Configuring plug-ins

Before the network plug-ins can be used, the network must be prepared first:

1. Install VPT on all workstations and install client plug-ins in each of them.
2. Install one extra copy of VPT and install server plug-in in it. Note that the access to this VPT copy must be granted to someone who can manage workgroup's project data. Incorrect operation can damage the whole data. However it is possible to use the same copy of VPT as both server and regular client. In this case, both server and client plug-ins must be installed on the same machine.
3. Only one Server plug-in must be installed on the network. Otherwise it is possible that they can interfere with each other causing loss of data. However it is possible to use several workgroups on the same network. In this case, there may be several server copies of VPT in the network using different shared folders on the file server.
4. Configure a file server. File server could be a dedicated machine or any of the workstations with shared network folder where all workstations in the workgroup can store project data.
5. Configure plug-ins on each workstation by specifying network path to the shared folder and supply different user names for each client VPT.
6. Create project templates and put them on the file server into dedicated folder.
7. System is ready to use.

Configuring File Server.

Configuring a file server is easy. You need to create a separate folder on any of the network machines and share the folder so the rest of machines can have access to it. You should consider placing the shared folder on a server that runs reliably and where data can be protected from system crashes, accidental deletion, and other hazards. This shared folder must have three subfolders:

• Templates
• Data
• Projects

Templates folder will contain project templates that clients can download and use when starting to work on a project. Data folder is used to stored the combined project data for each user and the whole workgroup. Projects folder is used to store intermediate data sent from client machines before they are processed by the server.

For example, you chose to use a computer with network name "FileServer" as the file server and created an empty folder at C:\Data\VPT\Network. Share the folder in the network as, say, "VPTData". Therefore, the network path to the shared folder will be "\\FileServer\VPTData".

Then create the three subfolders under C:\Data\VPT\Network on the FileServer machine... Now the file server is ready.