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Release Notes | Standard Templates | URL Codes | WebX/Multi | FastCGI, NSAPI, ISAPI |
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Each Web Crossing conference has its own directory/folder, containing:
webx.db [settings for Multi sysop] logNN files ... [log files if turned on] standard.tpl [standard templates] Images [directory] button images... [shared buttons] help files... [shared help files] conf1 [directory for Conference 1] webx.db [database for conf1] standard.tpl [standard templates] webx.tpl [custom templates for conf1] expNN files ... [export files if any] deleted [recovery for deletes] html [optional directory] html files... [optional whole files] conf2 [directory for Conference 2] webx.db [database for conf2] ... ...
When you install Web Crossing/Multi, it automatically creates conf1, conf2, ... directories as specified in your license certificate. A single Web Crossing/Multi server can support up to 60 totally separate Web Crossing conferences.
The various settings supported by the Web Crossing/Multi server are documented in the Multi and individual conference sysop control panels. This document focuses on overall site management issues.
After you install a new conference, it is a good idea to give the conference sysop FTP access to his/her conference directory/folder, so that import/export files can be accessed.
A log file is typically not required, because usage statistics are kept for you as the Multi sysop, as well as for each conference for the individual conference sysops.
You should check these counts periodically to make sure that no individual conference is swamping the Web Crossing/Multi server. If any one conference is taking an inordinate number of hits, you should move it to a stand-alone Web Crossing server so that the other conferences do not suffer degraded performance.
For the individual conference sysops, Web Crossing also keeps tracks of hits and posts for each folder and discussion in each conference. These counts are available to the individual conference sysops, and can be cleared by these sysops.
By allocating more memory for Web Crossing/Multi, you can increase the number of conferences that can be cached in memory at any one time. See the Memory usage command in the Multi sysop control panel.
The memory usage display includes information about the number of memory reclaims (to open folders/discussions), and about the number of disk pages read from disk and later discarded to make room for other information. You can use these counts to help tune the Web Crossing/Multi server performance.
As the Multi sysop, you can backup your site's settings and you can also backup all of the individual conference databases. Each conference host can also backup their conference individually.
The Web Crossing database is kept in a file named webx.db. You can make a backup copy of this file directly if you first shut down Web Crossing. Do not make copies of the webx.db file while Web Crossing is running. If you happen to copy this file during a database save, you will not have a valid database, and your backup efforts will be for naught.
The preferred method for database backup is to use the Backup panel from the Sysop Control Panel. Bring up the backup panel and click on the Backup button at the bottom of the panel to make a backup file.
The Backup panel makes a new backup named webxdb.1. This file can be copied to removable media or another machine at any time, as it is never modified by Web Crossing after the backup has completed.
The Backup panel also lets you keep a roll-forward log. This is an ASCII file that keeps a record of all changes to the database following the point in time when the webxdb.1 backup was written. In the event that you lose the main webx.db file for any reason, you can recover all database changes from the backup webxdb.1 and matching roll-forward log webxroll.1.
Keeping a roll-forward log is highly recommended. The cost is small because only database changes are recorded, and the extra protection it gives your database will be invaluable should you ever need it.
Do not remove the webxroll.1 file from the Web Crossing directory. Web Crossing will open this file each time it starts up, and will continually append database changes. You may however make a copy of the webxroll.1 at any time, as it is plain ASCII and is written in append mode only.
Note that the Backup command will automatically rename older backups with the next higher suffix number. So a backup will first rename an existing webxdb.1 and webxroll.1 to webxdb.2 and webxroll.2, and so on. If you have more backup sets than specified in the Backup panel, the oldest sets will be automatically deleted.
To recover your webx.db file from the roll-forward log, use the following steps:
Step 1. shut down Web Crossing,
Step 2. rename the corrupted webx.db file (instead of deleting it,
just in case it turns out to contain useful information),
Step 3. make sure that webxroll.1 and the matching webxdb.1 are present
in the same directory as the Web Crossing program,
Step 4. restart Web Crossing.
Web Crossing will automatically detect that there is no webx.db file, but that there are webxroll.1 and webxdb.1 files, and will then recover your current database.
In Web Crossing/Multi, the Multi sysop panel has all the configuration settings for chat. Each of the individual conferences can have chat enabled or disabled through its sysop control panel.
For more information on chat, please see the Chat Documentation.
After you shut down the server, simply rename the confNN folder
for the conference to be removed. Then restart the Web Crossing/Multi server.
The server will automatically create a new empty conference.
» Upgrading to more conferences
Upgrading to additional conferences is done by ordering a new license certificate
that allows additional conferences. Call sales at (510)521-5855 or e-mail
to sales@lundeen.com to order a new certificate.
You install a new certificate by using the Install new certificate command in the Web Crossing/Multi sysop control panel.