10 Reasons to Use the Revelation Network Products* (General)
Created at 18 AUG 1999 03:50PM
In today's business world, getting the most out of precious resources is a primary concern to every business. The Revelation Network Products are designed to improve performance, functionality and data integrity for OpenInsight and Advanced Revelation applications on Novell and Windows 2000/NT networks.
1. Obtain All of the Below Benefits Without Modifying the Existing Application
The best part of the Network Products is that you can take advantage of all the features and benefits without modifying the existing application at all! The installation is quick, simple and the results are immediate!
2. Run Advanced Revelation on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and XP Workstations
The Revelation NLM and Revelation Windows 2000 Service (formerly called NT Service) provide the support Advanced Revelation needs to recognize and coordinate the features of contemporary operating systems. It is only with the implementation of one of these products that Advanced Revelation can be supported under these operating systems.
Advanced Revelation - which was designed, developed and tested exclusively for DOS - was upgraded in stages between 1989 and 1993 (version 2.03 to version 3.12). All key components of Advanced Revelation, including memory management, disk access, and operating system services (printing, access to peripherals, etc.), were developed and optimized specifically for DOS.
In the mid- to late-1990s, Windows 95/98/NT/2000 operating systems became the standard. These operating systems replace the core DOS system with a new 32-bit kernel. Instead of just providing a graphical user interface, task swapping, and simple operating system services similar to Windows 3.1, these operating systems implemented a fundamental system change; not only was the operating systems' kernel completely replaced, but memory management was redesigned, task swapping gave way to -multi-tasking, basic networking was built-in, and hardware devices tied right into the operating system ("plug & play"). In addition to these fundamental changes, new caching (write-behind caching) and locking (opportunistic locking) schemes to optimize workstation and network performance were implemented. All of these changes to the operating system have significant effects on Advanced Revelation networked systems, the most common of which is data corruption, resulting in down-time and data loss. As a DOS environment, Advanced Revelation does not understand these new operating system capabilities and, therefore, cannot coordinate these activities. This often results in GFEs.
3. Eliminate Data Corruption (GFEs)
Data corruption can occur for a variety of reasons, including bad cabling, power fluctuations, hardware errors, no record locking, or if a user aborts a process. Often it is impossible to predict or prevent such events. The Revelation Network Products enable you to protect against data corruption when such events do occur by recognizing that an error occurred and notifying the user, while protecting the data table from incomplete transactions, virtually eliminating data corruption errors (Group Format Errors).
4. Dramatically Reduce Indexing Issues
When data corruption occurs, a Group Format Error is not always the result. In some cases the errors are seen as indexing errors. The enhanced architecture of the database eliminates all data errors and will therefore significantly enhance the stability of indexes. Thus, the application will require less maintenance and will result in a lower number of technical support incidents.
5. Reduce Downtime
Costs mount very quickly when your users can't use the system. The real costs of data corruption is the downtime created while the appropriate back-ups are found and restored. If the system can't be restored with a recent back-up, the information must be re-entered, taking additional precious resources. The Revelation Network Products address this issue by virtually eliminating data corruption and the resulting downtime.
6. Reduce Support Costs
With the virtual elimination of data & index errors, support incidents and down-time will substantially decrease. The network products also enable you to run on all of the latest versions of operating systems, networks, and workstations, ensuring you can run in the most contemporary environment possible.
There are two major ways of reducing costs of supporting your application:
1.Minimizing the number of support incidents.
2.Ensuring a quick resolution once a support incident has been opened.
The reduction of support incidents not only reduces costs, but also improves overall customer satisfaction, which in turn leads to higher sales. Support incidents are resolved quickly when there is a supported, stable, contemporary platform with a minimum number of potential error variables. This enables the analyst to quickly identify potential problems.
Support incidents for deployed applications are usually triggered by the introduction of new hardware, software versions, and/or destabilizing actions. In Advanced Revelation applications, problems manifest themselves as indexing errors and data corruption (GFEs). The Revelation Network Products virtually eliminate GFEs, thus greatly reducing support incidents.
The Revelation Network Products provide a new architecture to guarantee a high level of protection to the underlying database. This architecture enables the trapping of errors, and protects tables and indexes from potential problems.
The Network Products enable Advanced Revelation to run on the latest versions of operating systems and networks. If a technical problem is caused by the workstation, the network, or the communication between the two, you can receive assistance from each of the vendors because you are running the contemporary release. (In order for most vendors to support you, they will require that you install the latest version of their product.)For Advanced Revelation to work on these updated systems - regardless of the number of users - the installation of the appropriate Revelation Network Product is required.
7. Enhance Performance
The Revelation Network Products are designed to enable database activity to be off-loaded onto the file server. This architecture dramatically reduces the amount of network requests. The reduction of network requests translates to increased performance. Benchmarks show a 30 - 50% performance increase on local area networks (LANs), and a 100%+ increase on wide area networks (WANs).
8. Run Advanced Revelation on Contemporary Networks
The Revelation Network Products provide the ability for Advanced Revelation to run on Novell NetWare 3.x, 4.x and 5.x, 6x, and Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT 3.x/4.x. Furthermore, the Network Products allow you to use the 32-bit client protocols that are now required to communicate. The Revelation NLM s support of these contemporary technologies is formalized by the certification of the product by Novell for versions 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x. Advanced Revelation is only certified under Novell with the implementation of the NLM. Advanced Revelation is, as it has always been, network-ready out of the box. All versions of Advanced Revelation provide network support for industry-standard networks. The following describes Advanced Revelation on the most common networks: Novell NetWare and Microsoft Windows 2000/NT Server.
Novell Networks
When implementing an Advanced Revelation system on a Novell network, the developer must choose the built-in "Novell NetWare" or "Novell Advanced NetWare" network driver. (The "Advanced NetWare" driver is used in a WAN configuration.) The network driver contains the logic for how the database reads, saves, and locks records. The two network drivers provided with Advanced Revelation were developed using the contemporary technology of its time, specifically the NetWare v 2.x and v 3.x libraries and APIs. Furthermore, the communication protocols used during this period were NETX and IPXODI.
Over the last five years, Novell has made significant advancements in their network technology and, as a result, made substantial changes to the libraries and APIs. Novell currently ships NetWare 6.0, which is three generations removed from the version Advanced Revelation was initially designed for and tested on. In addition, Novell has eliminated support for the NETX and IPXODI protocols, and now only supports "Novell Client v 3.3 or 4.8" for 32 bit operating systems.
The Revelation NLM provides an update to Advanced Revelation to support the new Novell libraries and APIs, and updates the system to use the appropriate "Novell Clients." The Revelation NLM s support of these contemporary technologies is formalized by the certification of the product by Novell for versions 3.x/4.x (version 1.5) and 5.x (version 5.0). Advanced Revelation is only certified under Novell with the implementation of the Revelation NLM.
Microsoft Windows 2000/NT Server
When implementing an Advanced Revelation system on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, the built-in "Byte Range" lock driver must be selected. This network driver contains the logic for how the database reads, saves, and locks records. The Byte Range driver provided with Advanced Revelation was developed using the contemporary technology of its time: the "Generic DOS 3.12 Byte Range lock" specification. This technology was adopted in the mid 1980s to enable applications to lock tables using direct operating system functions. If a network operating system accepts and replies to a DOS function call (INT 21) in a manner outlined in the specification, network record locks could be emulated. A number of low-end networks supported this standard (for example LANtastic, Banyan, and LAN Manager). If a user installs a Windows 2000/NT Server, the user must choose the "Byte Range" lock driver to obtain record locking.
The Revelation Windows 2000 Service was designed specifically for Microsoft Windows 2000/NT Server as a 32-bit, multiple processor service.The old method of relying on outdated, least-common-denominator DOS function calls is no longer used; with the NT Service, Advanced Revelation can now take full advantage of Windows 2000/NT Server s network libraries, APIs and functions. Furthermore, the Revelation Windows 2000 Service supports contemporary network protocols such as "Microsoft Client". Only the Revelation Windows 2000 Service enables Advanced Revelation to exploit the Windows 2000/NT Server functionality.
9. Maintain Your Investment as You Move Across Revelation Environments
The Revelation Network products are licensed per server, and support both Advanced Revelation and OpenInsight. If you are currently running Advanced Revelation, for example, and are looking to move to OpenInsight, you can use the same Network Product when you replace your application.
10. Improve Performance of the Entire Network
The Network products dramatically reduce the amount of information moving through the network. Freeing up bandwidth provides rapid movement of all information across your network. Your users will see better performance of all applications on the network regardless of whether they are running Revelation, email, a word processor, or any other network-based applications.
To order the Revelation NLM or Revelation Windows 2000 Service, call our Customer Care Department at (800) 262-4747 or (978) 247-7100
*Revised 12/02