PathfinderPC System Requirements
We recommend that PathfinderPC Server be run on Windows Server 2000 or 2003. While PathfinderPC Server will run under Windows 2000, XP, 2000 Server, and 2003 Server, there are some important limitations that need to be considered when choosing an operating system for PathfinderPC Server. All Microsoft workstation operating systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP have a limit as to the number of simultaneous incoming connections they will accept. Therefore, if you are going to have more than 10 clients (PathfinderPC Client, PathfinderPC Mini) accessing the PathfinderPC Server application at the same time, you must use a Server operating system such as Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server.
In addition, Microsoft XP Service Pack 2 added a security feature that limits the number of outgoing connections to devices that can occur in any short period of time. This means in an Axia environment, if the server application needs to connect to more than 6 Axia devices on the network, and there is any chance that those devices might not be reachable, XP should not be used for the PathfinderPC Server operating system. If the devices are not present and multiple connection attempts occur, a watchdog in XP is triggered that causes XP to minimize all network traffic until the machine is rebooted. This was an attempt by Microsoft to detect and mitigate wormlike activity.
Due to these restrictions, it is highly recommended that either Microsoft 2000 Server or Microsoft 2003 Server is used as the host operating system for PathfinderPC Server. It is also recommended that the machine have at least 512 MBytes of RAM and at least a 1 Ghz P4 processor.
If the clustering option is to be used, at least 2 NIC cards should be used, and we recommend using 4. See the section in the help document on clustering for details.
Finally, at this point in time the operating system must be running with an English code-base. While some other language code-bases may work properly, the current protocol that we use between the client and server relies on characters in the higher Ascii range that are reserved in some language code-bases.
PathfinderPC Client, PathfinderPC Mini, Panel Designer
The PathfinderPC Client, PathfinderPC Mini, and Panel Designer programs will all run on Windows 2000, XP, 2000 Server, and 2003 Server. Minimum hardware system requirements for these operating systems are also acceptable to run these applications. In addition, at this point in time the operating system must be running with an English code-base. While some other language code-bases may work properly, the current protocol between the client and server relies on characters in the higher Ascii range that are reserved in some language code-bases. We recommend at least a 450 Mhz processor with 256 Meg Ram to run the PathfinderPC Client application.
