1.1 Overview

Welcome to AcuServer^TM, a client/server technology that provides remote file access services to ACUCOBOL^TM-GT applications running on UNIX, Windows, and DOS TCP/IP based networks. AcuServer is part of the extend^TM family of Acucorp solutions.

Note: Because of a change in networking technology, AcuServer 5.0 will not work with previous versions of the ACUCOBOL-GT runtime and earlier versions of AcuServer will not work with the Version 5.0 runtime. Programs compiled with earlier versions of ACUCOBOL-GT can be executed, provided that the version of ACUCOBOL-GT runtime and AcuServer match.

With AcuServer, your applications gain:

the ability to create and store data files on any UNIX, Windows NT, or Windows 2000 server equipped with AcuServer
full function remote access from UNIX, Windows, and DOS clients to all Vision, relative, sequential and object files stored on an AcuServer server
full record locking support of all Vision and relative files
transparent access of remote and local files

AcuServer does not require any changes to your existing application code (some applications that contain hard coded paths to files must be modified to use the FILE-PREFIX or CODE-PREFIX environment variable, or to include the name of the file server in the path. A discussion of name strategies is included in Section 9.1 Accessing Remote Files.)

AcuServer does not require that you recompile your existing programs. Programs compiled with any version of ACUCOBOL-GT can be executed with ACUCOBOL-GT runtimes Version 5.0 and later. ACUCOBOL-GT runtimes are available for most UNIX, Windows, and DOS platforms. Contact your Acucorp customer service representative for a current list of supported platforms.

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, the references to "Windows" in this manual denote all 32-bit versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Those versions are: Windows 95 and 98, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000. In those instances where it is necessary to make a distinction among the individual versions of those operating systems, we refer to them by their specific version numbers.

Simple AcuServer Network

Above is an illustration of a simple AcuServer network. Acucobol applications running on DOS, UNIX, and Windows client systems access and store data files on a common UNIX, Windows NT, or Windows 2000 file server running AcuServer. More complex networks might incorporate multiple AcuServer file servers supporting dozens of client machines running multiple applications.