How to Use a FoxPro for UNIX Application on the Internet

• Microsoft FoxPro for UNIX, version 2.6

SUMMARY

This article contains excerpts from messages posted to the Compuserve FoxForum that provide information regarding running a FoxPro for UNIX version 2.6 application over the Internet.

MORE INFORMATION

The following question was posted by Rick Hodder in Message #738676 over the CompuServe FoxForum:

"We are thinking of trying to use a FoxPro for UNIX application or .EXE file over the internet. I assume that the UNIX the application runs under would not be compatible with the internet, but I am willing to check. Would we want to set up our own network node in the internet, and put our application there? Would it affect internet traffic if the application were multiuser? I would assume it wouldn't because all the work is done on UNIX server, and the user would be on a dumb terminal."

The following message posted by Richard Levine, in reply to the above message, provides pointers based on his experience running a FoxPro application over the Internet:

"I am currently doing something like what you propose to do (I think). You can use FoxPro for UNIX under SCO UNIX which does support the TCP/IP protocol that you want to use on the Internet. Yes, you will have to set up a node on the Internet. No, your users are unlikely to overload the Internet (unless you have thousands of users), but you might overload your service provider if it is local or small, or you might overload your connection to the Internet unless you get a dedicated line such as T1 or T3."

The following message was posted by Michael C. Wilson in reply to Rick Hodder's message and provides more information based on his experience:

"We are currently using fp unix to build a reference library engine accessible over the Internet. As long as you use TCP/IP on your main host and your net provider has you hooked up point to point, you won't have any problems. However, I would hesitate to try it if you are hooking a novell network to the SCO box. PC/NFS seems to work well."

The following two messages posted by Michael C. Wilson and Doug KayFish respectively explain what PC/NFS stands for:

"PC/NFS is from sun and supplies the TCP/IP connectivity for any pc-based machines. We put it together with windows for workgroups network to work with a UNIX host."

"Actually, NFS sits on top of TCP/IP and uses TCP/IP to provide Network File System capabilities such as remote file systems, use UNIX filesystems from MS-DOS, and so on."