up for your network. Click the three dot button for the database, which is by default set for "dbnetcon.ipowermysql.com". This will bring up a list of the computers on your network, one of which will be the server.

If you are unsure of which of these selections is your server, you can verify from the server machine by selecting the properties option from right-clicking the "My Computer" icon on the server. The server name will be the computer name. You can find and set the name from this screen, pictured below.

That's all there is to it. Once the clients have been configured, every computer will be accessing the same database on the server.