[1326] in IS Home Pages
Most Databases converted to FileMaker 5 (not Stock Answers yet)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kevin M. Cunningham)
Sun Jun 18 23:55:37 2000
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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 23:57:10 -0500
To: istrain-reg@mit.edu, fsstrain-reg@mit.edu, pctrain-reg@mit.edu,
pptrain-reg@mit.edu, plant-lp@mit.edu, ocstrain-reg@mit.edu,
is-stock@mit.edu, is-home@mit.edu, swrt@mit.edu, support-tp@mit.edu
From: "Kevin M. Cunningham" <kcunning@MIT.EDU>
Howdy database users,
As planned, I converted the training, products, pubs, usergroup, etc. databases served from train.mit.edu to FileMaker 5 format on Saturday. They can now be reached only from FileMaker 5 software (or via the web, as before).
For technical reasons (this always happens), I was NOT able to convert the Stock Answer databases on the server hdstock.mit.edu yet. (Actually, I was able to convert them fine, but I was not able to serve them because I need another copy of FileMaker Pro Unlimited. Therefore, I restored the old FMPro 4 versions and continue to serve them in the old method. But I plan to convert them as soon as I can obtain a copy of Unlimited. I'll be in touch...) For now, interact with Stock Answers exactly as before.
In the course of converting the other databases, I took the opportunity to rename several of them to more reasonable names, and I have started to introduce a little more security. The upshot is that the way you can access them right now is as follows (and older methods shouldn't work now...):
1) Start FileMaker Pro 5.
2) Check under Edit>Preferences>Application>General and make sure that a) the protocol used is TCP/IP (NOT AppleTalk), and b) your username is your kerberos name, not a real name (e.g., mine is "kcunning", not "Kevin Cunningham"). If you need to change these, do so, then quit and restart FileMaker. (I took care of this in most of the copies of FileMaker I installed for folks.)
3) Use File>Open (or the opening screen) to open the one database visible now on train.mit.edu: a) select HOST, b) select SPECIFY HOST..., c) specify "train.mit.edu" as the host, d) pick the only database there -- "Setup".
4) Enter your tried and true password from your previous use of the databases. (Don't just put in a blank password...)
5) This will bring you to a menu of buttons that will start up subsets of the databases on train.mit.edu for you. Pick the one relevant to you. (This will open the needed databases, which you can then find under the Window menu.) You no longer select individual databases to open up the relevant dbs.
That's how you do it right this moment, but I will be providing tools to make this even easier in a day or two. (I know some of you need to connect Monday morning and I wanted you to know how to do it...)
All the databases are still actually available, but FileMaker 5 allows me to run them hidden, to reduce outsiders snooping and to let me direct you to the databases relevant to you. I think it was always confusing to have dozens of databases to pick through with no way to indicate which were central and which were secondary.
Soon, I will be adding a little more security by having the databases automatically close you out if you do not have a legitimate username (see 2b above) and password (the password isn't there yet; I'll be adding this later). I'll let you know about this as it develops.
Please let me know if anything seems awry.
Thanks,
--Kevin
-Kevin M. Cunningham | 77 Mass. Ave., Room N42-240f
Senior Computing Consultant | (617) 253-0177
MIT Information Systems | kcunning@mit.edu
