Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: Can I change the
HTML without the updater killing off my changes?
A:Copy "xxx.htm" ( or whatever) to "xxx.html",
and make changes to the new "xxx.html",
You can change just about any scripted template file from .HTM to .HTML,
and the change will stay past an update. Except for the home
page, as it's not scripted, so see the answer to the next question.)
Q: Can I remove (or comment
out) the “Subscribe” and “Unsubscribe” under the “Welcome to
Lynx Duress Notification Systems” on the Home Page?
A: Commenting out the home page links is pretty simple, just use
<!-- and -->, but as usual, there is something extra you
have to do. The Lynx updater will repair any damage you make
to default.htm. But the updater will never remove an extra file.
So you add another file and make it a higher priority instead of
default.htm. To do this, you need to be logged in as an
administrator on the machine.
First, make a copy of C:\inetpub\wwwroot\default.htm. Rename
the copy to default.html
In Control-Panel->Administrative tools, select Internet
Information Services. Right click and select the properties
of the Lynx web site. In Documents tab, add 'default.html'
and move it to the top with the arrows.
Then press OK. You may have to restart the web server with the
Stop and Go buttons at the top.
You can now edit 'default.html' to remove the subscribe and unsubscribe
buttons. I'd leave the <TD> and
</TD> elements for proper spacing, and just wipe out the text
between them.
Q: Can specific
features like bolding, underlining, etc. on the toolbar, where you
write a message in the “Message” area, be customized
(disabled/enabled)? .
A:
Yes. Individual feature can be turned on or off or made
read-only.
Q: How does the panic alarm system know where a computer
is located? Is this manually entered into the alarm system?
A: You can manually enter location information. You can also use a macro
as in [macro] to recover the Ip address, the persons Login Name and the
computer name properties of the computer that sent the alarm. For
example, the message "Panic button pushed by [Who] at CPU [Cpu]"
would translate to something like this: "Panic button pushed by
fredb at CPU lobby". This is useful if you have meaningful login
names and computer names.
You can also add a registry key, or environment variable CLIENTNAME
to tell the system the location of the compuyter
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Q: What is the load the system can handle?
A: Benchmarks on the stock server (2.4 Ghz Pentium with 512 MB of
Ram) indicate that it can send 30+ messages a second while randomly
receiving from 1 to 6 alarms per second, routed to from 1 to 27
different devices, with only 10% CPU utilization.
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Q: What is your largest client site (number of
users/devices) at this time?
A: We have no idea how many hotkeys are in use. There are systems with
hundreds of pop ups and some have hundreds of alarms programmed into
their system. Since an alarm can be shared by many users, there is
simply no way to know.
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Q: Do you offer enterprise licensing or is by site
only?
A: We currently do not have any enterprise licenses. We would
consider it. The license is by site, by server at the current time.
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Q: Can the system be centralized to a data center in a
remote location?
A: Yes - as long as you can route the alarms to it, it will work that
way. It could be on the internet and you could send alarms to it from
anywhere in the world. However, it is very desirable that the server be
internal to the building or area inside any firewalls and with as few
hops as possible between it and the first responders. This prevents
external equipment failures from affecting operations. If your WAN goes
down, then you can still contact first responders over your LAN, even
though SMS is down to the phone company, for example. Ideally, the
server is in the first responders area, so that even if the incoming
network in their area is down, the outgoing connection may be up, or
vice versa.
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Q: Are there any network restrictions or
limitations?
A: Not really. The server must be able to communicate outside your
facility on the internet to http://www.mitsi.com if you send SMS
messages. All other traffic remains on your LAN unless you send an email
to an outside recipient.
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Q: Does this system require a modem in order to send
messages or
communicate to pagers and radios?
A: No modem is used - it requires a single 10/100 Ethernet connection
to a LAN, 1 AC power jack, and 1.75" of rack space. We use all
standard protocols like SMTP for email, SNPP for pagers, SMS for
cellular, and a HTTP stream protocol to communicate to the radios and
analog voice phones.
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A: Network Supervision is a Good Idea. It tells you before anything
happens that the server cannot listen to or communicate to a device. All
the hardware based LynxNets use it, as do LynxKey, LynxPro, and
LynxMessenger software packages. The Zero Footprint Desktop shortcuts
don't, as they don't 'ping' the server every 10 minutes like the other
gadgetry. Our wireless panic buttons also support supervision, along
with battery low and tamper.
If you want to supervise just your machine and the other first
responders machines, and ignore the rest, then you should create a
separate Alarm group just for first responders. For example, add a new
piece of equipment, and call it "Dispatch". Then add an Alarm
channel 000 to that group with a subject such as 'Security PopUp ', and
enable alarm 000 to go to any gadgetry that should receive the notice.
This is the only alarm channel you will need. Change the LynxMessenger
Pop Up S/N (not PCName) on first responders machines to the group name
"Dispatch" in that products' control panel (right click the
icon on each machine, and select "Open Control Panel" and
"Settings".) The server will souind an alarm if any machine
drops offline as in "Security Pop Up: Equipment number Dispatch is
offline - Loss of supervision". .
This can be extended to indicate exactly which machine went offline by
by having a separate group, for example, for Dispatch A, B and C. It is
easy to set up A's alarm channel 0 to Pop Up a message to B and C, B to
A & C, and C to A & B. But you don't have to get that fancy. The
server will simply find all other PC's that are online and Pop up an
alert to them if anyone goes offline. Or use an email, or call you on
the phone.
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Q: What information is captured when the person presses a
panic button ( icon or Hot key)? Ie. can user-id,IP address, and host
name be captured?
A: The short answer is Yes.
LynxKey Hotkeys ( and LynxPro USB/Serial alarm) : LynxKey automatically
sends the IP address of the computer, the login name, and the computer
name properties as part of the message. These may be placed within
messages with the [IPaddress], [Who] and [CPU] macros. Also available is
the gateway that the system may be hiding behind. Other macros may be
used to recover the alarm channel, the group name, and reply-to contact
info, and so on Lynx keys are Network Supervised - an alarm on channel 0
goes off if it hangs up or crashes.
Zero-footprint Desktop Shortcuts: ZFP shortcuts automatically send
the IP address of the computer, the CREATOR OF THE SHORTCUT's login
name, and the CREATOR OF THE SHORTCUT's computer name properties as part
of the message. The difference with Lynx key operation may be resolved
to CURRENT USER OF THE MACHINE by saving the 'download.vbs' program onto
a drive or shared folder, and using the techniques described below,
saving a shortcut to that program into the computers' Startup Group.
When a user logs in, the shortcut is recreated automatically with the
current info. This is an ideal method for large organization that simply
requires adding one line in a login script. The alarm button will then
follow that user around as they log into different machines, and it will
re-appear if deleted.
ZFP's may be easily created with the built-in wizard, they can be
emailed, copied, pasted, used in other applications like Web Pages.,
mass-installed silently on PC via group policies, via user login
profiles, or by batch files. ZFP's are unlimited in scope. They do not
require installation of a program, so they are 'zero' footprint. ZFP
shortcuts are generally considered to be more flexible and useful than
LynxKey. However, no network supervision is possible.
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Q: How are people who move from location to location
identified if they pressed a panic button?
A: With Lynx key and ZFP's, the simplest solution is to prompt for
their location when they send the alarm. This switch may be set when you
create the shortcut. If off, the alarm is 'instant', with no prompting.
With Lynx key, this behavior is controlled by a switch setting in the
LynxKey control panel. In the API, you just add the &Verify=Yes
switch. I have set that switch below.
There are going to be certain circumstances when all you need to know
is [WHO] sent the alarm to send people to the right place. Generally
speaking, though, you don't care who sent an alarm, but you do want to
know where to send help. Also, you can always pre-specify in the message
text where to send help. You can add multiple locations in multiple
buttons and re-use the same alarm channel as in my example above (both
are alarm 7). Sometimes the machine doesn't move or is fixed in place,
such as for a lobby computer, which makes this discussion irrelevant.
LynxPro hardwired holdup buttons plugged into a USB port in a lobby-area
computer are especially popular. The end user can push the switch, or
press a hot key, or click an icon, and all do the exact same alarm ( or
not, your choice).
Simple methods also work: for wireless panic buttons, we recommend they
be glued in place under a table or under a desk. We have over 60,000
wireless panic buttons in courthouses around the country, and the
location problem is handled in exactly this simple manner.
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Q: What is the communication mechanism used in the
application? Is WMI used?
A: Our message formats use standard TCP/IP interfaces so that they
work on any network (Novell, Linux, Windows) and they are also routable
over the Internet. Input (alarm) messages are sent via TCP/IP via HTTP
requests, just like any web server. The hardware products use the same
HTTP interface, but at the socket level. There are additional parameters
used by the appliance products, such as software version, type of
product, and so on, that are recoverable at the server.
We use Win32 API, similar to the functions provided in WMI in Lynx
key.exe and LynxPro.exe to collect the CPU Name and User ID properties
for transmission to the server.
ZFP shortcuts are created by VBScript and are easily modifiable by your
IT department to fit your exact network setup, such as looking into
active directory or the file system for additional information.
Output messages are typically sent in SMTP (email), SNPP (pager), and
HTTP (web-like) formats that are specific to the application. The API
and message formats are documented in the white paper at http://lynx.mitsi.com/Public/Documents/Data%20Sheets/WhitePaper.pdf
There are also several 'extra' alarm formats that we support that are
specific to various OEMs that allow such items as Zones, Points,
Equipment ID's and such to be reported.
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Q: What kind of database is the application using?
A: We include a Microsoft SQl Server Express database. Our server also works on
SQL server 200, 2003, 2005, or 2007 STD or SQL Enterprise, from Microsoft.
SQL server uses a ODBC name on the
server to point to an empty database on your server, by edit a
text file ‘sql.txt’ with DSN=Name;uid-USERID;pwd=PASSWORD;
A utility 'init.plx then builds a blank, default database,
ready to go.
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Q: What operating system is running on the server -
Windows or Linux? I assume we can use our own server?
A: We use Windows 2003 Standard Edition exclusively due it's
multi-threaded Web Garden capability, which greatly increases
reliability and monitoring capability vs other web servers. We
support Web Edition and ENterprise, too. LynxGuide
runs as a service. We ship all LynxGuide servers on Standard Edition
platforms, with
a Dell 1U rack model Poweredge server. We also supply HP/Compaq
servers. Many upgrades are available including fault-tolerant RAID
configurations and fall-back dual systems. LynxGuide runs on XP
Home with Abyss web server, and XP Professional with IIS or Abyss.
LynxGuide server will probably work just
fine on NT, but we do not support it. We have run LynxGuide server on 256 MB Linux box with
PostgreSQL relational database, but that configuration is not currently
supported. We also run on, but do not support, Apache web server.
We do have a downloadable installer (35 MB Zip file) that can be set up
in a day or so by an experienced IT person. Due to the extra support we
have to provide for these systems, we do not charge less than for a
pre-installed Dell or HP system. There is about ( rummaging noises.....)
73.3 MB of code, 2605 files, and many little details in the
configuration specific to security, the web server setup, ODBC, SMTP,
and DNS that cannot be easily automated. So software-only setup can take
quite a bit of time to configure and test.
The standard configuration will run if you just plug it in and type
http://lynxguide from any computer on your network. Most users don't
even hook up a keyboard or monitor.
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Q: Can multiple Security department computers be notified
if the panic button is pressed?
A: You can have as many as you want. Any alarm can be sent to any mix
of outputs. You can send alerts to one department during the day and a
different one at night. It will find all specified Pop Ups if their
computers are logged on and ignore them if not. Pop Ups can be addressed
individually by computer name, by a name you assign the PC, to a group
if they all have the same name, or by IP address or IP address range, or
any combination of the above. The server communicates the alarm to each
Pop Up at a rate of about 30 different recipients a second. How long it
takes to draw the Pop Up screen is a function of the end user computer
and what browser they are using - and we support all browsers.
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Q: Can a panic button be presented as a link on the
company intranet?
A: Yes, easily - you can also include them in an email, put them
inside a company document such as in Word or Excel or Open Office, or in
any application that supports hyper links. This includes cell phones
with web browsers via their Favorites entries, PDA's, and any other
application you may dream up. The API is published in the white paper,
and example scripts in VB script and MS Excel are available for download
from the support site.
You can also use these links in many applications other than security -
such as a Help Desk Icon. For example, I recently sent a Word doc to our
patent attorney, and asked him in the document to "click the image
below" to let me know when he wanted to discuss it. It rings my
cell phone with an SMS message about 5 seconds later with "Steve
has patent ready at 214-...... ", and I can call him immediately
while it is on his screen.
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Q: Typically, how are the projects managed from your
side? Timeframes? Management approaches?
A: Lead time for the LynxGuide servers ranges from 2 days to 2 weeks,
depending upon stock or specific system configuration. The LynxNet
appliance products are typically in stock. We manufacture our products
on our own SMT production line here in Texas, using a MRP-II
manufacturing system with in-house personnel. Software projects in the
Engineering department are run by degreed CS and EE engineers, with
Source Code Control system and bug and feature tracking database
system.
We offer as an option both a one and/or two day onsite setup and
training class at your facility. Technical support is free for 1 year,
via phone or email, and you get free software updates during that year,
which may be extended for 15% of the current server price per year. We
can provide an evaluation server, and we have a 90-day money back
guarantee. We will offer very soon mass telephone dialing with excellent
voice quality, and a new and inexpensive network appliance that streams
audio over your own security radio. We have a multiple programmers
always at work on the Lynx system, so there is always a new feature
coming online. For example, in September-October, ( more rummaging
noises...) we added shared alarm groups between users, more macros for
windows size and position, and 320X240 PDA support.
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Q: Please, provide a sample of the contract you normally
would sign with your clients.
A: No contract. The license agreement is at http://lynx.mitsi.com/cgi/license.htm
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Q: My server always requires me to log in twice.
Why is that?
A: Your administrator can set a global variable that forces the
server to respond to a name, address, or whatever you called it in your
browser.
If it is set to a specific name or address, then you have to Log on
using the second IP address or name FIRST. This will establish a cookie
for that domain. A cookie from a domain like localhost or http://Lynxguide
or whatever cannot be read by another domain. So it kicks you out and
ask you to log in again.
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Q: Does the application support role based access
controls?
A: Individual User accounts can be set for different users or
for a department such as Security or IT. There is a single admin
password to access any account. Any account may be
changed/modified by an administrator by using the Master Password.
The admin panel may be used by logging in with the Master password
The User files changed by the administrator are not logged as
such. The admin user is emulating the user. Each user
has a private contact list. Alarm message groups may be
shared with between users if the users share the group password between
them.
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Q: What OS's does the server run on?
The server will run on SP1 with MSAccess for a database, it requires
SP2 for SQL Server, but XP is not recommended for larger uses due to a
10 user limit built into XP Professional. This can be fixed by
using Abyss by www.Aprelium.com
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Q: What types of PC clients are supported?
| Microsoft
VIsta ( all versions
|
Clients
only, does not support LynxKeyPro services
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| Microsoft
Windows XP Home
|
Server,
Client for sending and receiving
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| Microsoft
Windows XP Pro |
Server,
Client for sending and receiving |
| Microsoft
Windows 2000
|
Server,
Client for sending and receiving
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| Microsoft
Windows 2003 |
Server,
Client for sending and receiving |
| Microsoft
Windows 2003 Advanced server |
Server,
Client for sending and receiving |
| Microsoft
Windows ME
|
Client
for sending only
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| Microsoft
Window NT |
Client
for sending only |
| Microsoft
Windows 98
|
Client
for sending only
|
| Microsoft
Windows 95
|
Client
for sending only
|
| Linux
– Redhat
|
Client
for sending only
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| Linux
Suse
|
Client
for sending only
|
| MacOS
|
Client
for sending only
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| Other:
|
Any
PDA or other hyperlinked device for sending only
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Q: Please describe the process for applying application
patches.
A: Requires that server have access to HTTP port to 80 to http://lynx.mitsi.com
for updates only. Server uses HTTP when the update button is
pressed by admin user to get latest patches.
Microsoft OS patches should not be set to automatic. Some
patches fail to reboot the server when applied.
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Q: Does the system place any restrictions on the use of
commercial antivirus software and updates? Can all data sets be
monitored by antivirus software?
A :No restrictions on antivirus on server or client.
You need to NOT block port 80.
Saving a desktop shortcut will trigger client script scanner because of
our use of VBScript to create the desktop shortcut. This is a
harmless error – user simply grants the script access.
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Q: What ports does it use?
A: Incoming Port 80 is used for triggering and maintaining
system. Output Pop ups may use any port, typically 81, and
use TCP protocol. Lynx Messenger Pro uses 10116, which may
be changed.
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Q: What mail types does it support? Does it support
Exchange?
A: Server has built-in SMTP server limited to send mails from itself
to end user’s SMTP server, such as any SMTP mail or Exchange
server. No other email can be sent or bounced. User may
elect to use your own SMTP server instead of the built-in SMTP server.
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Q: What maintenance does it require?
A: The Admin user must delete the log files periodically, or
deactivate the logging function. This may be done by logging on as
Administrator or other role, or via web access by someone possessing the
Master Password to the application.
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Q: What if it reboots or I am not logged in.? What
happens?
A: Lynx starts automatically upon power application. This
includes the server, LynxKey, Lynx Messenger, and LynxPro products,
too. |
Q: If a system has a hard-wired panic button and is “security locked” (as in CTRL-ALT-DEL – lock screen) will the panic alarm still send to the listed groups/email addresses?
A: Yes, it still goes out.
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Q: If Netscape is the default web-browser will it work on Netscape or does it only work on IE?
A: It is tested on Netscape, Firefox, IE, and Mozilla. It should be browser independent.
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Q: Do the alerts have any “time-out”? For example if a user was maybe on vacation for a week and 12 alerts were sent during that time would the 12 alerts still be in his browser? Or, will only the most recent alert be displayed? If there is a timeout, how long before it clears itself?
A: No timeouts as it is impossible to programmatically close a
browser window. The 12 alerts will still be there (
Date and time stamps are also there). The most recent alert will
be on top. |
Q:Does software run as a Windows Service?
A: Yes – all s/w on the server does. There are two clients for
workstations (sender and receiver) that run in the system tray.
|
Q: Are any modifications to core Windows files or Windows
setup needed for the application?
A: No. |
Q: Does the application require a unique IP address?
A: Possibly, we can use DHCP or fixed IP.
|
Q: Does the application require sound?
A: Possibly - we support HTML embedded sound (Wav) files –
typically uses on Pop Up messages on the security/dispatch machine |
Q: Does the application require animated graphics or
animated cursors
A: No
|
Q: Does the application require intensive video
A: No we use very little bandwidth.
|
Q: Does the application require special printers or
printer requirements
A: No
|
Q: Can the application run on W2K Terminal
Server?
A: Yes |
Q: Is a MSI (Windows Installer) file included to
distribute the software?
A: Server side software is pre-installed (standard). An batch
file is included along with a SQL database build script and server
build script, which operates via ftp. Client Side hotkeys and
client side Pop Ups are standard SETUP.EXE or can be batch installed via
Logon Scripts from shared disk.
MSI's are available for all our clients.
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Q: Can data and programs be placed on separate drives (ex.
System on C: application on G: and data on H:)?
A: Server code typically is loaded onto C:\Inetpub\wwwroot. The
drive may be changed. Database, log files, sound files, and image store can be placed
anywhere. Client app can be on any drive.
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Q: Any other special registry changes to workstation
or server?
A: Hot key client and Pop up client require local machine access to
write 2 to 4 setup variables to registry when first installed ,
unless they are installed via command line, login script, or batch file
( 1 line of code needed to install) You can set a registry key in
HKeL/LM/software/Mtsi/zfp to name a machine or stamp it with a
location. A vbscript is included to make this simple
|
Q: Do special drivers need to be loaded on
workstation or server?
A: None
Q: Recommended minimum CPU requirements for workstation?
A:None
Q: How much disk space is needed on workstation for DLLs,
OCX etc?
A:1.02 MB
Q: Any significant older or newer DLL/OCX requirements?
A:No - standard VB DLL’s are used.
Q: How much memory is required on the workstation?
A:188 KB
Q: Recommended minimum CPU requirements for server?
A:2.4 Ghz Celeron, 1 GB DRAM, 40 GB disk typical, mirrored or RAID
drives/dual power supply preferred.
Q: How much disk space is needed on the file server
for the application?
A: ~ 1GB MB
Q: How much disk space is needed on the file server for
data?
A:–log files can take up to several megs a day if enabled.
Q: How much memory is required on the server?
A: Min 512 MB, preferred 1 GB
Q: Can the server application files be placed on NTFS
partition?
A:Preferred NTFS
Q: Does the software require any hardware key or is it
copy-protected in any way?
A:No
Q: Are there any special application printing requirements
(i.e. special graphics, etc.)?
A:No
Q: Does printing require PostScript?
A:No
Q: Does printing work with HP PCL5+?
A:Yes
Q: Are there any compatibility problems with APC
Power Supply (Power Chute)?
A:No
Q: Are there any compatibility problems with Compaq
Insight Manager?
A:No
Q: Are there any compatibility problems with Norton's AntiVirus?
A:No
Q: Are there licensing requirements?
A:Yes
Q: If so, how is it handled: by site, by seat, other?
A: license is per server, per site.
Q: Does each workstation or user require unique id's for the
application and/or database?
A:Security User(s) and administrator have unique logins stored in the
database. Clients do no need them.
|
CLIENT/SERVER DATABASE:
Q: What's the underlying system (i.e. MS SQL Server,
Oracle on NT, etc.)?
IIS6.0, SQL Server 2005 Express on Windows 2003 is standard config.
System can be hosted on any SQL machine by simple ODBC changes.
Q: Are their any multi-user concerns (i.e. file locking,
record locking, etc.)?
A:No
- This is handled by the database engine and our methods of scripting.
Q: If not MS SQL Server, does vendor have plans to port to XXX
Server? When?
A: Nope. We like SQL.
Q: What protocol is used on workstation to communicate with
server?
A: TCP HTTP port 80
Q: Can either Name Pipes, or TCP/IP be used?
A: SQL can use shared memory, named piped, or TCP/IP. TCP/IP is
standard
Q: Does software come with runtime or development license of
database server software?
A: Source Code for the server is included. You may modify it. License is
Not-for-Redistribution
Q: Are there any additional database tools needed to create/modify
database tables?
A: SQL server Management Studio. (included)
Q: If so, are there minimum workstation requirements to run
these tools?
A: Dot Net 2.0 is required.
Q: Does the software come with an interface engine to export
data to other applications?
A: Excel or Open Office is standard
Q: Will the vendor provide database sizing/estimation or tools
to perform these functions?
A: Yes
Q: Can it be hosted on an Intel platform?
A: Yes
Q: Are multiple processors necessary, or recommended?
A: Not necessary.
Very Nice, though. This type of system works very well in a
multi-core, multi-threaded environment. There are typically
9 separate Lynx processes running at any one time, which works well on
multiple processors.
BACKUP/RESTORE:
Q: Under normal use, what number of user connections and open
files are expected?
A: One User Client Access License is used for cosole, one for web.
3 of the 5
included are available. There are two open database files ( Lynx
database and database Log). If logging is enabled, one open flat-text
log file may be open for short periods every few minutes or so.
Q: Can users be dropped/cleared for backup without damaging
files?
A: Yes
- scripts are included to perform a backup snapshot of the
database.
Q: What is the suggested backup procedure for the
application/data?
A: There is a backup button in the admin panel that will make a snapshot
of the server application It is advisable to hit this
button before performing an online update to the latest service pack.
All other data is stored in SQL server. Scripts are
included to perform a periodic backup snapshot of the database and file
system.
Typical tape backup interval is a monthly full, and daily or weekly
incrementals of just the database.
Q: Will Veritas' NetBackup 4.5 software and network backups be
sufficient?
A: Yes
Q: If SQL Server, will SQL dumps to disk files and dump
file copies to tape be sufficient?
A: Yes
Q: Any other special backup procedures needed?
A: No
Q: Any issues for restoring files?
A: Services must be restarted if the code restore is done
manually. The included backup/restore program does not have this
restriction as it starts/stops the service automatically.
Q: Can restore be done to different server?
A: Yes – some manual intervention is required to install the
service and connect to the database.
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE:
Q: What language is program written in (this may give us an
idea of performance)?
A: ActivePerl 5.8.7.815, clients are small VB6 applications.
Q: Is there a 32-bit version for Windows (not Windows
95)?
A: Yes – it is all 32-bit code. It also runs
on 64-bit machines.
Q: Is the version embedded in the code (for version
control, facilitation)?
A: Yes – also all program revisions are viewable in the admin
panel.
Q: What is the direction in terms of Web-Enabling this
application?
A: 100% Web enabled
Q: If so, does the application use CGI, JAVA,
PEARL, Active X?
A: It uses CGI, some Javascript, VBScript is used for Zero footprint
hotkey creation, a tad of ActiveX, mostly Perl.
WINDOWS CLIENT:
Q: Current level of MS Windows (NT 4.0 sp6a or XP sp1)?
A: NT 4 clients require special setup procedure (VBRUN600) for Pop
Ups. Zero Footprint Hotkeys run fine on ANY platform.
Q: Any interaction/dependency/needs/concerns with
corresponding level of Internet Explorer (5.5sp2 or 6sp1)?
A: No – browser independent.
Q: Any interaction/dependency/needs/concerns with current
level of MDAC (2.5sp1 or 2.7)?
A: Not on clients, Server uses latest MDAC, Windows Server 2003, SQL
Server or 2005 Express.
Q: Are setup instructions included?
A: Yes
Q: Does the application use the registration
database?
A: Only Hotkeys (LynxKey) and Pop Ups (LynxMessenger)
Zero footprint hotkeys do not use the registry
Q: If so, what keys are effected?
A: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEM\SOFTWARE\MITSI
Q: Is HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT modified?
A: No
Q: Is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE modified?
A: Yes if used with setup.exe, no if run as command line or by login
script.
Q: Is HKEY_CURRENT_USER modified?
A: No
Q: Does application use MDAC? What
version?
A: No
Q: Does application use DDE, OLE, DCOM, CORBA?
A: No
Q: If so, are the calls documented for other applications to
use?
A: Yes –we have an Open API
Q: Does application have MAPI interface for Microsoft
Exchange?
A: Built-in SMTP server is used to connect to MAPI/Exchange.
Q: Does application depend on or install any other services?
A: One service is installed on the server. It processes the
alarms and sends them in individual threads.
Q: Does the application use the schedule service?
A: No
Q: If so what user account does it use to start the service?
A: Local System Account. This can be changed to any account that also
has r/w privilege to the database.
Q: Does the application use OS Security or does it have it's
own security (ie. User accounts)?
A: Integrated Windows authentication is used on the server.
You can use the anonymous web user account to access the system.
Q: Any INI files?
A: No.
Q: Does client application require any services on a
server?
A: Yes – clients talk to LynxGuide server.
Q: Does the application installation on the workstation require
local Administrator rights to install or run the application?
A: Yes if done by setup.exe to write HKEY/LOCALMACHINE,
no if done by login script, or batch file.
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Q: Does LynxGuide support LDAP?
A: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is a protocol used to access a directory listing on a
Domain server. The mail server in
LynxGuide will talk LDAP, but there isn't any need for it. We use SMTP connectivity to Exchange.
Q: Can LynxGuide be integrated with oracle?
A: LynxGuide uses SQL server. The useful data you may need to import
into LynxGuide are phone numbers and email addresses.
MS Excel or Open Office spreadsheets can query either database. So a simple mechanism to copy data from one database to the other is to use Query
Analyzer in Excel (or make a list of emails and telephone numbers in Excel), and them simply paste them into a Private Group or Public group in LynxGuide. Once they are in, the end users can maintain the list ( see Q: Can end-users maintain their own data? below)
It is not a difficult task to get Lynx to read from Oracle and write to SQL server. The language we use, Perl, is easily modifiable. ( Source code is included) It can support both databases at the same time. The technique is called ODBC, and it is built into the server. Many other languages support ODBC, including VB, VB/Net, Java, C++, and C#.
For example, assume there is a public group of teachers called "Public/Teachers" already defined in LynxGuide. A list of emails, phone numbers and names has been fetched and is stored in < a list of numbers>. Then the following SQL will update the group in LynxGuide via an attached database table called 'Lynx'.
update [Lynx].[Numbers] set Group='<a list of numbers>' where [Phone]='Public/Teachers';
While this is not simple, it is not difficult, either. The perl code to do this is about 4 lines long. Adding Oracle to as a front end it would make it about 8 or 9.
Q: Can end-users maintain their own data?
A: LynxGuide has a mechanism to allow 'public' users to maintain these items. Public users are people that want to subscribe or unsubscribe their phones and emails from Lynx. You simply create contact list Groups by using the keyword Public/AnyName, where AnyName
could be teachers, students, or parents. A comment is also added, such as "If you are a student, select this". Then students/teachers/parents and anyone given the correct URL can subscribe and unsubscribe from the above list.
There are mechanisms in Lynx code to de-duplicate a list, to expand and recurse lists, and prevent a list within a list from ending up in an endless loop.
Q: Can I send alerts from my own web server/web pages?
A: Yes - The HTML and Source code is available for you to change/alter, or save on another web server. Both of our send message functions ( predefined and ad-hoc) accept either GET or POST syntax, which means you can create a form, and POST the results to Lynx, or use a Hyperlink such an image to GET the data to the server.
You can create or launch an alarm from any Hyperlink enabled device, such as a web page link, image, image map, or from other applications such as Open Office/MS Office Excel, Word, and so on. You can also trip an alarm by directly from Oracle through ODBC by injecting into the table "SendMessage" the text and destination you wish the server to reach.
LynxGuide was designed to be extended in many ways. You can copy any script on the server, modify it, and use it as you see fit, on your server. Our license agreement allows this, and unlike many license agreements with source code provided, you do not have to report your changes back to us. If you do choose send them to us, we will include them in our code base and support them for you.
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