Maximum number of connected users

[Confused_designer]

Hello! At our company we have this situation:
On Win2k3 machine, there is a shared folder containing only one exe file,
which is a virtualized application. The share is configured to be accessed by
group of users from AD and is also limited to max. 5 connections from client
computers (WinXP SP3) at the same time. This configuration works fine, there
is no possibility to connect from sixth computer to that share while 5 users
are working on virtualized application. The problem begins while one of
connected users stops using application from share. There are 4 persons
connected, but server system is still "thinking" that fifth user is also
connected. His session terminates after 10-30 seconds, so another user is
able to connect the share. My question is, if there is any way to speed up
frequency of refreshing the state of connections on Win2k3? Are there any
parameters that can be set on server, or are there any scripts on
client/server side that can force disconnection after closing virtual
application located on shared network folder?

[Al Dunbar]

Post by Confused_designer
On Win2k3 machine, there is a shared folder containing only one exe file,
which is a virtualized application. The share is configured to be accessed by
group of users from AD and is also limited to max. 5 connections from client
computers (WinXP SP3) at the same time. This configuration works fine, there
is no possibility to connect from sixth computer to that share while 5 users
are working on virtualized application. The problem begins while one of
connected users stops using application from share. There are 4 persons
connected, but server system is still "thinking" that fifth user is also
connected. His session terminates after 10-30 seconds, so another user is
able to connect the share. My question is, if there is any way to speed up
frequency of refreshing the state of connections on Win2k3? Are there any
parameters that can be set on server, or are there any scripts on
client/server side that can force disconnection after closing virtual
application located on shared network folder?

I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect this may be related

[Al Dunbar]

Post by Confused_designer
On Win2k3 machine, there is a shared folder containing only one exe file,
which is a virtualized application. The share is configured to be accessed by
group of users from AD and is also limited to max. 5 connections from client
computers (WinXP SP3) at the same time. This configuration works fine, there
is no possibility to connect from sixth computer to that share while 5 users
are working on virtualized application. The problem begins while one of
connected users stops using application from share. There are 4 persons
connected, but server system is still "thinking" that fifth user is also
connected. His session terminates after 10-30 seconds, so another user is
able to connect the share. My question is, if there is any way to speed up
frequency of refreshing the state of connections on Win2k3? Are there any
parameters that can be set on server, or are there any scripts on
client/server side that can force disconnection after closing virtual
application located on shared network folder?

[sorry about that...]

I don't know the answer, but I suspect that the length of the timeout might
have something to do with making the connections robust against short
networking outages. If so, and if you could shorten this timeout, you might
find that some sessions start to fail.

10-30 seconds doesn't seem too long a time to me, but I suppose if the next
user is in the same room, possibly even using the same workstation as the
previous user, they might wonder what is going on.

If the users are all remote from each other, I wouldn't think this to be
much of an issue, unless the time spent in the application is really short.
If it is only a perception issue, you might find some way for the client
workstation to appear to wait for 30 seconds before making itself available
for another session.

Also, why the 5 concurrent session limit? If it is a performance issue, you
could upgrade the system, or add a second one. If it is a licensing issue,
you could think about increasing the number of licenses. It seems to me that
either or both of those might have a more positive impact on your users than
making the system available 9-29 seconds earlier...

/Al

[Confused designer]

Thank you Al for reply!
Unfortunately, maintenance of number of licenses is out of my competence at
my company :(
My task is to enable immediate connection for new user, after one of
currently logged in logs off from shared file.
Maybe there are some parameters on server side that make it possible to
refresh state of connections to a particular share?
Or, maybe it can be done by some script run at client side? But as far as I
know there is a "NET" command that can be used only at server machine...

Post by Al Dunbar

Post by Confused_designer
On Win2k3 machine, there is a shared folder containing only one exe file,
which is a virtualized application. The share is configured to be accessed by
group of users from AD and is also limited to max. 5 connections from client
computers (WinXP SP3) at the same time. This configuration works fine, there
is no possibility to connect from sixth computer to that share while 5 users
are working on virtualized application. The problem begins while one of
connected users stops using application from share. There are 4 persons
connected, but server system is still "thinking" that fifth user is also
connected. His session terminates after 10-30 seconds, so another user is
able to connect the share. My question is, if there is any way to speed up
frequency of refreshing the state of connections on Win2k3? Are there any
parameters that can be set on server, or are there any scripts on
client/server side that can force disconnection after closing virtual
application located on shared network folder?

[sorry about that...]
I don't know the answer, but I suspect that the length of the timeout might
have something to do with making the connections robust against short
networking outages. If so, and if you could shorten this timeout, you might
find that some sessions start to fail.
10-30 seconds doesn't seem too long a time to me, but I suppose if the next
user is in the same room, possibly even using the same workstation as the
previous user, they might wonder what is going on.
If the users are all remote from each other, I wouldn't think this to be
much of an issue, unless the time spent in the application is really short.
If it is only a perception issue, you might find some way for the client
workstation to appear to wait for 30 seconds before making itself available
for another session.
Also, why the 5 concurrent session limit? If it is a performance issue, you
could upgrade the system, or add a second one. If it is a licensing issue,
you could think about increasing the number of licenses. It seems to me that
either or both of those might have a more positive impact on your users than
making the system available 9-29 seconds earlier...
/Al

[Al Dunbar]

Post by Confused designer
Thank you Al for reply!
Unfortunately, maintenance of number of licenses is out of my competence at
my company :(
My task is to enable immediate connection for new user, after one of
currently logged in logs off from shared file.
Maybe there are some parameters on server side that make it possible to
refresh state of connections to a particular share?
Or, maybe it can be done by some script run at client side? But as far as I
know there is a "NET" command that can be used only at server machine...

I assume that your users run the application with a shortcut to the
exectuable given as a UNC address such as "\\server\appshare\app name.exe".
If so, perhaps you can avoid the problem by running it from a shortcut to a
batch file that looks like this:

@echo off
pushd \\server\appshare
start /wait "" "app name.exe"
popd

The PUSHD command will map the share to the next available drive letter and
make the root of that mapped drive the default directory. the START command
will then run the application and wait until it terminates. the POPD command
will restore the original default directory and unmap the share.

I am thinking that the explicit unmapping of the share will take place
immediately, such that the share usecount will be decremented immediately.

There are a few things that might not work as intended. For example, some
applications do not play nicely with the /WAIT switch of the START command.

If you try this, please let us know whether or not it works...

/Al

Post by Confused designer

Post by Al Dunbar

Post by Confused_designer
On Win2k3 machine, there is a shared folder containing only one exe file,
which is a virtualized application. The share is configured to be
accessed
by
group of users from AD and is also limited to max. 5 connections from client
computers (WinXP SP3) at the same time. This configuration works fine, there
is no possibility to connect from sixth computer to that share while 5 users
are working on virtualized application. The problem begins while one of
connected users stops using application from share. There are 4 persons
connected, but server system is still "thinking" that fifth user is also
connected. His session terminates after 10-30 seconds, so another user is
able to connect the share. My question is, if there is any way to speed up
frequency of refreshing the state of connections on Win2k3? Are there any
parameters that can be set on server, or are there any scripts on
client/server side that can force disconnection after closing virtual
application located on shared network folder?

[sorry about that...]
I don't know the answer, but I suspect that the length of the timeout might
have something to do with making the connections robust against short
networking outages. If so, and if you could shorten this timeout, you might
find that some sessions start to fail.
10-30 seconds doesn't seem too long a time to me, but I suppose if the next
user is in the same room, possibly even using the same workstation as the
previous user, they might wonder what is going on.
If the users are all remote from each other, I wouldn't think this to be
much of an issue, unless the time spent in the application is really short.
If it is only a perception issue, you might find some way for the client
workstation to appear to wait for 30 seconds before making itself available
for another session.
Also, why the 5 concurrent session limit? If it is a performance issue, you
could upgrade the system, or add a second one. If it is a licensing issue,
you could think about increasing the number of licenses. It seems to me that
either or both of those might have a more positive impact on your users than
making the system available 9-29 seconds earlier...
/Al