Biblioscape supports multiuser environment in several ways. Biblioscape database can be shared by many users with a desktop interface as well as a web interface. So the first question should be: Which interface do you plan to use? The desktop interface gives you more features but cost more. The web interface doesn't require the installation of Biblioscape but has limited features. If needed, you can have a mixed solution.
Share a database with desktop application
Share a database on a mapped drive (not recommended): This is the easiest way to share a database among users. You simply put your database on a shared drive. This shared drive is mapped to a drive letter in each user's PC. End user just need to run Biblioscape and go to "File | Database | Open Database". Go to the shared drive, find Biblioscape database directory, and open the *.bsl file. Although the setup is very easy, there are a couple of drawbacks with this approach. When your database becomes large, the application will slow down. Because Biblioscape needs to load the whole database from the file server to your local machine, each time a query is run, it generates a huge amount of network traffic.
Share a database through BiblioRemote server (recommended): Instead of openning a shared database directly on a shared drive, we recommend using BiblioRemote server. BiblioRemote is included with Biblioscape installation. You can find it under "...\Biblioscape x\BiblioRemote\" folder. BiblioRemote is a database server. User can open a remote database located on the LAN (Local Area Network) or on the internet. All the database operations are handled by BiblioRemote server instead of each copy of Biblioscape. Compared to the shared drive approach, it is more robust and scale well. When used in a LAN, it gives good performance and it won't degrade rapidly as the size of your database grows.
Share a database with web browser
If your users only have a simple needs regarding the shared database, the web interface solution can be attractive. No software installation is needed. You only need to run BiblioWeb server which is installed with Biblioscape under the "BiblioWeb" sub-directory. There is no third party software needed. All you need to do is to run BiblioWeb.exe or set it up as Windows service.
Click here to learn more about BiblioWeb.
Click here to learn more about BiblioRemote.
If there are several users in your organization, and you don't want to install Biblioscape on each user's machine, you can simply install Biblioscape on a network drive and let everyone run Biblioscape from there. First, download the trial copy (a self-extracting zip file) from the Web at http://www.biblioscape.com/download.htm. Double click it to run and unzip it to a new folder on your network drive. That is all you need to do for installation. If you already installed Biblioscape on a local machine, you can simply move the Biblioscape folder from your local machine to the network drive because running installer is not needed for Biblioscape installation. User can go to the network drive and double click biblioscape.exe to run it. A network drive may be mapped to a drive letter in user's machine. The end user can drag and drop biblioscape.exe to their desktop using right mouse button and select "Create shortcut here". In the future, user can just dobule click the desktop shortcut icon to run Biblioscape.
Once installed, if you want another user to run Biblioscape from another machine in your network, please set the Biblioscape folder to be shared. Or you can make your Biblioscape folder on your machine a shared folder. Select the Biblioscape installation folder, click the right mouse button and select Properties. Go to the "Sharing" tab and check the boxes "Share this folder on the network" and "Allow network users to change my files". Other people on your LAN can browse to your shared folder and run Biblioscape from there.
If you want to install Biblioscape on a network drive and let several users run Biblioscape from there, please be aware that Biblioscape is licensed to an individual user, not a single machine. So each user needs to purchase Biblioscape and register it.
Most Web users in the US access the Internet through broadband connections (DSL or cable). In such cases, your Internet service provider (ISP) usually assigns a static IP based on the hardware ID of your DSL or cable modem. With a broadband connection, it is possible to run a BiblioWeb or BiblioRemote server on your home PC. But there are extra steps to be taken to make it possible.
Most likely you have a router connected to the DSL or cable modem. All your computers and other internet devices are connected to the router. To the outside world, all they see is the router. It controls the traffic between the Internet and your local area network (LAN). When you connect a PC to the router, the router will assign an IP address to that PC based on its hardware ID. If you run a BiblioWeb or BiblioRemote server on that PC, you need to tell the router to direct all the traffic on the port used to the relevant PC. You may have routers of different brands, but the setup is similar. Most of them support setup by using a Web browser. Open your browser and enter http://192.168.0.1 (or whatever the LAN IP address is for the router). You need to know the admin login name and password. This information can be found in your router's manual. Once you are logged in, there should be a hyperlink to assign incoming traffic from the Internet for different ports to the computers of your choice. You have to give a name, choose the port number, and select the computer to which the traffic will be directed on that port. For BiblioWeb, enter port 80 and select the computer where BiblioWeb will be running. For BiblioRemote, assign both port 12005 and 12006 to the computer where BiblioRemote will be running because port 12005 is used for database activities and 12006 is used for admin traffic.
Once you have configured the router to direct traffic on the above ports to the right computer, people on the Web can use your BiblioWeb or BiblioRemote server. If you are running Windows Vista, make sure the ports needed are not blocked by Windows Firewall.
In order to make your computer more secure, Microsoft enables the Windows firewall by default in Windows Vista. This pose a problem if you need to run the BiblioWeb or BiblioRemote servers. The following instructions show how to open the ports needed by BiblioWeb and BiblioRemote in Windows Vista firewall. If you run other security software that blocks Windows ports, please refer to its user manual for how to open a port.