Selling turnkey web servers has become a big business, but how about a turnkey web server that can share CD ROMs across your local area network for both NetWare and NT servers and also allow you to manage the applications that reside on these CDs via a web browser? That is the niche that Meridian's CD IntraNet server is trying to fill and it does it fairly well. For example, you can use this product to distribute your software updates (which almost always these days come on CDs) across your corporate network, and provide instructions for your users on your web server.
Sharing CD ROMs across a network isn't new, and indeed, Meridan as well as others have been selling various hardware and software products to do it for years. The added twist is the CD ROMs ö and this can be useful for those corporate networkers that are trying to deal with managing both pieces.
When I first got the CD IntraNet Server, it was quite a package: indeed, it took two of us to heft it into my office. The package includes everything, and I mean everything, you need to have a web server up and running within minutes, including a fully-loaded Intel Pentium 166 MHz machine with seven CD ROM drives. You can purchase models with greater capacity ö Meridian will sell CD IntraNet with up to 56 CD ROM drives. Also part of the deal is NT Server 3.5.1 and Netscape FastTrack server software, Netscape Navigator Gold and the various manuals and Meridian software. Having printed Netscape server manuals is a nice touch, because you can't get these from downloading the trial server software from Netscape's web site. The computer comes with a 3Com Ethernet card but you'll have to supply your own keyboard and monitor. After you get things running, you won't need these devices since the server can be managed remotely.
Almost all of the software is pre-installed on the computer before it ships. Ironically, what doesn't come pre-installed is some of Meridian's own CD Net software ö the software that allows CD ROMs to be shared across the network. You'll need to insert the diskette in the server's floppy drive and run through the installation routine, which doesn't take long. All in all, I was able to have a working CD ROM server up and running in about 20 minutes, and most of that time was reconfiguring the NT operating system software with the correct IP address and Ethernet card connector. Anyone that has used NT before won't have any trouble, and even those new to NT will find the instructions for doing these tasks well documented in Meridian's manuals.
The most confusing thing about CD Intranet server is the number of different software modules that Meridian supplies: First are CD Net Manager and CD Net User, which allow you to set up shared CD ROMs across the network and are upgrades to existing Meridian products. These come in two different versions: one for 16-bit Windows, the other for Windows 95 and NT. (I tested it on the latter two versions.) Then you have Slingshot, which is their enhancements to the web server that allow two important functions: use of a web browser to view the files of any networked CD ROM, and an "application launcher." This latter function consists of a series of web pages that get assembled on the fly from those applications that you specify in the CD Net Manager software. Users merely click on the links on the page and the applications will run automatically, provided you have installed yet another piece of software on each client and configured your browser for using Meridian's helper application.
The nice part about this is that once you go through the process of putting a CD in the server and setting up the share on the server, the link to this share shows up without any further ado on your web server. This is a handy way for network administrators to put a convenient series of menus on top of commonly-used network applications. It is also a handy way to distribute illegal software, since anyone connecting to your web server can view the contents of your loaded CDs. Meridian has put the appropriate warnings in its documentation, however. And the documentation is very good, especially a "Quick Start" manual that gives all you need to know to get up and running with a minimum of fuss.
I got everything to work as intended, but I feel the downside to all this is that you'll need to be somewhat conversant with web server and browser configuration, as well as understand the various bits and pieces of Meridian software that are used for each task. And I wish the overall price tag was a bit less ö given that you can get the various parts for about half the overall price, Meridian is making a nice markup on the packaging.
(published in Infoworld, 11/25/96)
Allows sharing of CD ROMs over the network and the Internet
Pros: Everything for your own web server is included in the package
Cons: Costly though, considering the components, and you'll still have a few setup and configuration tasks
Model 914: $11,500 for 7-CD server and all associated software. (other models have more CD capacity)
Platforms: This product is a turnkey Intel NT Server 3.5.1 (both hardware and software) with Netscape's FastTrack web server included.
Clients supported are all Windows from 3.1 onwards, and any web browser
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copyright 1996 Infoworld Publishing Co.