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Installing on Windows

Please read the System Requirements to make sure you have the necessary hardware and software in place before installing VolanoChat. This section tells you how to:

Make sure to read our Server Support pages for important information on configuring your operating system and Java virtual machine environments for running the VolanoChat server.

Installing VolanoChat

The installation and test can be performed in three steps:

  1. Unpack the archive.
  2. Start the server.
  3. Start the applet.

Step 1. Unpack the archive.

Download the archive

Download the VolanoChat installation program to your Windows system from the following link:

VolanoChat 2.1

Important note! You cannot use a VolanoChat 2.0 license key with VolanoChat 2.1. If you're upgrading from Version 2.0, please write to support@volano.com in order to purchase an upgraded license key.

Run the installation program

Start the installation program by double clicking its icon. The installation program will search your system for any Java virtual machines and let you select one from a list. The Microsoft Virtual Machine is usually listed as C:\WINNT\jview.exe, while Sun's latest Java 1.1 virtual machine is usually listed as C:\jdk1.1.8\bin\java.exe. For Windows, we recommend the Microsoft Virtual Machine. You can always select a different virtual machine when you run the VolanoChat server after installation. If the installation program is unable to find a suitable Java virtual machine, you can download one from the list in the System Requirements.

In choosing a destination location, you may want to change the installation directory to a location you can remember, such as C:\vchat2.1.x, instead of the default location shown on the Choose Destination Location window.

If you're installing on Windows 2000, the InstallShield installation program might not find the Microsoft Virtual Machine and you may receive the message, "No suitable Java virtual machines were found. Please choose one of the following options". Select the option which allows you to specify a particular Java VM and enter:

Then press the OK button.

Publish the applet files

A directory called vcclient is created under the installation directory. It contains the client applet code files and their associated resource files. These files must be publicly available through your Web server so that the applet can be retrieved onto its Web pages. The easiest way to make the directory publicly available is to create a Web server virtual directory for it.

For information on creating a virtual directory using Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0 (IIS), see the section called What is a Virtual Directory? under About Web Site Management found under the Web Site Management chapter of Administration in the IIS 5.0 Documentation. See also the section Creating Virtual Directories in the same Web Site Management chapter.

For information on creating a virtual directory using the Apache Web server, see Apache's documentation on the Alias directive.

Step 2. Start the server.

To start the VolanoChat server, open a command prompt window and change to the directory in which you installed VolanoChat -- for example, C:\vchat2.1.x. Start the VolanoChat server by typing one of the following commands at the command prompt.

jview COM.volano.Main
when using the Microsoft Virtual Machine.
java COM.volano.Main
when using the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) or Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE).

Make sure to type the Java class name exactly as shown, with capital letters for COM and a capital M in Main. After starting the server, you should see the copyright notice:

C:\vchat2.1.x>jview COM.volano.Main
VolanoChat(TM) Server Version 2.1.x
Copyright (C) 1996-1999 Volano LLC.  All rights reserved.
Loading server properties from C:\vchat2.1.x\properties.txt.
blue.volano.com (192.168.0.2) VolanoChatPro - 5 connection limit.

You can minimize the Command Prompt window, but you must leave it running for it to remain active. See below for information on starting the VolanoChat server as a Windows Service so that it starts automatically when you start your computer. See the section below called Purchasing a license key for information on how to increase the server connection limit and remove its expiration date.

Step 3. Start the applet.

With the server running, point your browser to the index.html file in the vcclient directory. You should pull the Web page through your Web server using an http:// address instead of using your browser's File, Open Page menu item. Some browsers will fail to connect when loading the applet with a file:// address.

If your browser and Web server are on the same machine, and you created a virtual Web directory called vcclient directly under your Web server's root public access directory, you can load the VolanoChat applet Web page with the following link:

http://localhost/vcclient/index.html

If the server is on a different machine, you will need to replace localhost with the actual host name where the server is running. If you created a different virtual Web directory for the actual vcclient directory, you'll need to specify the correct Web address to the vcclient/index.html test Web page.

Connect to the VolanoChat server by clicking the applet button with the Volano logo on the test Web page.

Purchasing a license key

You can purchase a license key from Volano to increase the VolanoChat server connection limit and remove its expiration date. All we need is the support.log file that is generated by the VolanoChat server each time you start it. Its contents look like the following:

server.version     = Version 2.1.x
server.properties  = C:\vchat2.1.x\properties.txt
server.license     = VolanoChatPro - 5 connection limit
server.expiration  = null
server.host        = red.volano.com (192.168.0.2)
server.port        = 8000
java.vendor        = Microsoft Corp.
java.vendor.url    = http://www.microsoft.com/
java.version       = 1.1
java.class.version = 45.3
java.compiler      = null
os.name            = Windows NT
os.version         = 4.0
os.arch            = x86
user.language      = en
user.region        = US
file.encoding      = Cp1252
file.encoding.pkg  = sun.io

From this file, we can generated a valid license key for any connection level based on the IP address (from server.host) and port number (from server.port) of your VolanoChat server. The license key can be ordered at our Web site from the Pricing and Ordering page.

Stopping VolanoChat

To stop the server, press Ctrl-C in the command window where you started it. Once you have defined an administrator password, you can shutdown the VolanoChat server by entering one of the following commands.

jview COM.volano.Shutdown
when using the Microsoft Virtual Machine.
java COM.volano.Shutdown
when using the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) or Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE).

When running the VolanoChat server as a Windows Service, you can shutdown the server using the Services tool in the Windows Control Panel. See our Windows NT support page for information on running VolanoChat as a Windows NT service. See the VolanoChat server properties section for information on defining an administrator password.

Removing VolanoChat

To uninstall VolanoChat, simply open a command prompt window and change to the VolanoChat installation directory. Then enter one of the following commands.

jview uninstall
when using the Microsoft Virtual Machine.
java uninstall
when using the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) or Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE).

The uninstall program will remove the installation files while leaving any new or modified files, such as your modified configuration files and new log files. If you don't want these files, you may simply delete them.

Running VolanoChat as a Windows Service

Running one VolanoChat server as a Windows Service

You can install VolanoChat as a Windows NT or Windows 2000 Service by entering the following command directly from the VolanoChat server installation directory (vchat2.1.x by default):

service /install

Once installed as a service, you can go to the Services administrative tool in order to start and stop the VolanoChat service. You can see the service events by opening the Event Viewer administrative tool. VolanoChat events are recorded in the Application Log. After starting the service, you should see events like the following by double-clicking each event record:

Starting VolanoChat service ...
VolanoChat(TM) Server Version 2.1.x
Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Volano LLC.  All rights reserved.
Loading server properties from C:\vchat2.1.x\properties.txt.
red.volano.com (192.168.0.2) VolanoChatPro - 5 connection limit.
This evaluation copy expires on Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 PST 1999.
user.dir = C:\vchat2.1.x
VolanoChat service is started.

The VolanoChat service reads its properties from the file properties.txt located in the same directory as the service.exe program you used to install it.

To stop the VolanoChat server from the Services control panel, select the VolanoChat service and press the Stop Service button. There is a delay of five seconds as the VolanoChat server shuts down. Stopping the service results in two events:

Stopping VolanoChat service ...
VolanoChat service is stopped.

You can also start and stop the VolanoChat Windows Service from the Command Prompt by using the net command:

net start VolanoChat
net stop VolanoChat

To remove the VolanoChat service, simply enter:

service /uninstall

Running multiple VolanoChat servers as Windows Services

To install and run multiple VolanoChat servers as Windows NT or Windows 2000 Services, perform the following steps for each instance of a VolanoChat server. You'll need first to install the complete Microsoft SDK for Java 4.0.

Step 1.

Install another copy of the VolanoChat server into a new directory, such as vchat2.1.x-2, for example.

Step 2.

From the new directory, enter the following command (all on one line) to build a Windows Service for the additional VolanoChat server:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK for Java 4.0\jntsvc\jntsvc.exe" /r /v
  /out:service2.exe /svcmain:COM.volano.NTService
  /servicename:VolanoChat2 /displayname:VolanoChat2
  /eventsource:VolanoChat2
  COM\*.class javax\*.class sun\*.class

This command creates a new service2.exe service installation program that installs the VolanoChat server with the service name VolanoChat2. You can duplicate this command to create a third or fourth (or as many as you like) VolanoChat service as well. You may want to put these commands into a batch file to make it easier to duplicate and edit.

Step 3.

Modify the server.port and admin.port properties in properties.txt, as well as the server.port property in httpd.txt, so that this instance of the VolanoChat server starts on different port numbers than the original. To run non-trial versions, you will need to purchase a license key for each additional server.

Step 4.

You may then install, start, stop, and uninstall the new VolanoChat2 service with the commands:

service2 /install
net start VolanoChat2
net stop VolanoChat2
service2 /uninstall

You may also start and stop the VolanoChat2 service from the Services administrative tool.


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