






                          Lock Tools Administration Manual







                                    Steve Clarke

                                      May 1994



            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 2



            INTRODUCTION

            The Lock suite of programs is provided to give network
            administrators the ability to control the number of copies
            that a peice of software may be run at any one time.  The
            software has no network specific calls, and therefore should
            work an any network where file read/write sharing can be
            performed.

            There are three types of lock, DOS, Windows, and Windows
            Stub.  DOS locks can be applied to any DOS application;
            Windows locks can be applied to any Windows 3.1 application.
            Windows Stub locks are special, and intended purely for the
            WIN.COM program.

            The programs have been tested on MS DOS 3.3, 5.0, 6.0 and
            6.2, Windows 3.1, and Windows 3.11.

            The Windows lock program requires the use of  TOOLHELP.DLL
            (which is distributed with Windows).



































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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 3



            INSTALLING

            The installation program uses four separate areas:

            o    A program area.  This area must be made read only by
                 users, and must exist in the PATH.

            o    An administration program area.  This area is in a
                 subdirectory under the program area, and is called
                 ADMIN.  It contains the lock management tools and
                 documentation.  This subdirectory should not be
                 accessible to users (apart from the system manager).

            o    A control directory.  This directory holds information
                 about how many applications of each type are allowed to
                 be run.  This directory should be made read only to
                 users.

            o    A Lock directory.  This directory is where all of the
                 locks are stored.  It should be made read/write to
                 users.  When locks are taken out, the attributes are
                 changed to read-only through DOS;  this will cause the
                 lockrm program to behave differently on different types
                 of network.

            To install the program, put the installation disk into a
            disk drive (A:, say), then type A:INSTALL.  (Note that it is
            possible to install from any drive or subdirectory).

            Once the install program has read in its configuration data,
            you will be asked which is the destination directory for the
            programs.  Once entered, this directory will be created (if
            possible).  If at any time, you wish to abort the install
            procedure, simply press the Escape key.

            You will then be prompted for the Control Directory.  Enter
            the full path name for this directory.

            You will then be prompted for the Lock Directory.  Enter the
            full path name for this directory.















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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 4



            The installation procedure will continue, and all of the
            files will be copied into their respective directories.  In
            addition, the installation procedure will create a LOCK.INI
            file in the program directory.  IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM A
            PREVIOUS VERSION, THE LOCK.INI FILE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN.

            When the istallation procedure is complete, you will be left
            in the program directory.  As the software is network
            independant, it is not possible to change any of the network
            file permissions.  You should do this now, manually.













































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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 5



            CONFIGURING A MACHINE

            To enable a machine to identify which locked applications
            belong to it, each machine is given a host reference.  This
            should be a one, or two letter identification string.  To
            set the string, add a line to the machine's boot file
            (AUTOEXEC.BAT) as follows:

            set HOSTID=xx

            Where xx is a one or two character sequence which is unique.
            Note that 'AA' and 'aa' are treated as the same HOSTID by
            the lock tools.


            CONFIGURING A USER

            To enable the correct reporting of which user has taken out
            which application, each user should have an identification
            string.  Ideally, this should be unique.  To set the string,
            add a line to the user's login file (or to the system login
            file) as follows:

            set USR=uuuuuuu

            Where uuuuuuu is the username.  Note that this username is
            used for outputting information only (up to 32 characters
            will be displayed), so there are only practical limits on
            its size and contents.


























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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 6



            THE LCONFIG UTILITY

            To create a blank LOCK.INI file in the current directory,
            lconfig may be used.  Type the following:

                 lconfig CreateIni  path_to_lockdir  path_to_controldir

            The LOCK.INI file should be edited manually to include user
            name and registration data.

            To take out locks on an application, the program lconfig
            should be used (with no parameters).  Once started, you will
            be shown a screen with a menu bar, and an empty box.

            At any time when using this program (apart from when
            entering a string), pressing Escape (or x) will cause the
            program to end.

            To select an item off the menu bar, press the highlighted
            letter.



































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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 7



            LOCKING AN APPLICATION

            To lock an application, start up lconfig, and press 'I'.
            You will be asked for an application name.  Enter the full
            pathname (and filename) of the application (including the
            extension).  For example:

            Enter Application to Lock:
            L:\APPS\PROGRAM\BORLANDC\BIN\BC.EXE

            Note that if the application is already under lock, the
            locking stub will be updated.

            If this is a new lock, you will be asked for a one line
            description of the application.  You will then be asked
            whether the application is (D)OS, (W)indows, or a Windows
            (S)tub.  Select the appropriate response by pressing either
            D,W, or S.  The lock for the application will then be
            created, and the application should be added to the top
            window.

            Locking an application involves the following process:

                 Rename PROGNAME.EXE to PROGNAM_.SLP
                 Copy Appropriate Locking Stub to PROGNAME.EXE
                 Create a control file called PROGNAME.0

            CHANGING NUMBER OF COPIED OF AN APPLICATION

            To change the nubmer of copies of an application which are
            available, simply use the arrow keys to move the cursor to
            the appropriate application, and type in a new number.  Afer
            pressing Enter, you will be asked to confirm the change,
            then the change will be made.

            The change procedure involves the following:

                 Rename Control file PROGNAME.xx to PROGNAME.yy

            (where xx = old number of copies, and yy = new number of
            copies)














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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 8



            UNLOCKING AN APPLICATION

            To remove the lock from an application, use the arrow keys
            to move the cursror to the application which requires
            unlocking, and press 'D' (for lock delete).  You will then
            be asked for the full pathname of the application (including
            the extension).  This pathname is used to re-create the
            original file name, so be sure to get the .COM or .EXE
            extension correct.

            Once entered, the lock will be removed.  Note that an extra
            layer of security has been added into the program with this
            release, to remove the possibility of file deletion.  File
            contents are checked, and a file will only be removed if it
            is a valid lock stub.  This means that locking stubs from
            previous versions of lock, and files that have been renamed
            without the use of lconfig may cause errors.

            If these errors arise, it is up to the administrator to
            ensure that the correct files are given the correct names.

            Unlocking an application involves the following procedure:

                 Delete PROGNAME.EXE
                 Rename PROGNAM_.SLP to PROGNAME.EXE
                 Delete control file PROGNAME.yy


            GETTING INFORMATION

            To receive information about the user (registration), press
            'I'.  The user and registration inforation is stored in the
            LOCK.INI file.






















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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 9



            POTENTIAL HAZZARDS

            Problem:  Because the lock program PROGNAME.EXE always looks
                      for the original program (now named PROGNAM_.SLP),
                      the lock program will be unable to lock two
                      applications in the same directory with only the
                      last character in the filename different.  It will
                      also be unable to lock a .EXE and a .COM file in
                      the same directory.

            Example:

                 PROGA.EXE      Will all be renamed to PROG_.SLP
                 PROGB.EXE
                 PROGA.COM
                 PROGB.COM

            Symptoms: LCONFIG will give an error saying that it cannot
                      delete what it thinks should be a lock stub.

            Solution: Rename any potential problem files. so that no two
                      programs in the same directory can cause this
                      problem.


            Problem:  Users crash an application, reboot the machine,
                      then walk off.  Depending on the network, this can
                      be a problem.  Some network configurations will
                      insist on the original user running lockrm on the
                      original machine, Some configurations will allow
                      any user to run lockrm on the original machine.

            Symptoms: Lockrm refuses to remove locks on a machine.

            Solution: As there are may problems here, there is not one
                      solution.  One possible solution is for the
                      network administrator to remove the locks manually
                      (ie attrib, then delete *.%MACHID% and *._%MACHID%
                      in the control directory) - this is only possible
                      if the network administrator can attrib other
                      user's files. (check AD0001.BAT in the ADMIN
                      directory).

                      A Second solution is for a job to run on the file
                      server, searching for machines which are not
                      turned on, and removing any files which belong to
                      that machine. (check AD0002.SH in the ADMIN
                      directory).







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            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 10




            ERROR MESSAGES

            The following error messages are due to an inconsistency in
            the system configuration, they are intended for the System
            Administrator.

            Unrecognised Machine Identification

                 This means that the HOSTID environment variable has not
                 been set.  Set the environment variable.

            Unable to Find Overlay Application

                 PROGNAME.EXE could not find PROGNAM_.SLP.  This could
                 be due to the file missing, or a network permissions
                 problem.  Restore this file (It is the original
                 PROGNAME.EXE and retry).

            Unable to Create Application Lock

                 The user does not have write permission to the lock
                 directory.

            Unable to Remove Application Lock

                 Either the user has been denied write access to the
                 lock directory whilst running an application, or his
                 lock has been removed before the application has
                 finished.

            Unable to Execute Application
                 - Invalid Program Path
                 - Invalid or Corrupt Program
                 - WinExec Error nn

                 These error messages are reported by Windows, and
                 intended to help give a better indication of as to why
                 the child program cannot be run.
















                                                                05/17/94



            Lock Tools Administration Manual                                 Page 11



            Unable to Access INI Data

                 The lock program cannot find the LOCK.INI file.  This
                 is either the INI file is not in the PATH, or the INI
                 file does not have read permissions.

            INIFile Error: No CONTROLDIR Entry in LOCK.INI
            INIFile Error: No LOCKDIR Entry in LOCK.INI
            INIFile Error: EXEFLAGS option on LOCK.INI should be X or A

                 A line in the LOCK.INI file is not syntactically
                 correct (or is missing).  Correct the line (or re-
                 create the INI file with lconfig).


            This Application is Already Running on This Machine

            Either the application is running on the machine (another
            Windows application, a DOS application in a DOS Window, or a
            DOS application in an application DOS shell), or the machine
            has crashed when an application was running.  Either use the
            running application, or use LOCKRM to remove the incorrect
            locks.

            Too Many Copies.  Try Again Later

            You have attempted to book out one more copy of an
            application than has been allowed.  Use LOCKINFO to find out
            who and where the applications are being used, and wait.


























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