FAQs

 

The Digitise Apps App Server requires access to a SQL Server database to store its configuration settings, published apps and audit logging data. You can use a copy of SQL Server installed on the same server as Digitise Apps or you can use a version of SQL Server running on a separate server.

If your App Server Configuration Database is hosted by an instance of SQL Server running on a different machine to that running the App Server and you want to use Windows Authentication to log in to the database, you will need to configure your SQL Server to authenticate against the machine name of the App Server PC rather than the user under which the App Server is running.

This is because by default App Server is installed to run under the System Account and we recommended running it in this way. However, this means that the App Server account has no username/password to use to authenticate when logging in to the App Server Configuration Database. Consequently, if you want to use Windows Authentication, rather than SQL Authentication, to log the App Server into SQL Server, you will need to configure your SQL Server to authenticate against the machine name of the App Server PC rather than the logged in user.

 

To do this:

1. On the SQL Server machine, load the SQL Server Management Studio.

2. Navigate to Security → Logins under the SQL Server instance you want to use to hold the App Server Configuration Database.

   Right-click on an area of white space and choose New Login... from the drop-down menu.

3. In the Login name field type in the domain name of the server running App Server in the format:

   <domainname>\<machinename>$

   You must add the '$' to the end of the name as this tells Windows that it is a machine name and not a username, e.g. domain1\myappserver$

   Note that you must type in the name, as the browse button to the right of this field probably won't allow you to select a machine name.

4. Set up the server Roles etc. as you would for any other user and then click on the OK button.

5. Navigate to Databases →<AppServerConfigurationDatabase> → Security → Users. By default, the App Server Configuration Database is called ndlmetamx, but if you changed this when installing Digitise Apps, you will need to select the appropriate database instead.

6. Right-click on an area of white space and choose New User... from the drop-down menu.

7. Click on the browse button, , to the right of the Login name field and then choose the Browse... button in the resulting dialog box. Select the name of the PC you added in New Login and then click on the OK button.

8. Configure any required Roles or Schemas as you would for any other user and then click on the OK button.

9. Check that your SQL Server allows remote IP connections.

10. Load App Manager and click on File in the top left-hand corner of the App Manager window. Choose Options from the menu displayed.

11. Change the Server connection string (in the Database section of the Options dialog box) to connect to your SQL database using Windows Authentication. Use the browse button, , to the right of the edit box to use the connection string wizard. When you have finished, choose to return to the App Manager window.

12. Choose the button to connect App Manager to the database. If your connection is configured correctly, App Manager will connect to the database and display the Server Properties screen.

13. If you are reconfiguring the authentication in a live environment, you will need to stop and restart the NDL Digitise App Server service on your App Server PC, for the change to take effect.

 

The Digitise Apps App Server requires access to a SQL Server database to store its configuration settings, published apps and audit logging data. You can use a copy of SQL Server installed on the same server as Digitise Apps or you can use a version of SQL Server running on a separate server.

By default, the App Server component runs under the System Account. If you want to use Windows Authentication to log in to a SQL Server running on the same machine as App Server, please note that from SQL Server 2012 onwards, the Local System Account is no longer automatically enabled as a login nor is it made a member of the sysadmin server role within SQL Server. Therefore, if your SQL Server and App Server will be running on the same machine, you will need to manually configure your SQL Server to provide the required access permissions for the System Account or grant it the sysadmin server role.

 

Digitise Apps includes a configurable option which allows you to specify the use of SQL Server’s memory rather than the App Server's process memory for database read operations and record set processing. This option may help reduce the memory overhead on the App Server machine when downloading large volumes of data to your mobile devices, particularly where the SQL Server runs on a separate server.

The option can be modified by editing the Registry on the App Server PC and requires you to create or modify the following Registry DWORD Value:

32-bit Operating Systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ndl-metascybe\
mx\ConnectMobile\Ver2\Settings\AdoServerSideCursor

64-bit Operating Systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\ndl-metascybe\
mx\ConnectMobile\Ver2\Settings\AdoServerSideCursor

Set this value to 1 to use SQL Server memory for database read operations or 0 for the default mode using App Server’s memory.

 

Note that this option is only relevant for use with LoadDataSource and SyncDataSource Methods; it isn't used by the Synchronise Method.

 

The App Server can use multiple ADO connections to the App Server Configuration Database (the database in which App Server stores configuration settings and details of Digitise apps available to users) to improve the speed of response to Digitise Apps Client requests, especially when large numbers of Clients are attempting to access the App Server simultaneously.

By default, App Server will use up to 10 ADO connections, but you can change the maximum number available to it, if required, by creating the following Registry DWORD Value:

32-bit Operating Systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ndl-metascybe\
mx\ConnectMobile\Ver2\Settings\ThreadPoolSize

64-bit Operating Systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\ndl-metascybe\
mx\ConnectMobile\Ver2\Settings\ThreadPoolSize

and setting it to the maximum number you want to allow.

 

Note that in an earlier version of Digitise Apps' predecessor MX (v7.0) this was set to 100 by default and if you are upgrading from this version the value will not be changed.