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Next Release Info

What's now in the Labs ?

In this section you will find relevant information about current developments at Folder Scout Labs. We are happy to share with you the latest information about next releases. Here you will find information about the new features that will be included in Folder Scout Version 1.3. Planned release date is about Q1-2010

Folder Scout 1.3: New Features

Folder Scout 1.3 will include a completely new architecture that dramatically improves performace on networked environments like Offices, Company Branches, Corporative WANs, etc.

This new architecture is based on the fact that one PC (Server PC) shares its Folder Catalogs with other PCs (Clients PCs) in the LAN/WAN. That is what we call Server Shared Catalogs or more simply, from a Client PC point of view, Remote Catalogs.

Table of Contents

Folder Scout 1.3: Comparing performance with Folder Scout 1.2
Folder Scout 1.3: Setting Up Remote Catalogs
Folder Scout 1.3: New Tools

Folder Scout 1.3: Comparing Performance with Folder Scout 1.2

Folder Scout 1.2 is based on a private catalog solution, so every PC on the LAN/WAN creates and updates it's own folder catalog by recursive scanning Server PC drives. This results in múltiple request from each Client PC to the Server PC. See image below for a quick view of Folder Scout 1.2 architecture:

FS 1.2 Lan/Wan Scenario

Folder Scout 1.3 is based on shared catalog solution, so there is no need of scanning Server PC drives. In this approach, every Client PC in the LAN/WAN gets a copy of the catalog created by Server PC. See image below for a quick view of Folder Scout 1.3 architecture:

FS 1.3 Lan/Wan Scenario

Folder Scout 1.3: Setting Up Remote Catalogs

This sections gives basic information about setting up remote catalogs. For more details please read the file FS_OPTIONS.INI that comes with Beta Test pack sent to Beta Testers.

For Current Beta release (FS 1.2.2 Beta 2) the Remote Catalog configuration is based on a text INI file named FS_OPTIONS.INI. Final release of Folder Scout 1.3 will include Grafical User Interface to configure every parameter. The INI file includes comments and instructions on every paremeter so, please, read it carefully to get the most of it.

The INI file can be different for each user, so you should copy it to 'C:\Documents and settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Folder Scout Labs\Folder Scout' and then edit it manually to customize it on your needs.

There are three basic parameters in the FS_OPTIONS.INI file to configure Remote Catalogs:

1. ServerCatalogUpdateInterval: This parameter configures the Server catalog save to disk interval. Folder Scout 1.3 can now be configured to save folder tree changes to hard disk every X minutes. This empties memory buffers to XML folder catalogs that are constanly updated.

2. RemoteCatalogUpdateInterval: This parameter configures the Client catalog retrieval from server interval. Folder Scout 1.3 can now upload XML folder catalogs from a Server PC, every X minutes. This avoids scaning the server's hard disk and makes every client to view latest changes even if Client PC was offline.

Together with the automatic catalog retrieval every X minutes, there is a new button 'Reload Drive Catalogs' that reloads all active Remote Catalogs when clicked.

3.AutoScanInterval: This parameter configures the Server catalog auto scan interval. Folder Scout can now be configured to Auto Scan (catalog automatically) drives on a specified time interval. Folder Scout internal scheduler executes automatically the equivalent to 'Refresh Drive Catalog' manual process.

Folder Scout 1.3: New Tools

There are also two new tools that will help to configure Server Shared catalogs and Auto Scan feature:

1. Event Log File
2. Advanced Drive Info

1. Event Log File

Folder Scout 1.3 includes an Event Log file (Text based now, GUI based on final release) that keeps track of sheduled tasks like 'Remote Catalog' retrieval and 'Auto Scan'.

To access the Event Log File, just click on Tools section in the main menu:

Alternatively, you can access the Event Log File by clicking the status bar icon:

FS 1.3 StatusBar

The Event Log File displays all the task executed and additional information about the result of the operation:

FS 1.3 Event Log File

2. Advanced Drive Info

This new section gives useful information about the cataloged drives and includes a 'CHECK' button to test that XML catalogs on Server PC are available and accesible from any Client PC.

FS 1.3 Drive Advanced Options