Status Report (fwd)

[Barbara A Parker]

Hello--

On 10 December 1998 I posted a query to the list about replacing our cdrom
server ("Microtest").  Our goal was point-and-click access from our Web
page to our networked cd products.  We also wanted a user interface that
collected statistics and worked with licensing restrictions, etc.

First I want to thank all of you who responded; all suggestions are still
being considered.  I do have a status report to date that has been very
hard won.  We have been testing two trial cd towers, and one of them used
DiscView/DiscPort, SmartLaunch, and WebLauch.  Again, our hope was that we
could make our networked cd products available outside the Library
building via the internet, and not just internally on an intranet.

We have had a very hard time configuring cd products on this tower and
getting them to open at all.  In fact, we never did get WebLaunch to work.
The software behaved differently on two network administrators' computers.  
Our technician from the Naval Academy's Information Technology Services
finally just more-or-less gave up.  We would call Microtest with questions
and they would be very, very interested in our problems, but they seemed
to be as perplexed as we.  We are in the process of sending the trial
software and the server back.

Microtest also makes another product called DiskZerver which integrates
several products including LaunchPro, a web interface.  This was loaded on
the other trial server.  It worked much better, but for an intranet, not
the Internet.  There is a significant problem if we want to have the
products accessible outside the Library and not just networked within the
building, since the LaunchPro plug-in won't work on any workstation that
has ever had a Netscape upgrade (e.g., if you've ever upgraded from 2.0 to
Communicator).  In addition, on some workstations users are asked for a
LaunchPro password, and this may happen either in Netscape or in Internet
Explorer.  Microtest isn't sure why this happens.  The plugin problem can
be controlled on workstations within the Library by reformating the hard
drive but this seems like an ugly solution and particularly difficult to
ask users outside the Library to do.  The password problem is a bit dicier
because it's unpredictable.

We like the DiscZerver technology, but cannot recommend it at this time
because of the above-described bugs which Microtest has duplicated, is
aware of, and is working on.  If anyone using DiscZerver has any
suggestions or help to offer we would certainly appreciate it.  

--Barbara Parker
Web Systems Management Librarian
U. S. Naval Academy Library
(410) 293-6904