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FAQ - General

G1. What does IDS Server do?

IDS Server is an internet database access server (or middleware) that allows you to create Web applications that can interact with your backend DBMS. IDS Server offers two ways of doing this:

(a) You can embed special tags in a normal HTML document which the IDS Server will recognize and process, then return database query results in a Web page that can be view by your browser. We call this technology IDS HTML Extensions.

(b) IDS Server includes IDS JDBC Driver, a Type-3 JDBC driver that will enable you to write and deploy Java applets and programs using the JDBC API to perform database operations.

 

G2. What database does IDS Server support?

All database systems that support ODBC. For example, MS Access, MS SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, Informix, DB2, dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, BTrieve, etc. In short, if you can find an ODBC driver, IDS Server will work with the corresponding database.

In addition, IDS Server can also connect to Oracle and Sybase via our own Native Database Interfaces for these two DBMSs.  Native Oracle Interface requires Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 7.3 or higher, and the Sybase one requires CT-Lib 11.1.1 or higher.  Both interfaces do not require any ODBC components.

 

G3. Is IDS Server platform independent?

IDS Server is a client/server product.  For Java applets, servlets, applications, the client side is IDS JDBC Driver, which is a 100% pure Java driver that can be run on any Java platform.  The server side is IDS Server itself currently supports four platforms: Windows NT/98/95 on Intel x86 computers, Windows NT on Digital/Compaq Alpha, Solaris on SPARC, and Linux on Intel x86.

 

G4. Can IDS Server service a network with many Unix boxes and Macs?

Yes. The only requirement is that there is an IDS Server running on one computer in the network. It is perfectly OK if other components like the database server and the Web server are running on different computers, Unix, PC, etc.

 

G5. Can IDS Server run in a stand-alone PC with no network and internet connection?

Yes. The only requirement is that you installed the TCP/IP network protocol. It is OK even if you don't have a network card or dial-out internet access on that PC. The IP address of the IDS Server you will be referring to is 'localhost' or 127.0.0.1. Always remember to specify the correct port number as well.

 

G6. Can IDS Server work with my Web server?

Yes. IDS Server can work side-by-side with any Web servers. Just make sure to use a different port number if both the IDS Server and the Web server are on the same computer (i.e. same IP address).

 

G7. What is the purpose of using IDS Server as a Web server?

The Java security rule prohibits downloaded Java applets (no digital signature) to make network connection to IP address other than the applets' origin. If your Web server and the IDS Server are on two different computers (i.e. different IP addresses), your applet is not allow to connect to the IDS Server. Using IDS Server as a Web server to deploy the applet solves this problem without the need to run another Web server on the same machine.

 

G8. What are the limitations of using IDS Server as a Web server?

IDS Server is not meant to be a full feature Web server.  Many advance Web server features like virtual path, directory browsing, SSL encryption, running CGI programs and Java servlets are not supported. However, do not confuse features of IDS Server with IDS JDBC Driver.  The driver does support Java servlets and SSL encryption.

 

G9. Which browser works?

If you are using the IDS HTML Extensions feature of IDS Server, all browsers work well. Java applications, it is somewhat complicated.  Due to numerous bugs, Netscape Communicator 4.02 and 4.03 absolutely do not work for most Java applets.  Otherwise, most Java enabled browsers are workable, even though Java related bugs do exists.  We strongly recommend users always upgrade to the latest version of the browser of their choice.

 

G10. Do I have to use the IDS Authentication Gateway program?

No. The IDS Authentication Gateway program, idsa.exe, is a optional component. The nph-idsa.exe is identical to idsa.exe except for its file name. This CGI program provides an optional way of connecting to IDS Server to enhance security. See the related topic S5 in the FAQ-Security section.

 

G11. "Server error" reported when using idsa.exe to connect.

A number of Web servers, including Netscape FastTrack 2.0 and O'Reily WebSite 1.0, do not properly implement CGI/1.1. Use the nph-idsa.exe counterpart to avoid this problem.

 

G12. How does IDS Server handle multiple concurrent connections?

IDS Server is an efficient multi-threaded server program. Each incoming request is processed by a independent thread. In another word, each HTTP request, each JDBC Connection and Statement are handled by a separate thread so that you can safely run multi-threaded client side applications with optimal performance. See the related topic J10 in the FAQ-JDBC section.

 

G13. Is IDS Server Year 2000 Compliant?

IDS Server (including a client component called IDS JDBC Driver) is a database middleware that does not directly generate or manipulate date and time data. IDS Server neither enhance nor reduce the functionality of the underlying database systems or software, including the ability to correctly process date and time data. Therefore, the Y2K compliance of software using IDS Server is determined by the Y2K compliance of the underlying database systems or software it uses.

G14. How to run IDS Server using a specific user account on Windows NT?

By default, IDS Server on Windows NT is run as a NT service using the default 'system' account. This account has minimum security, network and other customization. Sometimes it is necessary to run the IDS Server service using a specific user account so that the server inherit configurations such as ODBC data sources and network drive mappings setup using that account.  Here is how you can do it on NT 4.0:

1. Run Control Panel - Services, find and highlight the IDS Server service and click on the "Startup..." button.

2. Select the "This Account:" radio button, then type in the user account in the edit box to the right (for example administrator or informix). Then enter and confirm the Windows NT password of the selected user account in the two remaining edit boxes.

3. Click "OK". Stop and restart the IDS Server service.

 

G15. Can IDS Server launch Java servlets?

No.  While IDS Server can serve as a simple Web server, it lacks advance feature such as launching Java servlets.  You need to use another full feature Web server like IIS, Netscape FastTrack and Apache to deploy Java servlets.  However, don't confuse this question with "Does IDS JDBC Driver work with Java servlets?".  That answer to that question is yes, because IDS JDBC Driver is a pure Java component that runs in all Java environments.