This FAQ answers several questions that pertain to mvBase architecture, history, Windows configuration, licensing information, and several additional topics of a general nature. If this FAQ does not answer your questions, then please e-mail your questions to d3mvsupport@rocketsoftware.com for possible inclusion in the next revision.
mvBase consists of three components:
mvBase Clients
mvBase Workstation
mvBase Server
This architecture leverages two different models: a network model (workstation/server model on which the Windows network is based), and an application development model (client/server technology). Combining these two models created a model with three components. The Server component is the MultiValue engine with a Windows DLL wrapped around it and programs to launch and execute the server. The Workstation component communicates with the Server. The Workstation can run on the same machine as the Server or remotely across the network. Any station to which any client connects must have access to a copy of the Workstation component. The mvBase Clients may be the mvBase Virtual Terminal (mvTerm), a third party terminal emulator, serial terminal client, telnet client, locally attached printers, network shared printers, Visual Basic programs, C++, C# or Java programs.
mvBase was first released in December of 1996.
mvBase users who are connected as individual network clients require a Windows client license.
For current information, please refer to the Rocket Web site at:
www3.rocketsoftware.com/rocketd3/support/statussheet/index.jsp
Licensing is based on the counting of individual physical users, rather than the number of interactive processes logged on. Each text terminal is counted as a separate mvBase user. Multiple instances of mvTerm on the same system, or multiple sessions within those instances are only counted as a single mvBase user. When telnet clients or third party terminal emulators, such as AccuTerm (which uses telnet to connect), are connected to an mvBase Telnet Server on the same system, the licensing is identical to that of mvTerm. When connected to an mvBase Telnet Server on a different system, each instance on the same system is counted as an mvBase license. Furthermore, multiple sessions within these instances are each counted as an mvBase user. Phantoms, clients classed as printers, and printers are not charged an mvBase license.
The maximum database size possible for mvBase 2.0 and higher on Windows is approximately 2,097,152 MB (2 terabytes). mvBase requires approximately 20 megabytes (MB) of disk space for executable files, in addition to requirements for the mvBase virtual memory storage (VMS) files comprising the database. Windows consumes disk space for VMS files by these parameters:
Disk space for VMS files can be distributed up to a maximum of 50 files, each of which can be located on a separate disk volume.
Maximum collective allocation of disk space to VMS files on Windows is 2,097,152 MB (2 terabytes).
First VMS file cannot exceed 1024 MB in size.
The number of printers is limited only by the number of mvBase processes. Printers are license free.
Our engineering staff recommends four user licenses for development. With only one mvBase user license, it is not possible to exercise applications which use the network. A development and test-bed system needs to be able to easily connect all types of clients to the system. This includes terminals and telnet clients as well as mvTerm sessions and third party emulators.
mvBase is licensed on a per system basis. The mvBase Workstation component can be distributed onto other connected systems. However, if multiple mvBase Servers are needed, multiple mvBase base kits must be purchased.
Network traffic can be reduced by minimizing the network protocols to only the protocols that are absolutely necessary. By default Windows installs TCP/IP as its default. The Network Interface Card (NIC) attempts to bind in order of protocol installed. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your most common protocols are at the top of the binding order. mvBase 2.0 and higher uses TCP/IP (WINSOCK) as its primary network protocol. It is important that this protocol is correctly configured on both the server and client PCs. A common mistake made in the TCP/IP configuration dialog box is to check the 'let the network assign IP addresses' without first ensuring that a DHCP Server and some form of DNS (or HOSTS/LMHOSTS files) have been installed and activated somewhere on your subnet.
Noisy networks can cause significant additional network traffic due to the frequent need to retransmission of packets (a.k.a collisions). There are many reasons for noisy or flaky networks, including low quality or incorrectly configured NICs, low quality or incorrectly installed cabling, cable runs that exceed the ethernet specifications, bad connectors, and so on.
mvBase runs on the FAT 16, FAT 32, and NTFS file systems. It is recommended however that FAT 16 partitions be converted to NTFS, which is a more robust and secure file system that gives greater protection in the case of Windows server failure.
Dumb, or character-based terminals, can be used with mvBase and plugged into COM boards, intelligent multiport boards, and terminal servers. mvBase supports most of the I/O devices supported under Windows. Terminal servers require additional overhead that should be considered when integrating a solution.
mvBase includes the RUNOFF command which allows the printing of manual pages from a MultiValue database. However, since mvBase operates in a Windows environment, apart from a business critical legacy requirement, there is usually little need for RUNOFF.
mvTerm is the virtual terminal that is included with mvBase. mvTerm is specially designed for use with mvBase and can run on Windows systems. mvTerm does not have file transfer capabilities. However, mvBase does have file transfer capabilities. The virtual tape file capability allows for mvBase to mvBase file transfers. The UWRITE command allows for mvBase to Windows/DOS file transfers. The UREAD command allows for Windows/DOS to mvBase file transfers. A Virtual Tape Link feature is available with mvBase 2.0 and higher releases to allow direct server to server transfers of any data without using physical tapes or virtual tape files.
Phantom processes in mvBase are processes created without a LINE linked to them. These can be created either by configuring more processes than lines via the mvBase Administration Utility (mvAdmin) or by using UNLINK-LINE to break the link between a process and a line. Phantom processes can be started via TANDEM, LOGON, or POKE. Phantom processes are not licensed. The maximum number of phantom processes is 1023. A user license in mvBase is based on client connections (see How are mvBase user licenses counted?). A one-user license allows only one connection. In mvBase, any process (even one that is linked to a line) can be started via TANDEM, LOGON, or POKE regardless of whether it has an active client connection. Thus, with a one-user license, all other configured processes can be used as phantom processes.
Yes, third party terminal emulators such as wIntegrate, Host Access (Termite), or AccuTerm may be used with mvBase. You may use these products over telnet with mvTelnet, the embedded, high speed, and well integrated telnet server with mvBase. Alternatively, you may use wIntegrate, Host Access (Termite), or AccuTerm over a serial connection, using mvAdmin to map one of the ports to an mvBase Server/line combination, and then connect to the other COM port via wIntegrate, Termite, or AccuTerm.
mvBase ships with all documentation on the CD-ROM. Help is available for the terminal emulator, mvTerm, mvAdmin, and a number of other functions. User documentation for mvBase can also be found on Rocket’s Web site. There is a fee for printed versions of the documentation.
Being a fully network-capable Microsoft Windows-based product, mvBase requires more support than native MultiValue products, such as Mentor PRO. However, it is not clear whether it is more difficult to support, than a MultiValue product running on UNIX. mvBase includes a GUI-based Administration Utility that makes administrative tasks on the mvBase Server and Workstation components easier and faster. Administration of the database itself requires the usual MultiValue administration effort. A Windows system increases the capability to run more applications and allows greater inter connectivity. This greater functionality can lead to increased support effort. We suggest that you not run any other applications on your mvBase Server since mvBase could suffer performance problems when competing for CPU and I/O resources.
mvBase support is on a per user (license) basis. Please contact your Rocket reseller or Rocket sales representative for specific pricing.
A third party telnet server always installs on the server machine. The connection always comes into the server machine which means that mvBase is not aware of the true client environment of the connection and therefore cannot perform the interoperability features that are available to mvTerm Clients.
mvTelnet is embedded in the Workstation utility. This allows a third party terminal emulator connected to mvTelnet Servers to have the same interoperability features as mvTerm. mvTelnet should also be much faster than a third party telnet server and has a very small memory footprint.
Starting with mvBase version 2.0, any patch set installations or version upgrades will require a new activation. A new system ID will be required when upgrading mvBase versions and upgrades are not chargeable to an existing customer with a support agreement.
For example:
2.0 to 2.0 PS1 |
Not Chargeable - New activation required |
2.0 to 2.1 |
Not chargeable - New System ID required |
2.1 to 3.0 |
Not chargeable - New System ID required |
mvTerm uses a terminal emulation type to communicate with the mvBase system cursor addressing function. As long as the same emulation type is set in mvTerm and via the TERM statement, all @(x,y) and @(-n) functions will operate. The specific emulation used is completely irrelevant to mvTerm. Term type V is offered only to support old hard-wired applications using the old ADDS Viewpoint/Regent addressing codes.
For other term types, use a third party terminal emulator (for example, AccuTerm).
Absolutely not. mvBase did have its beginnings in the Mentor Engineering group but was built from the ground up for Windows. The kernel, mvServer, mvWorkstation, mvAdmin, mvTelnet, mvTerm and the API are all new components for mvBase which have no equivalent in Mentor PRO. The R91 Basic compiler is used. BTREES are also in mvBase, which were added to Mentor PRO. Also, Windows Interoperability features such as CLIP, NOTEPAD, and the U commands are in mvBase and are not in Mentor PRO.
Yes. Twelve tapes are available, but one per process.
Yes. Case insensitivity at TCL can be turned on via the .U command. This is a toggle that operates on a per process (not system-wide) basis, which allows for individual users to adopt this feature or not. The default is OFF for backward compatibility.
Yes. mvBase has always had the feature known variously as dynamic file referencing, automatic Q-pointers, and file paths. File paths are modeled after the DOS, Windows, and UNIX Path Name syntax using a comma as a separator instead of using a forward slash (/) or a backward slash (\). A file path may be used in any command or language statement that requires a MultiValue FILENAME. This allows reference to any subfile for which a main file (including SYSTEM) is defined. The full syntax definition of a FILENAME is:
{DICT/DATA} MainFile {,SubFile {, SubFile, {SubFile}}}
where both MainFile and SubFile must be valid FilePointer items.
It depends on how the account is set up. Quotation marks can be made optional on an account basis by specifying a Q on line 9 of the system file account definition item.
There are three USYSTEM() function calls in mvBASIC that return license related information. They are:
USYSTEM(201) |
Returns the number of current licenses in use by connections. |
USYSTEM(202) |
Returns the total number of connections including those which do not consume licenses. |
USYSTEM(203) |
Returns the maximum number of licensed connections purchased. This number can also be seen in the Administration Utility, Server tab, Authorization button. |
Yes. In addition to the standard PQ Proc, mvBase has PQX Proc which has most of the PQN functionality.
Yes. Documentor, a word processor, is included with mvBase.
Yes, there is mvBase fundamentals training available through Rocket. For information, please refer the Rocket Web site at:
www3.rocketsoftware.com/rocketd3/support/education/index.jsp
The mvBase VMS files should be excluded from defragmentation. Once the VMS files are allocated, they will not become fragmented. Any defragmentation of the rest of the system should take place when mvBase is not running since this could cause problems that might not be recoverable.
Object code compiled on Mentor Pro 4.0 or later will run on mvBase, but the reverse is not necessarily true. mvBase has a newer compiler and uses some underlying opcodes that Mentor PRO does not support. To move programs from mvBase to Mentor PRO 4.x, source code should be recompiled. Mentor PRO 5.0 object code should be compatible with mvBase. Thus, from Mentor PRO 5.0 onwards, it should be possible to move object code to and from mvBase.
E-mail the request with as much information as you can provide to d3mvsupport@rocketsoftware.com. If the feature is available on another database product, mention that as well. Each enhancement request and the name of the person making the request is logged. Rocket might request additional information from you. mvBase Product Marketing and Engineering periodically review all requests and determine whether or not a request should be put into an upcoming release.
If your questions are not answered by this FAQ, then please e-mail them to d3mvsupport@rocketsoftware.com for possible inclusion in the next revision.