Support FAQ's

FX Series FAQ's

Q. What is dynamic Cache Differencing?
A. The FX Series appliance and Client Software maintain a copy of browser cache and send only the difference back to the browser when content is changed.

Q. Does FX Series do cookie compression?
A. For many enterprise web applications, a significant percentage of data from web browsers are “cookies” embedded within each HTTP request.  The FX Series optimizes this traffic.

Q. Does it only handle HTTP traffic?
A. No, the Advanced Client can be installed and will apply data compression and TurboStreaming to even non-HTTP applications that interface to TCP/IP by using WinSock.

Q, What are the operating requirements for the various FX Series clients?
A. The basic requirements are as follows:

• The Basic Client?
  PC: 400 MHz CPU. 256MB of RAM, 32 MB available disk space. Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista 32 bit OS is required.
  Browser: Internet Explorer 5 or higher for automated acceleration.  Other browsers can be manually configured to benefit from the acceleration.
  
• The Advanced Client?
  PC: 400 MHz CPU. 256MB of RAM, 32 MB available disk space.  Windows XP or Windows Vista 32 bit OS is required. (CIFS acceleration is not yet available on Windows Vista).
  
• The Windows Mobile Client?
  Hand-Held: 195 MHz Arm-based CPU.  50 MB of RAM. 700K of storage space.  Windows CE 4.2 or and higher. Windows Mobile 5 or higher.
  
• The AOD Client?
  PC: 400 MHz CPU. 256MB of RAM, 32 MB available disk space. Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista 32 bit OS is required.
  Browser: Internet Explorer 5 or higher. AOD only works with Internet Explorer.
  
• The Multi-User Client?
  Branch Server: 1.2 GHz CPU. 1 GB of RAM, 1 GB available disk space. Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP, or Windows Vista 32 bit OS is required to host the Windows MUC service. A 64 bit image is not available for Windows. To host the MUC on Linux, either a 32 bit or 64 bit Intel platform is required. Either Red Hat or SuSE Linux is recommended.

Q. What is adaptive compression?
A. Stampede's adaptive compression function monitors the link between the client and the FX Series appliance. Many of the FX Series acceleration features can be applied conditionally based on the connection speed between the remote clients and the verifier.

Q. I have employees who need different access, can I set them up to only have acceleration on certain sites?
A. Yes, through our authorization realms and application policies.
Authorization realms allow users to be grouped based on organization or source IP address. Application policies provide granular control of what enterprise Web applications the Stampede FX Series should accelerate and which optimization features should be applied to those applications by authorization realm.

Q. How does the JPEG transformation work?
A. This is a configurable function set in the application policies.
The goal of the JPEG quality and smoothing values is to reduce the amount of data while maintaining a usable image.  The default settings (Quality=25, Smoothing=80) are aggressive settings that may cause some blurring of the image but give a dramatic savings on the size of the jpeg images.  
There is a tradeoff between quality image compressions while still yielding some savings of image sizes. The optimal setting is application dependent.

Q. We have a lot of PDF documents, how does FX Series handle those?
A. We employ specialized optimization techniques that operate in concert with the manner that the Adobe Acrobat reader retrieves PDF content.

Q. What kind of firewall features does the FX Series appliance have?
A. The FX Series appliance provides two firewall features.

• Buffer Overflow Prevention
  This feature detects and blocks overflow attacks which otherwise could lead to malicious code being run on a server or other unauthorized access.
  
• Forceful Browsing Protection
  This prevents unauthorized access to URLs that are off-limits. The FX Series appliance can be set to only provide access to the URLs for which specific application policies are defined.  When a request is made to a URL for which there is no application policy defined, then the requester is returned an “Unauthorized Access” HTML page.

Q. We need high availability, how is that handled?
A. High availability is provided within a “FX Series cluster” where two or more FX Series appliances share common configuration files and provide redundancy for increased availability of the acceleration services.  An optional “mesh” configuration provides virtually unlimited scalability by allowing additional FX Series appliances to share the acceleration load.

Q. What about deployment of clients, What tools are available?
A. Deployment kits, downloadable from the FX Series appliance allow you to quickly customize an installation image that is suitable for deployment throughout your enterprise, usually with a “silent” install, meaning that no prompts will need to be answered when the software is being installed.

Q. I have small branch offices. Can multiple employees use one client and all accelerate thru it for accelerating headquarters websites?
A. Yes, the FX Series Multi-User Client for Win32 installs as a service on most Windows platforms.  It allows multiple users at a branch to attain the benefits of running acceleration plug-ins without actually having to install the plug-in on their desktop.  This is achieved by having these users set the proxy settings of their browser to port 8080 of the Windows computer where the FX Series Multi-User Client has been installed.

Q. I have a need to distribute documents on a daily basis during off hours so that the updated documents are available first thing in the morning. Can that be done with FX Series?
Yes, our content pre-caching feature provides a powerful mechanism to distribute document updates on a daily basis during off-peak hours so that it is retrieved from local cache when it is subsequently accessed. You can specify what content to be pre-cached as well as a window of time in which the pre-caching will take place.

Q. What are some reasons why FX Series Clients would not be able to communicate with a FX Series appliance?
A. If this occurs, check the following:

• Confirm that the client configuration screen includes the correct addressing for the FX Series appliance.
  
• Confirm that the FX Series appliance acceleration service is running.
  
• If you are accessing thru a firewall, verify that all firewalls between the clients and the FX Series appliance have the appropriate ports enabled.  This would include port 4917 for non-SSL and 4918 for SSL and other ports as configured in the ports definition section.

Q. Does the FX Series appliance support WCCP with full transparency?
A. Yes, you can configure the settings for support of the Cisco “Web Cache Coordination Protocol (WCCP). It is a configurable option in the FX Series web-based management module where you can easily enable the functionality and set the necessary addressing. The configurable options include support for WCCP both V1 and V2, hash and L2 redirection, dynamic service groups, secondary routers, and WCCP in high-availability mesh configurations.

Q. If I have multiple FX Series appliances, can I direct traffic based on which application is being accessed.
A. Yes, there is a global directory that specifies the proper FX Series appliance to employ when accessing different applications within your enterprise.  The Acceleration Plug-In Client Software that you deploy within your organization can then access this directory via HTTP to determine which FX Series appliance to establish a connection with depending on the application server that is being accessed.

Q. Is it possible to centrally control setting changes for the clients?
A. Yes, in the case where it is necessary, to set client policies on the FX Series appliance. When a Plug-In connects with an FX Series appliance, any new or changed client policy documents for the authorization realm that the client belongs to are returned. The Plug-in will update the parameters in the client registry.

Q. I have websites for non-employees to use and I’d like them to have benefit of acceleration. How would I do that?
A. By using the Acceleration-on-Demand Plug-In (AOD). Based on configurable application policy specification, the FX Series appliance will inject an active-X tag into the HTTP content that is delivered back to the Internet Explorer browser. This tag will cause IE to request that the AOD active-X control be installed on the client’s PC. When AOD loads, it will automatically set the proxy settings of IE to cause subsequent HTTP and HTTP/S traffic to be directed to it. AOD does not make any permanent settings changes to the client PC.  This makes AOD suitable for extranet applications or other environments where it is not feasible to deploy a permanent install image.

Q. If the FX Series appliance is “in-line”. What safeguard is there if the FX Series is not running or the appliance loses power?
A. When operating as an in-line transparent bridge, all traffic passes through the FX Series appliance through an optional “bridge network” interface.  The “bridge network” interface is designed to fail-to-wire in the case that the FX Series appliance is not running or the FX Series appliance that it is running on loses power.

Q. What is content-aware caching?
A. It is a technique of verifying freshness of cached objects by checking validity with enterprise application servers before an object expires and is accessed by the client. This is intelligently performed to avoid unnecessary network bandwidth consumption and enterprise application server transactions.

Q. Does the FX Series appliance notify me when there is a problem?
A. Yes, email messages are sent by the FX Series appliance on certain conditions such as detection of a critical error or periodic performance summary reports based on the email address configured.

Q. Can the FX Series appliances also provide load balancing?
A. Yes, It can intelligently balance incoming requests across a set of web and application servers, making decisions based on inspection of  the request and the load and performance of each of the server machines.  The FX Series provides a very powerful load balancing capability.

Q. Will the FX Series appliance preserve the source IP address of the remote clients?
A. Yes, the FX Series appliance will preserve the source IP address of the remote clients when making requests to servers on behalf of those clients. It is a configurable option in the web-based management module

TurboGold Enterprise Edition FAQ's

Q. Does TurboGold require changes to my infrastructure or any special user training?
A. No, TurboGold runs directly on the Domino servers or proxy servers and all users replicate as they do today. No additional training or hardware is required.

Q. What is involved in the installation of the product?
A. For the TurboGold client all that is involved is the establishment of an IP or SPX connection to the network via PPP and a simple, straightforward installation initiated with TurboGold’s setup command. Once installed, the client and verifier (via the TurboGold Manager) can display statistical information on compression savings. This allows TurboGold’s speed improvements to be easily measured and reported.

Q. Is anything written to the TurboGold cache when a Notes database is replicated?
A. Yes, if the TurboGold verifier is installed in the caching mode it will cache shared data when accessing databases on other Domino servers. This allows the verifier to fulfill subsequent accesses of that note by other users, a process referred to as passive replication. The TurboGold client does not write any data to its cache during replication. 

Q. What are some reasons why TurboGold clients would not be able to communicate with a verifier?
A. If this occurs, check the following:

• After starting the TurboGold verifier service from the controlpanel,make sure the Notes account has read/write access to theverifierdatabase.
• Confirm that the server has manager access to the databases the users are replicating.
• If you are accessing Notes thru a firewall, verify that allfirewallsbetween the clients and the verifiers have port 4916 enabledfor TCP.

Q. What happens if a TurboGold client is turned off or cannot find the TurboGold verifier?
A. Notes replication will continue as it normally would, but the data would no longer be accelerated. For data accessed online, TurboGold will continue to cache files.

Q. How does the TurboGold client find the verifier?
A. Each TurboGold client receives its verifier address directly from the verifier database and uses that address to locate the TurboGold verifier. 

Q. Do I have to install the TurboGold client on all remote users if I have the verifier installed on my Domino server?
A. No, the TurboGold verifier doesn’t affect users who are not utilizing the TurboGold client software. They will continue to function as normal but at a slower replication rate than clients who have installed TurboGold’s client software.

Q. Typically how long does it take to install TurboGold and what level of support is required once it is installed?
A. The installation takes less than 5 minutes and once installed, TurboGold requires little or no attention other than monitoring and reporting the savings gain.

Q. What types of problem(s) are typically encountered during the installation process?
A. No acceleration is observed when replicating Notes databases from the Domino Server. (TurboGold is not “kicking in”) Using an incorrect verifier database location can cause this. To check, choose Configuration, Set verifier, from the client’s Lotus Notes tab. Try letting TurboGold search for a list of verifiers (Set Verifier Screen) and specifying a verifier to use.

Users see the error message “access denied” in the View, Activity Log screen. This often occurs because the level of access for the verifier has not been set correctly. The verifier must have manager access to all of the databases that it will need for all Notes databases that are being accessed and replicated by users.  Remote users cannot connect to the verifier, but LAN users do not have any problems connecting. In this case, remote users may be connecting to the network through a firewall. TurboGold uses port 4916 for TCP traffic, so your network administrator must enable it in order for the TurboGold client to communicate with the TurboGold verifier. 

Q. When problems occur, what type of technical support is available for problem resolution
A. Free and unlimited telephone and email support is available from Stampede’s Technical Support group for the first 90 days. Subscription plans can be purchased to provide on-going support after the 90-day period. Contact Stampede Technical Support for more information, call toll-free (800) 763-3423 or, if International, call (937) 291-5035, send an email to support@stampede.com or contact them through the web site www.stampede.com.

Q. How can I get TurboGold to operate through a firewall?
A. Set your firewall to allow traffic on port 4916 for TCP.

Q. What if my firewall does IP address translation, can TurboGold handle that?
A. If your firewall translates IP addresses then you must configure the TurboGold verifier to register the TCP host name in the verifier database (tgoldver.nsf). The TurboGold client will then use Notes connection documents, DNS, or the local “hosts” table to resolve the Host name to the IP address needed to connect to the verifier. 

Q. How do I connect TurboGold clients to the network?
A. TurboGold clients must connect to the network through a TCP/IP or WAN connection. 

Q. What are the disk and memory requirements for TurboGold‘s client and verifier?
A. TurboGold‘s client software takes two megabytes of disk space and allocates a sixteen-megabyte cache file, which is configurable. The TurboGold verifier install takes approximately two megabytes of disk space and its cache file varies in size as replications are performed. The TurboGold manager can control the size of the verifier cache.

Q. How does the server install cope with partitioned Notes servers? Does it need to modify any data on the Windows NT/2000/XP, IBM iSeries, pSeries or zSeries servers? If so, is this done automatically?
A. TurboGold’s multiple partition installations are handled as an extension of a single partition installation procedure. Some manual changes are required on the IBM Domino servers and these are fully documented in the installation procedures.

Q. Does TurboGold provide a way to determine who has actually installed and is using the TurboGold client on their computer?
A. Yes, TurboGold’s verifier captures and records this information in a statistical database called tgoldstat.nsf. Default views are provided to show who has installed and is using TurboGold on a per client basis.

Q. How do I find the latest version number for TurboGold and the feature enhancements that have been added?
A. Visit the support section on Stampede’s web site at www.stampede.com.

Q. How do customers receive “fixes” or “patches” for TurboGold?
A. Product updates and patches are provided automatically as part of Stampedes annual subscription plan. Fixes and patches can also be obtained from the support section on Stampede’s web site at www.stampede.com.

Q. How much memory does TurboGold require for each concurrent replication?
A. A conservative estimate is 128 KB of virtual memory per replication. TurboGold maintains a 20 KB back-off buffer and is continually monitoring the status of its outbound channels to keep this buffer saturated. When the buffer is saturated it causes TurboGold’s acceleration process to "back-off" so as not to consume unnecessary system resources. Documents are retrieved at the highest layer (in blocks up to 64 KB) and are fed through the TurboGold compressor, which monitors the saturation point of the 20 KB back off buffer.

Q. Does TurboGold support Domino clusters?
A. Yes, Domino cluster servers are configured in the event that one server becomes disabled, the other server(s) in the cluster can provide access to databases found on the disabled server. TurboGold supports this concept by allowing users to automatically “fail over” to a duplicate replica on another server if the original is unavailable.

Q. What is proxy mode?
A. Proxy mode allows the TurboGold verifier access to databases that reside on other Domino servers. The TurboGold proxy verifier can be installed on any Windows NT/2000/XP machine on the network, which is supporting a Notes client or Domino server. Proxy mode installations are valuable in environments where additional components cannot be installed directly on your Windows NT/2000/XP, IBM iSeries, pSeries and zSeries Domino servers or where your Domino servers are running on other platforms like HP-UX, OS/2 and Sun Solaris.

Q. Will TurboGold work with the Notes XPC dialer?
A. No, TurboGold uses TCP to communicate with the TurboGold verifiers and perform its acceleration function. This is not available in the Notes dialer, which utilizes a proprietary protocol when communicating with the Domino server.

Q. Do both the TurboGold client and the TurboGold manager need to be running the same version?
A. No, the TurboGold Client and the TurboGold Manager can coexist on TurboGold 4.2 and above regardless of version number. Earlier versions require they be the same version.

Q. What is the performance impact of TurboGold on a Domino server?
A. CPU resources required by TurboGolds compression algorithms are throttled based on the aggregate link speed of the TurboGold clients. Data compression is a CPU intensive operation, which means that while sustained compression is occurring, the CPU utilization in the 1 to 3% range during non-compression operations. Even in the worst case scenario where sustained compression is occurring, the load balancing features of Windows NT/2000/XP, IBM iSeries, pSeries and zSeries allow the Domino server to provide uninterrupted service to its clients.

Q. How many simultaneous users can a TurboGold verifier support?
A. The gating factors for determining this are the throughput of both the user connections and the compression algorithms. From a connection standpoint and for this illustration, we consider that all users are replicating simultaneously and all are replicating data that is being compressed by TurboGold. TurboGold‘s compression algorithms can sustain a throughput of 12 MB per second on a 100 MHz CPU. This throughput increases if multiple CPUs are employed on a single server because TurboGold leverages the load balancing of the operating system when supporting multiple concurrent replications.

It is important to note that the compression throughput has a linearrelationship to the total computing power of the server. Therefore, thetotal computing power of a server is equal to the number of processorsmultiplied by the CPU speed. The following table illustrates the numberof concurrent users that can be supported by a TurboGold verifier underworst-case conditions.

Line Speed	100 MHz	200 MHz	400 MHz	800 MHz
28.8 KB	414	828	1,656	3,312
56 KB	204	408	816	1,632
128 KB	84	168	336	672
256 KB	42	84	168	336

Other factors can significantly raise the number of concurrentusersthat can be supported by a TurboGold verifier. Some of thesefactorsare listed below:

• TurboGold caches shared documents (including attachments) incompressedform so there is no need to recompress shared documentsretrieved fromits cache.
• TurboGold does not apply compression to data already compressed.

Q. Does TurboGold accelerate both push and pull during replication?
A. Yes, TurboGold accelerates data in both directions during the replication process.

Q. What if I already have compression built into my WAN connections? How will TurboGold help in this scenario?
A. TurboGold does a better job of compressing data than standard modem compression or the use of compression control protocol. This is because TurboGold applies compression intelligently by recompressing attachments and not by attempting to compress data that is already fully compressed. The mild level of compression that Lotus Notes applies to attachments has the effect of impeding the algorithms of the compression control protocol and modem compression. TurboGold addresses this by uncompressing the document at the source and recompressing it using stronger algorithms than Notes. This technique generally yields up to a five to one benefit for many types of attachments. TurboGold is especially effective if Lotus Notes port encryption is enabled. The benefits of WAN compression are lost with port encryption but TurboGold’s impact is not hindered since TurboGold operates on the data before it is encrypted.

Q. How do I limit the number of TurboGold clients that a verifier can support to safeguard against TurboGold degrading the performance of a Domino server?
A. TurboGold supports a configuration parameter that controls the maximum number of concurrent user connections.

Q. Does TurboGold perform its updates at the field level or does it always transmit an entire document?
A. TurboGold Client-to-Server performs its database updates at the field level. Only those portions of the database that have changed since the last access are replicated. This provides significant time and bandwidth savings by eliminating the need to replicate large amounts of unchanged data.

Q. Does TurboGold support Lotus Notes selective field replication feature?
A. Yes, selective field replication is fully supported in TurboGold.

Q. Does TurboGold accelerate movement of design elements (folders, views, forms, public agents, database icons)?
A. Yes, TurboGold offers significant performance improvements by accelerating design elements.

Q. Does TurboGold accelerate movement of deletion stubs during replication?
A. Yes, TurboGold accelerates deletion stubs encountered during the replication process.

Q. Does TurboGold accelerate on-line attachments?
A. Yes, TurboGold improves the online, real-time transfer of Lotus Notes data. TurboGold’s online attachment compression accelerates email attachments by a factor of up to 5 to 1.

Q. What is “passive replication” and how should it be factored into TurboGold configurations?
A. The TurboGold verifier can be configured in the proxy mode to cache shared data accessed from other Domino servers. In an organization that heavily accesses shared databases from remote Domino servers, locating a caching TurboGold verifier close to the end users can reap excellent performance benefits. As data passes through the TurboGold verifier it is cached for future retrievals. This “passive replication” technique saves replication time and bandwidth by allowing users to get their data from the TurboGold verifier rather than having to transverse the link to the remote Domino server. In this mode it is assumed the client is configured to use the TurboGold verifiers closest to its location.

Adjusting the verifier’s “Cache Object Aging” parameter can further reduce traffic between the TurboGold verifier and Domino server. This parameter controls how often the TurboGold verifier validates the documents in its cache with the Domino server.

Q. Will TurboGold accelerate Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections?
A. Yes, TurboGold will accelerate VPN connections since encryption is handled at the tunneling layer. Excellent acceleration results will typically be obtained because TurboGold's streaming technique reduces latency caused by the extra request and response packets inherent in the Lotus Notes RPC protocol.

Q. How does TurboGold handle encrypted documents?
A. Documents encrypted by Notes are stored and transmitted in their encrypted form. TurboGold does not decrypt these documents.

Q. What if I use the Lotus Notes "port encryption" feature, does TurboGold then communicate over an encrypted channel?
A. Yes, if port encryption is enabled TurboGold Client-to-Server utilizes the same encryption engine and policies as Lotus Notes to encrypt all TurboGold accelerated traffic.

Q. What if there is a communication error during a TurboGold accelerated replication? Is there a potential for data corruption?
A. No, TurboGold applies database updates only upon receipt of a complete update specification. If a communication error that causes a session termination occurs, the Lotus Notes replication can be rescheduled or reinitiated. In this event, the restarted replication will resume from the point of the last completed database update.

Q. Since the key to TurboGold's ability to find verifiers in the network seems to be the "verifier database", how many copies of the TurboGold verifier database should be replicated throughout a Lotus Notes enterprise?
A. Typically a separate copy of the TurboGold verifier database should be maintained on a Domino server at each location where TurboGold verifiers are to be installed. It is often desirable to replicate this database among all servers within the same geographic region. This database is comprised of essentially two types of documents. One set of documents describes the status of the TurboGold verifiers in an enterprise. The second set of documents describes the mappings between TurboGold verifiers and Domino servers; these documents are usually related to a particular location.

Q. How does the TurboGold client determine the location of the TurboGold verifiers if they are installed on multiple servers?
A. TurboGold clients access the tgoldver.nsf database to determine which TurboGold verifier to connect to the client. The client can be configured to look at a specific server for this database but in larger roll-outs it is recommended that each server have its’ own copy or replica of the tgoldstat.nsf database. In this case, TurboGold clients are configured to check each server that it connects to for the tgoldver.nsf database.

Q. What rules are used to determine which TurboGold verifier is best suited for the TurboGold client? If the TurboGold verifier is on every server, how does the TurboGold client determine which TurboGold verifier to use?
A. TurboGold clients examine the mapping documents in the tgoldver.nsf database to determine which TurboGold verifiers can be used for the Domino server it is accessing. The client then randomly selects a verifier from the list of eligible TurboGold verifiers, which has a load balancing effect. The administrator specifies the mapping documents by using the TurboGold manager utility. By default, TurboGold will use the verifier running on the Domino server that the Notes client is currently accessing.

Q. Is there a way to lower the task priority of TurboGold in order to safeguard Domino server performance?
A. Yes, TurboGold provides a configuration setting to allow it to run at a lower task priority than the Domino server.

Q. Does TurboGold accelerate both push and pull during replication and mail routing?
A. Yes, TurboGold Server-to-Server supports both push and pull, which means that any Domino server can initiate the replication request. For example, the host server can initiate the request and “push” the data out to other Domino servers. Conversely, a remote Domino server can initiate the request and “pull” the data down from the host server.

Q. Does TurboGold perform its updates at the field level or does it always transmit an entire document?
A. TurboGold Server-to-Server performs its database updates at the field level. Only those portions of the document that have changed since the last access are replicated. This provides significant time and bandwidth savings by eliminating the need to replicate large amounts of unchanged data.

Q. Can TurboGold perform simultaneous replications and mail routing between Domino servers?
A. Yes, multiple replications and/or mail routing between Domino servers (either one-to-one or one-to-many) can occur simultaneously, important in saving time and adapting to the way Notes works.

Q. Does TurboGold Server-to-Server accelerate replications between Domino servers in the same cluster?
A. No, TurboGold Server-to-Server ignores the replication requests of the cluster replication task.

Q. What if I use the Lotus Notes "port encryption" feature, does TurboGold then communicate over an encrypted channel?
A. Yes, if port encryption is enabled TurboGold Server-to-Server utilizes Notes' encryption engine and policies to encrypt all TurboGold accelerated data.

Q. Can TurboGold Server-to-Server run on a partitioned Domino server?
A. Yes, multiple instances of TurboGold Server-to-Server can be installed in separate partitions on a multi-partition Domino server. Each instance of TurboGold Server-to-Server has distinct configuration parameters and working storage areas.