Re: [foxboro] Facilities for Mixed Systems

Remote viewing
---------------------------
I've used Citrix's Solaris client to run a remote (Windows) INtools 
instance on an AW51E before, and there is rdesktop (an RDP client; lets 
you run apps on a WTS machine) on sunfreeware for Solaris 2.5.1, 8, and 
probably 10.  The biggest problem I had is the limited color palette on 
the Solaris 2.5.1 boxes; most Windows apps today expect at least 16-bit 
color, and they therefore don't display properly.  I know the I/A software 
requires an 8-bit color palette (you have to use the Pseudocolor visual on 
Exceed because of this), and xdpyinfo says that the X server supports at 
least one 24-bit visual, so maybe it is merely a matter of specifying the 
proper visual.  I didn't play with it enough to be sure.

I also tried to use X to get the ICC on my AW70 to appear on my AW51s.  It 
worked, but screen updates and keyboard response were choking on glacier 
dust.  VNC works better, but I rarely need it now because the screens are 
right next to each other in the rack room, and I don't do enough 
configuration on the AW70 to warrant setting up access to it from the 
control room.


For configuration, I'd be happy with a plain XP AW70 with VNC or maybe RDP 
(there are some by-design authentication issues with RDP that may cause 
problems, but I haven't played with it enough to be certain).  For remote 
graphics viewing, I guess WTS is OK, but I don't know what authentication 
or other problems would arise there, particularly in a mixed 
read-only/read-write environment (and see my side note below).  What would 
be cooler is a cross-platform Foxview client that connected to CPs either 
locally on a WP/AW or remotely via FoxAPI or something.  You could then 
have it installed locally on an AW/WP for operations, locally on a regular 
PC and connecting to CPs via a remote AW, or hosted on a Windows or Unix 
app server, which could be an AW or a separate server box, and displayed 
with X, VNC, or RDP.


A web-based viewer is interesting, but would require maintenance of a 
separate code base for the web part.


File transfer/remote command shell
----------------------------------------------------
As Jeremy pointed out, the AW70 does not have a working rsh/rcp 
implementation, so most of my sysadmin scripts have to be modified for the 
AW70.  I too would prefer ssh of some sort.  I could probably load OpenSSH 
on all of my boxes, but haven't spent the time yet.  I was also warned not 
to put Cygwin (which OpenSSH depends upon) on the AW70, but there are 
alternatives (i.e., just a couple Cygwin DLLs to make OpenSSH work, or the 
excellent PuTTY suite).


 I suppose Samba on the Unix boxes would work, too, but setup is more 
complex, and I need the ability to view Unix drives in Explorer less than 
I do the ability to transfer files via scripts.  FTP is not so good here, 
because if an operation fails, FTP does not return that status in its exit 
code - a deal-breaker in lights-out scripts.


* * * * * * *


As a side note, another unit here installed a V8 system recently on a new 
project.  They bought a P91 with Windows Server 2003, and several Foxboro 
things that worked on XP did not work on it -- to the extent that they 
sent the box back to Houston and told Foxboro to fix it..  I don't know 
all the details, but I got the impression that it is not as well-tested a 
platform for I/A as (single-user) XP is.  It also confirms my belief that 
multi-concurrent-interactive-user operation in Windows is an afterthought 
- not an initial design criterion as in Unix - and we will be struggling 
with that for some time to come.


Corey Clingo
BASF Corporation






"Johnson, Alex P \(IPS\)" <alex.johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
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Subject
Re: [foxboro] Facilities for Mixed Systems






Re: 4 - Remote ICC type configuration from any workstation
> I'm not sure what "ICC type" configuration means, but IACC and IEE user
> may load the corresponding client on any Windows workstation and
> configure any station those configurators support.
>> I meant any of the configurators: ICC, IACC, IEE. I would like for the
>> control configuration stuff to be accessible from any workstation on
>> the network. so that i do not have to have a dedicated engineering
>> station in each of the control rooms. there are lots of things that I
>> only fell comfortable changing in the actual control room with the
>> operators present. I currently have this with unix, but I think i
>> would lose it if we went to a windows IEE type system?

The IACC and IEE Clients may be run on any Windows machine natively. [Does 
require software to be loaded.]

The IACC and IEE Clients may be accessed from any Windows machine using 
Terminal Services if the host machine is a P91. [Does not require software 
to be loaded.]

The IEE, IACC, and IEE Clients and may be accessed from Solaris 8 and 
Solaris 10 machines if certain software is loaded. Solaris 2.5.1 might 
still be available as a platform for this software, but I haven't checked 
it out in a long time. [This does require a purchase and an installation 
on the Solaris machines.]

Of course, the above applies to most Windows applications as well. There 
are a few exceptions - FoxPanels for example supports only one instance 
and that's on the host box.

Where does this fail?

Thoughts






 
 
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