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If all the necessary working file components are local when
the server becomes unavailable, you do not notice the shift. However, each
program notifies you of the existence of any edit conflicts after a
reconnection to the server is made and you try to save to the shared copy of
the file.
You are notified by messages that have options you can
click, such as
Merge changes. You are notified of any edit
conflicts that result from your loss of exclusive access (file lock) to a
shared document. Your document is left in a recoverable state after the
document server shift. Unsuccessful read/write commands are retried, and Office
programs do not typically stop responding because of the document server shift.
If the document is password protected, you may have to retype the relevant
password information to access the network copy of the file after recovering
from failover.
Every time that you try to save to the parent copy of a
shared file, all Office programs check the last date and time that the network
version of the document was saved. These are compared with the last date and
time that the Office program registered that the document was saved. If there
is a mismatch in the times or in the dates, you receive a message about the
edit conflict. This message provides options you can click for additional
actions. The options depend on the particular program's ability and
configuration.
Note Microsoft Access 2002 and Microsoft Outlook 2002 do not currently
support Windows Clustering environments (for more information, see later in
this article).
If you run Office XP from Windows Clustering, failover
is not seamless.
Optimizing Microsoft Word 2002
Word saves any network documents it opens in a local Temp folder,
and then uses that copy as the working document (if the
Make Local Copy
of Files stored on Network or Removable Media check box is selected on
the
Save tab in the
Options dialog box).
Therefore, you can continue working without interruption if your computer
connects (shifts) to a different server in the cluster or if it is disconnected
from a clustered document server.
Word 2002 has the Merge
functionality. With the Merge functionality, multiple users can edit one
document "at the same time" by creating copies of the document for each user
and then merging them back together. Although this editing does not truly occur
at the same time, users do not have to wait for a file to be unlocked before
they start to work on it.
Word has two options for multi-user editing:
- When the user tries to open a locked file, a "locked file"
message is displayed . Therefore, Word provides the option Create a
local copy for later merge.
- When the user tries to save a file on top of an existing
file (on the File menu, click Save As), Word provides the
option Merge changes in existing file.
Optimizing Microsoft Excel 2002
Network resiliency is configurable by using registry and by using
a policy, but there is no user interface. The registry keys are:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\Options
Value
Name: NetworkResiliency
Value Type: DWord
Value Data: 0 or 1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\Options
Value
Name: PivotTableNetworkResiliency
Value Type: DWord
Value Data: 0 or 1
The program policy is as follows for the default user of
Excel 2002 under Miscellaneous:
- Locally cache network file storages
- Locally cache PivotTable reports
By default, Excel 2002 OLE sub storages are stored locally and
then their file handles are reestablished to make it more likely that a network
file user can recover their data if the current server shifts (changes,
disconnects, or crashes). In Excel 2002, network resiliency is subdivided:
- Network resiliency for Visual Basic and OLE (on by
default).
- Network resiliency for PivotTable caches (off by default;
however, PivotTables are resilient and the file can be saved even if the cache
is lost).
Optimizing Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
No optimizations are required. PowerPoint 2002 incrementally
loads network files in memory when you open a presentation. While in an idle
state, the program loads the remaining pieces of the presentation in memory.
Additionally, if you edit an OLE object in PowerPoint, a temporary document is
generated and stored locally.
Optimizing Microsoft FrontPage 2002
No optimizations are required. FrontPage stores network file
components in a local Temp folder, and then uses these components as the
working copy. When they are required, these temporary files are passed as the
working file to other programs for editing.
Optimizing Microsoft
PhotoDraw 2000 2.0
No optimizations are required. PhotoDraw 2000 2.0 is designed to
have all document components present on the client side. Therefore,
disconnection from the server has no effect, unless you try to save the file to
the server before the computer is reconnected to a server.
Microsoft Access 2002
Access MDB files are multi-user databases that allow more than
one user to edit the file at the same time. Additionally, the Jet Database
Engine has an extensive locking scheme to prevent inadvertent overwriting of
changes made to database records in a multi-user environment.
Note A failover while a user is reading or writing data in an Access
database could cause data corruption in the Access database.
Microsoft Outlook 2002
Outlook Personal Folder files (PSTs) are designed for use as
single-user storage. Outlook does not support the use of PSTs stored on a
network share.