There are a number of clients who have happy TimeControl 5.x installations and for one reason or another aren’t ready to move up to the TimeControl 6 family. While there are numerous great reasons to go to TimeControl 6, we understand that upgrading right away isn’t for everyone.
We’re happy to report that while we are not putting new functionality into TimeControl 5, improvements in its infrastructure continue. We’ve found with the help of a couple of clients who were determined not to say no, how TimeControl 5 can be successfully installed into Windows 2008 R2 (yes, R2, the 64bit version!)
We’ll make sure we include these steps in future TimeControl 5 Installation documentation but for those who want to try this sooner, here are the steps required. First, do your installation as normal in your Windows 2008R2 64bit server environment. We have only tested this 64bit installation technique on that version of Windows Server using IIS7. Next:
1. Create an application pool and in *Basic Settings* make sure you set the *Managed Pipeline* to *Classic* (Click on the image at right to see the full-sized screen)
2. The under *Advanced Settings* set the *Enable 32-Bit Applications* setting to *True*
3. Then set the web site to this application pool by going into the *Basic Settings* and select the *Application Pool* to the new application pool that was just created.
4. Now restart the Application Pool and the Web Site to make sure the new settings are accepted and voila, you should be good to go.
With more and more people asking about TimeControl in a 64 bit environment, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk about it.
When people ask whether TimeControl works in a 64 bit environment, we have to take a moment and ask what part. There are several elements of TimeControl to consider.
- If we’re talking about the data itself running on a 64 bit database server, the answer is Yes. TimeControl is happy to connect to a 64 bit database server.
- If we’re talking about the client workstations within Internet Explorer, then the answer is also Yes. The TimeControl ActiveX controls are 32 bit controls but Microsoft loads a 32bit version of Internet Explorer by default in a 64 bit operating system and TimeControl is perfectly happy there.
- The TimeControl ATS middleware itself does work in a 64 bit environment but the COM Server which provides the menu to the IIS (Internet Information Services) webserver is 32bit only so our instruction to clients is to install the TimeControl Server on a 32bit server operating system.
- What about a 32bit Virtual Server running in 64 bit hardware? This works just fine for the TimeControl ATS and both VMWare and Virtual PC are very effective in managing TimeControl in this way. If you only have a 64 bit server available, then creating a Virtual Server running Windows 2003 or 2008 on that machine and installing the TimeControl ATS there is a perfectly viable solution.
In TimeControl 6 we’ve already made allowances to support both 32bit and 64bit servers as we have eliminated the COM Server. This will result in different installations depending on which server you’re installing onto.
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