You can use almost any machine as a client on the network, but the server, or machine with the large disks should be as fast as possible. The following is step by step instructions on how to set up Family Search in a Family History Center on a network. It is not the only way, maybe not even the best way, but it is easy, and the speed improvement is nothing short of miraculous. You can use this same procedure for only one machine and rid yourself of the constant CD exchanging during TempleReady, IGI, Ordinance Index, and Ancestral File.
1. At a minimum you will need a fast machine as a "server" with a drive for the operating system and application programs and 40 GB of free hard disk space. These instructions will present only one possible setup using two large hard drives of 20 GB each. (Note - There are now 40 Gig or larger drives) - I recommend the two large drives be connected to a Promise Ultra66 Controller Card in order to take advantage of the increased speed, but that is not necessary. I also recommend using Windows 95B or Windows 98. They both are easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and lend themselves to networking very nicely. You may also use DOS or other operating system, but the procedures outlined here are designed for Windows 95/98. After installing an operating system on this computer, create directories for the FamilySearch CDs and load the data as follows:
NOTE: The rest of these instructions are written for the hardware configuration of a single machine as a server with three hard drives, C: is a small, in this case 4 GB drive, while D: and E: are 20 GB each and F: is the CD-ROM. Create the following directories:
(type these commands from the DOS prompt or create the directories using Windows Explorer)
- MD C:\PASNET (Directory for the Network version of FamilySearch)
- MD D:\IGI
- MD E:\AF
- MD E:\AD
- MD E:\SS
- MD E:\SCR
- MD E:\MI
- MD E:\LC
Copy all the IGI CDs into D:\IGI directory (17.5 GB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* d:\igi\ /e and press Enter.
- After the first disc has been copied, insert the second disc into the drive and repeat the previous step. Select (A)ll when prompted to overwrite the same files.
- Repeat the previous steps for all the IGI disks.
Total on D: drive: 17.5 GB
Copy the IGI Addendum CDs into the E:\AD directory (8.4 GB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\ad\ /e and press Enter.
- After the first disc has been copied, insert the second disc into the drive and repeat the previous step.
- Repeat the previous steps for all the IGI Addendum disks.
Copy Ancestral File CDs into E:\AF directory (5.6 GB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\af\ /e and press Enter.
- After the first disc has been copied, insert the second disc into the drive and repeat the previous step.
- Repeat the previous steps for all the AF disks.
Copy the U.S. Social Security Death Index CDs into the E:\SS directory (1.5 GB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\ss\ /e and press Enter.
- After the first disc has been copied, insert the second disc into the drive and repeat the previous step.
- Repeat the previous steps for all the SS disks.
Copy the Scottish Church Records CD into the E:\SCR directory (630 MB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\scr\ /s/e/v and press Enter.
Copy the Military Index CD into the E:\MI directory (500 MB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\mi\ /s/e/v and press Enter.
Copy Family History Library Catalog CD into E:\LC directory (450 MB)
- Type xcopy f:\*.* e:\lc\ /s/e/v and press Enter.
Total on E: drive: 17.08 GB
2. In the C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file (on the server only) add the following lines to the end, but before any menu commands: (using any editor such as the DOS Edit or Windows Notepad)
SUBST P: C:\PASNET
SUBST H: E:\AD
SUBST I: E:\AF
SUBST J: D:\IGI
SUBST K: E:\LC
SUBST L: E:\MI
SUBST M: E:\SCR
SUBST N: E:\SS
3. If you are installing the system on only one machine, not on a network, then skip to step 7.
4. Restart the machine so these changes take effect. Next you will need to share these data drives so other machines can "see" them. To do this, open Windows Explorer, highlight each directory, right click the mouse and select share. Share the drives with the same names as above, or in other words, share "D:\IGI" as "J" and "E:\AD" as H", etc. This will make the data drives available from each machine on the network.
5. Once you have built a simple "peer to peer" network (procedure not discussed here, see note at end), you should "Map a Network Drive" to the same letter on each computer in the network. For example, on another system in the network, map the J: drive to \\ServerName\J. Each additional machine added to the network should also share the drive as "J". This will serve to standardize the network, configuration files, and ease troubleshooting in the future.
6. On each new machine in the network, in addition to mapping the shared drives, create a directory for the networked FamilySearch (Type MD C:\PASNET at a DOS prompt). The add the one line to the C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the PASNET directory (SUBST P: C:\PASNET) (again, before any menu commands in the file)
7. Next you should load FamilySearch. I recommend you load it twice. Once for normal operation using the CD-ROMs and once using the network. First install FamilySearch normally on the C: drive. This will be used as a backup and works with CD-ROMs if the network is down. This will be installed in the C:\PAS directory.
8. Install FamilySearch again, but this time click on "Start", then "Run" and (if F: is your CD-ROM drive) type "F:\Setup network". Answer that you wish to install it on the P: drive.
9. The program will ask the drive letters where you loaded the data CD-ROMs.
The window looks like this.
If you installed to this point exactly as recommended, then the settings should match your drive settings and no changes are necessary here.
10. After checking the information and making any needed changes, click Continue.
11. When you are prompted to
Select type of Install:
You should select option
B. Data on multiple drives.
12. Do not make any changes to the drive assignments during installation, simply press F12.
13. Complete the installation normally setting the printer as desired. If you have only one printer on the network, it can be shared easily also. However, the exact instructions are not covered here. Simply put, you must share the printer on the network, them map the printer to the client machine capturing the LPT1: port and then install FamilySearch identifying that type of printer. If this is confusing to you contact your network expert to share the printer.
14. After the installation is complete, you can make changes to the setup files as desired. However, for the system to work over a network, no changes to the setup files are necessary. You may wish to change the number of generations in Ancestral File. Ancestral File limits the number of generations you can search to only 13. You may change this limit as outlined below. To make these changes, open the file you wish to change with an editor such as the DOS Edit or Windows Notepad.
In the file P:\PAS\AF\AFSETUP.TXT
- increase the generations limit by changing the following lines:
MAXGOBACK=100
MAXGENS=99
15. Set up each additional machine on the network with Windows 95/98. Each computer should have a network card and be connected through an Ethernet Hub or via coax (thin wire Ethernet) to the peer to peer network. Make sure the line is added as before to the AUTOEXEC.BAT (SUBST P: C:\PASNET). Finally map the H: through N: drives from the server as described previously.
16. If you have not previously installed PAF on each system, do so now. Make sure you install it using the "network" parameter as in step 8. If you would rather copy instead of reinstalling FamilySearch, you can copy the C:\PAS and C:\PASNET directory over the network to each new machine (using Windows Explorer or XCOPY). NOTE: This will copy all the settings including the printer settings.
NOTES
This paper is meant as a guide to setting up FamilySearch under a network. It is not meant to outline procedures for establishing a network nor does it advocate the use of any version of commercial software. I mentioned Windows 95/98 because that is what we used and it was easy to use. Other network products may be as easy to use as these were.
Questions or corrections can be sent to Bob Rebo at [email protected]