Supporting OneWorld Remotely

CNCTech

Active Member
This might be a stupid question.

Was wondering if someone can give me some insight on how OneWorld can be supported from a remote location i.e. citrix, pcanywhere etc. This will include, Systems Admin support, CNC, and development. What are the pros and cons.

Thank you for your help in advance.
 
Hello,

There are many ways of supporting OneWorld from a remote location. The best one will be determined by the method that you use to connect to the remote system (Dial-in, T1, Cable-modem, etc.). Right now I use NetMeeting to control the deployment server. A good majority of what I need to do can be accomplished on the deployment server. The rest of my duties are performed via NetMeeting to a high powered workstation that has all environments loaded with dev objects.

NetMeeting works well if you are going across T1's. It's free and relatively easy to set up.
PCAnywhere is great for dial-in.
Citrix isn't a very good solution for CNC people because OneWorld has limits built in when running on Citrix preventing you from performing some critical tasks.

I hope this helps.

Dan Richards
OneWorld Xe SP15 XU1, RS6000, Oracle 8.1.7
 
Hi CNCtech,

1. There no stupid questions here. Yours in particularly is a very good question!

2. Intelligence may be questioned however for people who neglect to include information about system configuration, versions, etc ...

Anyway, back in July Altquark (Jon Steel), posted what seems to me to be a definitive answer for how to approach this problem (given you already have an investment in TS / citrix). The text of his post is repeated below. The thread was on the subject of remote OneWorld Development and Support.
--------------------------------------------------

"I would strongly recommend NOT using a Terminal Server to run the tools - however, you can still take advantage of Citrix ICA to run your development - I describe how to use VNC in a Citrix Session on my Website.

What you need to do is install a development workstation with VNC Server software (its a little like PC Anywhere - but a lot better, and much more server based than client based and it works under Citrix unlike PC Anywhere) - then use the VNCVIEWER.EXE in a Citrix session to control the development workstation.

Between the Development Workstation and the Citrix box you'll be using VNC which is high traffic - just like PC Anywhere - but it will be on a LAN, so it doesn't matter too much. However, between your local workstation and the Citrix box - you'll be using ICA to ensure that the traffic is low and response time is high !

I love helping to remotely administer OneWorld systems using the above architecture - I can pretty much do any task in the Citrix session including package builds !

By the way - VNC out to the internet isn't too bad either - better than PC Anywhere - and I have a Palm V with Wireless internet access so I can launch package builds from the airport !

Jon Steel
Xe Upgrade Specialist
http://www.erpsourcing.com"






Larry Jones
[email protected]
OneWorld XE, SP 15.1
HPUX 11, Oracle SE 8.1.6
Mfg, Distribution, Financials
 
I would say it depends on what you are trying to do...

For example, accessing the Deployment Server with programs such as PC
Anywhere and Timbuktu seem to affect the application below the GUI layers; consequently, I have found occasions within the application that would throw errors -- only through these emulations programs (i.e. try assembling a package with PC Anywhere on the deployment server).

Also, be careful of the overhead that these emulation progs use. Aside, from it's slow refresh rate, VNC seems to be a little more proc intensive than others; however, I haven't had any errors in the application caused by VNC.

Using Terminal Server/CITRIX as a remote admin tool seems to work pretty well. As a development tool it also works fairly well, even in XE.

MORE TO YOUR QUESTION:

1.) Remote Admin support (User creation, security, etc?): Terminal Server/CITRIX. Seems to me you only need to access to a OneWorld client. Smallest footprint and protocol.

2.) Remote CNC Functionality (Debugging, package building, etc.?): TS/CITRIX for the debugging and (depending where you build your packages) VNC for the deployment server. kick the package off on the deployment server and close the connection. Use the CITRIX client to monitor the package build.

3.) Remote Development: TS/CITRIX. Even with XE I have had very good success with development on a TS/CITRIX box. Although, you limit the box to one user, it proves to be an excellent solution. Much easier than store/forward remote development.

Hope this helps,

Mo
 
To some extent this can be done the one thing that cannot be done is package
builds and deployment of packages I have spoken with JDE about this issue
and they say it is strictly verboten. You cannot submit the builds
remotely. It will work some of the time and will not work some of the time.
If you call in asking why you build did not work and mention that you are
doing this remotely then they will tell you call back after you have
submitted it locally at the deployment server. Development is another bad
bad thing there are all sorts of random issues I do it all the time but here
again JDE says this is also taboo. System admin is fine that is not a
problem you can do this with PC Anywhere or citrix, hopefully with a T1 and
citrix.
 
While Jon's answer was appropriate at the time, it is
now out of date. Using Terminal Services to do
anything in OneWorld except admin the Deployment
Server is now possible.
 
I also use this idea. It works great and you can be running multiple admin
duties on multiple clients.

Dan Eppich
The Anschutz Corporation
B7332 Coexistant, V4R5 w/central objects
INS Card deployment server
sp16.1
Optio DCS 6.3.2
Fat and Citrix over the Web



B7332 Coexistance V4R5 sp16.1
Fat, Citrix
 
I would say it depends on what you are trying to do...

For example, accessing the Deployment Server with programs such as PC
Anywhere and Timbuktu seem to affect the appliction below the GUI layers;
consequently, I have found occassions within the application that would
throw errors -- only through these emulations programs (i.e. try assembling
a package with PC Anywhere on the deployment server)

Also, be careful of the overhead that these emulation progs use. Aside,
from it's slow refresh rate, VNC seems to be a little more proc intensive
than others; however, I haven't had any errors in the application caused by
VNC.

Using Terminal Server/CITRIX as a remote admin tool seems to work pretty
well. As a development tool it also works fairly well, even in XE.

More to your question:

1.) Admin support (User creation, security, etc?): Terminal Server/CITRIX.
Seems to me you only need to access to a OneWorld client. Smallest
footprint and protocol.
2.) CNC Functionality (Debugging, package building, etc.?): TS/CITRIX for
the debugging and (depending where you build your packages) VNC for the
deployment server. kick the package off on the deployment server and close
the connection. Use the CITRIX client to monitor the package build.
3.) Development: TS/CITRIX. Even with XE I have had very good success with
development on a TS/CITRIX box. Although, you limit the box to one user, it
proves to be an excellent solution. Much easier than store/forward remote
development.

Hope this helps,

Mo
 
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