I've lurked on this list for a while. I've looked a bit at the code and the examples. My programming language is Delphi 7, and I expected that I'd need this toolkit at some point. Seems like this point is now, only I realize that I don't understand enough to do what I want.
What I'm hoping for is some guidance on where to go to look into the issues I think I have. Background: I've used VNC to connect to machines in the field to get "hands on" for tech support, etc., both for work and for keeping family/friends machines running. There are new versions that can be initiated from the problem end that can connect to my PC (SingleClick is one variant, Remote Assistance from contextsoft.com is another). When the request can be initiated from the field, this does a lot in terms of getting thru firewalls, proxy servers, etc. -- getting a VNC connection set up isn't always easy. I want to support machines that may not have a person at them to request a connection. So I'm thinking that I'd like to create a program that can do that, with an assumption that the request would be initiated at startup, and the program is responsible for making sure that there's a valid request open at all times (persistent connection, essentially). So if I'm going to do that, and have some type of server/acceptor of these requests running on my support PC, what do I need to think about in terms of connection limits, bandwidth, etc. if I have this happening from 1 PC, 2 PC, 10 PCx, etc.? What's something good to read that talks about how these connections - I assuming sockets - can be made and maintained, and what the various machine hits are - connection limits, timeouts, capacity, etc.? I've seen some simple examples on how to create a client/server socket connection and transfer an image or database record. But I'm not talking about answering the connection request immediately. I'm thinking about having it there "just in case" I need to see what's on the screen, or send a file, or .... It's a pipeline that's available for providing support on an almost immediate basis. Having the connection requested also lets me know that the machine is active, although there are some other "heartbeat" functions going on to different systems. It's hard to ask the questions that I have, because I'm not sure what exactly I need to say. I'm wondering whether this approach - persistent connection - causes any performance degradation at the client, whether my server needs to be a really beefy device capable of handling thousands of requests, or whether a bunch of outstanding requests isn't really going to bring it to its knees. Do I need a server like Windows 2003 Server as a platform, or can I use Windows XP Pro? If I'm using a server, can I actually have something on the server handling the connection requests, and transfer the address to a PC when someone wants service (so my initial connection handling can be done on the server in ASP or PHP or something)? Am I out of my mind for even trying something like this? If persistent connections are an issue, I could make something that checked in every X minutes and if I needed to talk to it, I could have something flag that the connection is made (I can uniquely identify the source of the request). Anyway, I need to do some learning, so I'd appreciate any pointers on where to start. Thanks. -- Warrick Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe or change your settings for TWSocket mailing list please goto http://www.elists.org/mailman/listinfo/twsocket Visit our website at http://www.overbyte.be
