DiscPort Executive 2.0

The US armed forces use FedLog, a six CD-ROM set, to order, inventory, and replace 7.2 million parts; thousands of offices around the world update FedLog monthly. Fortunately for network administrators who must update and distribute information in a timely manner, Microtest provides DiscPort Executive 2.0. I tested the Windows NT version of this product as part of Microtest's turnkey solution. (For details about the system I used to test DiscPort, see "Microtest's Turnkey Solution," page 112.)

DiscPort Executive enhances NT's file-sharing capabilities with numerous CD-ROM-specific functions. These functions let you create virtual CD-ROMs, catalog hundreds to thousands of shares, aggregate many CD-ROM volumes under one share (a collection), and make NT-foreign media available to workstations that run different operating systems.

Microtest designed the software to deliver information as efficiently as possible. The company claims that the software will identify whether a particular disc is in more than one place on a network (e.g., in a standalone drive and in a jukebox), determine whether the title is currently queued in the jukebox, evaluate the load on the standalone drive (e.g., whether other users are already accessing it), and choose the quickest path to get the information to its destination. To reduce bottlenecks, administrators can limit the number of users who can access a title concurrently. For titles with a particularly large demand, network administrators can build a FastCD, a digital image of a CD-ROM placed on a SCSI hard disk.

Because the configuration I tested was turnkey, the software installed without a glitch. However, for administrators who must configure existing equipment to work with the DiscPort software and jukeboxes with autoloading devices, the software will take additional setup and configuration. And don't forget, you must add the DiscPort server to the NT domain.

When booting, DiscPort creates an aggregate share that contains all CD-ROMs and virtual CD-ROMs the software will make available across the network. Using the CDexplorer utility, I quickly created shares and collections that I could make available to specific domains or to all users by simply dragging selected icons from the aggregate share. After reading the manual, I learned how to better manage the structure of shares and collections by using folders and their interrelationships.

The software's cataloging feature is especially nice. It remembers every disc ever placed in a DiscPort shared drive and all the share properties associated with it. This feature makes queuing up an infrequently used title a snap. You can load a CD-ROM that DiscPort has already cataloged into a shared drive, and it will become available across the network, without your needing to redefine the parameters associated with the share.