ACL Staticide ACL-750-USB Combo Tester Instructions
2/8/2021
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ADVANCED FEATURE SETUP
NETWORKING THE ACL-750 SERIES COMBO TESTER
The average network installation will have 1-5 test station computers, and a server. The server may also be used as a test station,
but this not recommended in high use applications. There are three methods of networking.
Method 1 (Simple) is to have the test stations all use the common server data base. This method is easy to set up and understand.
The disadvantages are:
the same ones that all common data base applications have – the test stations will not work if the server or network goes
down.
increased network usage since each test must access the data files over the network
decreased server security since the server directory must grant access and sharing rights to all the test stations
Method 2 (Robust) is to have the test stations all use local data bases (i.e. data files stored on their own computer) so they can run
independently of the network. The server then periodically reads and resets the local data base logs using a routine called LogSort.
Metthod 3 (Customer’s data base) is only used if the customer wishes to write his own report and maintenance routines using his
existing SQL data base, and not use the EsdTest server functions. See the “Remote data base” section of this manual.
Method 1 (Simple) – using one common data base for all test stations
At each test station, click Setup, Directories, and in the top two lines, enter the file path where the common data base will reside. For
example, if the common data base files (log.txt and names.txt) reside on the server computer, and if the server computer is named
EsdTestServer, then enter
in the top two lines. To check the path, open Windows Explorer Network
Neighborhood and locate the log.txt file on the server. Double click it to open the file with Notepad, which will check that the test
station has the proper sharing rights. Close the log.txt file. Be sure to use the exact path name that is displayed in Windows
Explorer.
Note - when running the Auto Email reports on the server, ignore all references to LogSort, GetNames, and SendNames since they
only pertain to method 2 below.
Method 2 (Robust)– using local data bases at each test station
All execution files (ESDTest.exe) and data files (Log.txt, Names.txt,ESDTest.ini) are stored locally on the test station computer so
that a network or server failure will not affect the test station operation. Each workstation can operate independently of the server.
The server can be set up to be totally secure with no access or sharing required on it’s drives, which ensures that employees can not
tamper or corrupt the master data files. Setup the server to read the local test station log.txt files in the following manner:
Setup
A.) At the server, edit the Netlist.txt file (in the server EsdTest directory) using Notepad to point to the EsdTest directory of each test
station:
\\teststation1\c\EsdTest
\\teststation2\c\EsdTest
\\teststation3\c\EsdTest
If your computer network does not allow accessing other computers this way, then but does allow drive remapping, then delete the
NetList.txt file, and map drives I-L to the test station EsdTest directories.
B.) If desired, the remote test stations can automatically update their time clocks from the server by executing the Synch.bat file
whenever a test is conducted. To do this, see the section below titled “Synchronizing Test Station System Time”, which explains how
to put the server name into the one line file. An easy way to edit Synch.bat is to locate the file in Windows Explorer (My Computer),
right click on it, and select edit, which should open it with Notepad.
If a test station computer is out of time synchronization with another computer, the following can happen. Suppose Joe Employee
fails a test at Station A, and then passes a test at Station B five minutes later. If Station B’s time is six minutes slower than Station A,
it will appear that Joe first passed the test and then failed the test, so he will show up on all the reports as failing.
C.) At each test station, click Setup, Directories, and make sure all the entry boxes are blank. This will ensure that the test station
uses local data files.
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