User Experience
Expectations and Training
Wireless Terminal Emulation, Advanced Terminal Session Management (ATSM), and Device Management
CONTENTS
2.3 Buffering and Session Persistence
3. Administrator Users and Help Desk
3.1 Administrator Considerations
3.2 Administrator User Accounts
3.3 Standardizing Client Settings
3.6 Device Groups and Telnet Host Groups
3.7 Monitor, Share and Take Control
3.10 Other Administrator Features
4.6 High Availability and Support
This product is protected by copyright and intellectual property laws in the United States and other countries as well as by international treaties. StayLinked and the StayLinked logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of StayLinked Software, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. SL-1003 JC/RP
Introduction
StayLinked is a truly thin-client terminal emulation solution that allows mobile device users to interact with sessions, while taking advantage of host reliability. Telnet Client sessions provided by StayLinked are typically running on the same physical server as the telnet server, making the telnet connection as reliable as the server itself. StayLinked sessions running on devices are free to connect and disconnect from the session as often as required by battery changes, device power management and radio interruptions. These sessions simply synchronize with their hosted session when they are reconnected, allowing them to always pick up exactly where they left off.
Because of the architectural differences, StayLinked is often used as a replacement for another terminal emulation product. Changes to the user experience can sometimes require some degree of training to disseminate the differences between StayLinked and a typical device-resident emulation product. This document has been created as a training aid to help outline some of those differences and make the most out of the product for your users and business.
StayLinked is comprised of three components. Likewise, this guide is broken into three primary sections. These sections are designed to discuss the solution as it relates to the people who come in contact with the respective components. Each section is intended to be distributed to the users involved with each component:
- The StayLinked Client Software can reside on mobile devices, kiosks, smart phones and Windows computers. This part of the guide relates to those who would use the Client software.
- The StayLinked Administrator is a Windows program that acts as the management utility with visibility of sessions and configuration options. The Administrator can be configured with user-level permissions that give individuals access to the portions they may need, and prevent access to sections outside their sphere of influence. This section of the guide acts as an addition to the Client section for those who would manage or directly support Client users.
- The StayLinked Server process is a Java-based application that is typically installed on the telnet host, but may be on a stand-alone server of its own. This section of the guide acts as an addition to the two previous sections for those who would be involved in supporting the entire solution across the business.
Architecture
The following diagram provides a typical sample architecture. While some examples are listed for hosted applications and telnet servers, StayLinked supports any application and telnet server that adheres to the specifications for our supported emulation protocols.
Your application provider and telnet server should provide connectivity details for configuring the telnet client. In cases where the StayLinked Server cannot be installed directly on the telnet server system, it is recommended that StayLinked is installed as close as possible for the most reliable telnet communications possible.
Please see our website for a current list of business partners and supported platforms.
Mobile Computer Users
StayLinked Client users will have a range of different features available on their devices. These features will depend greatly on the operating system of the device. Operating Systems like iOS and Android do not offer the same display options as Windows, Windows Mobile and Windows CE. The ability to lock down access to the device operating system is typical in Windows environments. iOS and Android devices don’t provide this level of customization.
Display Options
Users will typically see the StayLinked Clients in one of two modes:
| Standard File/Host/Tools | Windows Full Screen Mode | |
| Splash
Screen |
 |
 |
| In Session |  |
 |
Devices configured with AutoConnect set to a value of ‘always’ will bypass the splash screen and automatically attempt to connect to the Server. Pressing the escape key during the handshake can interrupt this loop.
There are several additional display elements that are configurable as options. Most options are available on all Clients, but a few are restricted by the limitations imposed by the device operating system. The common display elements include:
1) File, Host and Tools Menus
2) Font Adjustment Buttons
3) Close/Minimize Button
4) 5250/3270 On-Screen Indicator Area (OIA) enabled/disabled in the device group. Displays system messages from the host.
5) Battery Life Display
6) Session Number (hidden on single session)
7) Extended Keys – On-screen buttons that are customizable. More information is available in the client user guide.
8) Windows Taskbar – Visible, but locked if application lockdown is set to ‘show’.
9) Cursor type – Blinks in block mode in this example.
Searching for these terms in our documentation will provide more details regarding the different settings.
Both the upper and lower Windows taskbars will be hidden when the client setting “Full Screen Mode” is enabled. The taskbar with the Windows icon may still be displayed if the setting value for “Application Lockdown” is set to ‘show’. When application lockdown is set to show, the Windows taskbar will not accept user input, but can still take focus as the active application window.
Device Types
One of the most important values used by the StayLinked Server is the Device Type. This value, as well as the Client version and build are displayed on the splash screen of every StayLinked Client.
In this example, the device type is MC92N0C_53 and the Client is version 12.1.0 build 127.
The device type represents the make and model as well as the operating system and keyboard layout. In this case, MC92N0C_53 represents the Motorola MC92N0 running Windows CE with a standard 53-key keyboard. The Client software is hard coded for the first portion of the name, while the keyboard layout is returned by the device operating system.
Buffering and Session Persistence
During normal usage, the network connection may be interrupted. For this reason, StayLinked will buffer transactions and submit them to the Server once the connection is re-established. In most cases, the user can ignore the connectivity state of the device and submit transactions normally. Inputs will not appear on the screen until they are confirmed at the Server.
Most devices are configured by default to buffer 16 transactions. These inputs can be keyboard events, screen taps (on tap capable devices), and scans on devices configured with a scanner. Scanners that are configured incorrectly will not display scans in the Client scan test, and will submit each individual character of a scan as an individual key transactions, sometimes overflowing the input buffer.
Multi-touch pan and zoom on devices that support multi-touch manipulation are not submitted to the Server and do not count as transactions. Rebooting the device will always return the user back to their session, but buffered transactions will be lost if the Client is closed or the device is rebooted.
StayLinked Messages
During the typical use of StayLinked, there are several messages that StayLinked may present to the user. These messages are specific to different issues, making it very important to identify the exact message contents in order to identify the right solution.
Err: Host Timeout! –Connecting to the StayLinked Server should take place on nearly every connection attempt. However, sometimes packets get dropped or network connections get interrupted. This message means that the connection between the Client and Server could not be established. In order for the connection to begin, the device radio must be associated to the network and a handshake exchange of four packets must be completed. Once the handshake is done, the Client will display “Connected!” and then display Server or session information. More information on the handshake process is available in the Err: Host Timeout technical reference document or in the secure communications guide.
eSP00XX Server Messages – Once connected to the StayLinked Server, the Client may display one of several eSP00XX messages. These message screens are painted by the StayLinked Server on the Client screen and due to very specific events that are preventing the device from getting connected to a Telnet Host. These messages are described in the installation checklist and again in more detail within the Administrator User’s Guide.
[Linking] and [Out of Range] – Network interruptions will be displayed with an asterisk (linking) or exclamation (out of range) in the upper-right corner of the screen, followed by a screen titled [Linking] or [Out of Range] if the interruption persists. [Linking] is displayed when the exchange of packets between the Client and Server is interrupted for more than 5 seconds during a transaction. [Out of Range] is displayed when the device operating system reports that it is not associated to an access point during a transaction. More information on these messages is available in the technical reference documents for “Client-Server Connectivity”.
Session Ended / Unable to Reconnect – This message appears when the device attempts to connect to the session that is no longer available. If the session is terminated from the StayLinked Administrator, or the telnet host ends the session while the device is suspended, it would not know the session is gone until the user wakes the device or attempts to provide new input. During the process of checking in with the Server to confirm the current screen information, the Client would find the session unavailable and display this message to the user.
Exit Session Y/N – This message appears along the top of the screen when the user presses the keyboard mapping for Quit Session or [device-exit]. This message is prompting the user to confirm that the telnet session will be ended and the connection to the Server will be closed. The default key combination to exit a session on most devices is Ctrl C.
Device Not Allowed – Devices that fall into a device group that has unchecked the ‘allow connections’ option will be displayed a message that the device is not allowed. This is commonly done to prevent users from connecting with a device that does not fit into one of the customized device groups on the StayLinked Server.
The Viewport
Most StayLinked Clients are installed on devices with a small screen. The typical emulation screen size is 24×80. Using 24 rows and 80 columns on a standard handheld display would be so small that it would be essentially unusable. Devices that support multi-touch for pan and zoom can use this entire space, allowing the user to pan and zoom around the screen to see the portions they need. Other devices will only see the part that fits on their display, called the viewport. Here’s a sample overlay of what the client may see of the entire emulation screen:
The part surrounded in red is visible on the device. In this case, the emulation setting ‘follow the cursor’ has moved the viewport over to the cursor position at the beginning of the first field. You can see the brackets along the base of each screen, one for the full screen and another for the device screen. If enabled, this will normally display only once for any client, but both were left in this image to help highlight the display area of the handheld.
In this example, the handheld is configured for 15 rows by 21 columns, but the 5250 session provides 25 rows by 80 columns. These values are set in the ‘Display’ settings in the client configuration.
The StayLinked Screen Recognition and Reformatting features are specifically designed to adjust the contents of the viewport displayed on mobile devices. These features may be able to improve display information and work flow for Client users.
Menus and Tools
For basic troubleshooting efforts, all StayLinked Clients include an ICMP Ping test and Radio Stats dialogue. The Radio Stats includes some basic information from the operating system, but does not allow any configuration or adjustment. The radio configuration is owned by the device operating system.
StayLinked Clients also include a few more advanced menus and tools:
Echo Test – This diagnostic tool is similar to a ping, but it requires a connection to the StayLinked Server and records the speed of 200 StayLinked transactions. This test does not include the performance of the hosted application, and is specifically an exercise of the StayLinked Reliable Protocol. More information on the echo test is available in the StayLinked Administrator User’s Guide.
Keyboard Menu
Keyboard Menu – Defaulted to the key combination Ctrl K on most devices, the keyboard menu (aka Key List) feature presents a list of various command keys. This feature is only available while the device is in an emulation session. This powerful menu contains a wide range of tools and options in addition to standard keyboard functions.
Several of the diagnostics features listed here can be executed by a command from the Server, but are also available from the normal menus on the Client. This redundancy of diagnostics features are available since the device may not be able to get into a session. A sample section of this menu is displayed to the right.
This can be useful if the device does not have a complete keyboard, or if there are values that are not mapped to available key combinations. If the users need this feature regularly, you would want to consider changing your keyboard mapping or using the extended keys feature to add some on-screen buttons. More information on this menu is available in the Administrator User’s Guide. This menu also includes access to the StayLinked Menu.
StayLinked Menu
StayLinked Menu – This menu is typically set to a default key combination of Ctrl X, as mentioned above it can also be accessed from the Keyboard Menu. This feature is only available while the device is in an emulation session.
This menu provides information and tests for the session as well as Server-side testing for the keyboard and scanner. These tests differ from the Client-side tests in that they display the mappings or adjustments that would be made by the StayLinked Server before passing the transaction on to the telnet host.
Administrator Users and Help Desk
The StayLinked Administrator can be installed on any PC that has a need to manage the StayLinked Server settings or connections. This user interface allows granular access to different sections for each individual user profile. This allows it to be installed for use by people throughout the organization. The Administrator features are well described in the Administrator User’s Guide. This supplement is intended to help describe common use, not complete features.
Administrator Considerations
The biggest factor to keep in mind is that the Administrator will require permissions to read, write and execute files in the Administrator directories. Windows 7/8 users will want to set the program properties to ‘run as administrator’ to allow the program to write files to the program files\StayLinked Administrator directory. Without this setting, files will be placed in the Windows Virtual Store and each user will get their own working copy of any files.
Another consideration is that the Administrator does not own any of the configuration files. These files are owned by the StayLinked Server. By example, a user opening the Administrator’s section for keyboard maps will downloads a clone of keyboards.xml from the Server. Any changes are made locally and then copied back up to the Server when the changes are saved. If multiple users are making changes in the same section of the Administrator, they may get a prompt that another user has saved changes while they were working. Users will then have the option to replace the file with their changes in place, or leave the file alone until they can review the changes made by the other user.
In most cases, the configuration is configured during the initial implementation and no regular changes are required. This means the primary purpose of the StayLinked Administrator is for session management. The Administrator’s Connections List is not file-based and can be used by any number of Administrator users.
Administrator User Accounts
Creating new user accounts is done in the Administrator Management section of the StayLinked Administrator. New accounts default to no permissions and a password identical to their username. The default account installed with the Server has a username of ‘administrator’ and a password of ‘esp’. It is recommend that this account is reserved for special use, and that custom accounts are created for Administrator users. Custom accounts reduce the chance that the master account will get locked out preventing access.
The administrator account can be reset during server startup by placing a file named resetadmin.xml in the config subdirectory of the StayLinked Server. This file is automatically deleted during startup, resetting the administrator account to be enabled with the default password of esp.
User accounts can provide limited visibility of Administrator features, as well as connection filters that limit the connections list or network access of each user. Regardless of connection filters, all users will be able to see the total number of current sessions in the Administrator’s list of Servers.
Standardizing Client Settings
One of the key advantages of centralized configuration is the ability to keep configuration standardized across many devices. Whether your organization has ten devices or two thousand, you usually want similar devices to have the same behavior. A user picking up any device should know what to expect. This functionality is managed in the StayLinked Administrator using the section for Client Settings. These values are based on a time stamp. When a device connects to the Server it will include a date and time that settings were last applied. If the Server has settings that are new, it will apply them to the devices as they start new sessions.
Devices that have been transferred from another Server or manually modified may not get settings from the Server if their time stamp is newer than the hosted settings. This can be resolved by right clicking a device in the connections list and selecting Commands > Resend All Client Settings or by updating the time stamp of the settings in the Client Settings section of the Administrator. More information about Client Settings can be found in the Administrator User’s Guide or by looking through the descriptions of the settings in the Administrator.
Disconnected Sessions
Disconnecting a device does not hurt the telnet session. Sessions live on the Server, and are remote controlled by Clients. If a Client device is turned off or ‘disconnected’ it is not in communication with the Server. The session can still go through updates from the host or StayLinked session shares, but the Client will not update until it goes through a synchronization with the Server during a handshake or synchronization event. Terminating a session closes the telnet connection and ends the entire connection. Devices attempting to reconnect to a session that has been terminated at the host will get a new session.
Connections List
The various options and features in the Administrator connections list are well described in the StayLinked Administrator User’s Guide. The connections list contains a wide range of information that can be important. There are also right click context menus that dynamically present options based on what is currently selected. The connections list is also capable of multi-selecting sessions. Using control and clicking a device will add or remove it from the selection, while using shift will select everything between the current record and the target record.
Devices using the Client Setting for AutoConnect set to Always will roll into a new session when the session is ended at the device. This loop can be cancelled by hitting the ‘autoconnect abort key’ during a new handshake. The default key to cancel the handshake is the escape key. The other way to cancel the auto-connection is to send a ‘disconnect’ from the Administrator’s Connections List. Sending a ‘disconnect device’ command will kick the Client directly back to the device splash screen.
The connections list is not real-time. The user will need to refresh the screen in order to see changes taking place in the connections list. A refresh will be performed each time you hit the F5 key, click the connections options in the left pane, or right click and select refresh from the context menu.
Typically, the first step in using the Administrator’s connections list is to find the sessions(s) you would like to manage. It’s important to note that commands that are sent to the devices will not reach devices that are not ‘connected’ to the StayLinked Server. Connected sessions are those that have completed a handshake, have an active network connection and display a current session screen. Once you know the device IP address, Session number or MAC address, you should be able to see the device in the connections list.
Another important column is the Session Status. As seen in this example, it can display sessions that are in an emulation session, selecting from one of the available menus, or displaying an error message from the Server. The Device Type and Device Name show the Client software installed on the device and the workstation name, respectively. More information on workstation names can be found in the technical reference document for device naming.
Device Groups and Telnet Host Groups
These configuration sections are tools for getting your devices to connect to the right working environment. When a device connects to the StayLinked Server, it passes along its network address and device type to the Server. The Server uses these values to place the connection into a device group. This device group allows the user to connect to a list of telnet servers or ‘Host Group’. Devices in your connections list will display their device group in the connection details displayed by double clicking on a connection.
In most cases, there is no need to create special groups, since most customers have a single group for all production devices. The most common customization is to create a group for a test environment to test upgrades to the hosted application before rolling them into production. I’ve included an example used for a customer in Europe that has different startup scripts for different languages, allowing his users to select the language that they are most fluent in.
In this example, we have the Default Group plus two others that have been created to catch specific devices. These groups are the default group, a group for the local administrator PC and a group for the warehouse workers in different locations.
- Any device connecting from a network address between 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.9.255 would fall into the International Connections group.
- Only the Administrator PC, with a network address of 192.168.100.63 and a device type starting with ESPWIN would fall into the Admin PC group.
- All other devices would fall into the default group. The default group cannot be deleted or limited, since it is designed to be a catch-all for devices that do not fit into custom groups.
Once a device has been placed in a device group, it will be directed to the telnet host group. Users will never be presented a list that contains only one choice. Telnet host groups with only one entry will automatically connect users to that telnet host.
In this example, users falling into the Language Selection Group will be given a choice of four servers to connect to. The AIX server entries are even the same server pointed to the local loopback, but each is configured with a different startup script that launches the application in a different language.
Similar configurations might be made to connect users to a different environment for full screen or small screen devices, shipping or receiving menu systems, or any other application group. If these configuration choices do not simplify things for your users, then they can be left at the default configuration.
Monitor, Share and Take Control
There are three options in the connections list that have similar results, but different usages; Monitor, Share and Take Control. Using a monitor session will ask the Server for an echo of the last screen updates that were sent to the Client. In some cases, these packets will not contain enough information to paint the screen information, and will sit on ‘updating’. In these cases, or at time when you want to be able to interact with the session, you can run the Share Session. Shared sessions go through their own handshake with the Server and appears in the Administrator Connections list. All interactive sessions consume a license seat. Take Control will take the session away from a Client and bring it to you at the Administrator. Session transfer can be used to give the session back to a device once the device appears in the connections list. This new session will be ended during the transfer when receiving the old session.
Message Sources
When a question comes up, one of the first steps is to determine where the screen contents came from. Messages may be generated by the device operating system, the StayLinked Client, the StayLinked Server and the hosted application. One easy way to confirm where a message is coming from is by using a session monitor or sharing the session from the connections list. If a message appears in the shared session, then it is likely to be telnet screen information painted by the telnet server. Messages appearing in Windows dialogue boxes would not appear in the session, and are likely from a process on the device. StayLinked messages will start with eSP00 if they come from the Server or would be one of the messages listed in the section above.
In some cases, the error message may not be completely visible in the device screen (see section 2.4 above). In these cases, you can use full screen sharing to see the entire emulation screen. A full screen share is done by holding down the left control key on the PC keyboard while right clicking on a device in the connections list. When this is done, the session will have an extra dialogue that the session is showing the full screen, and does not represent the same space displayed by the device.
Gathering Log Files
StayLinked includes the option to gather explicit transaction details for any session. These features are not enabled by default. They must be turned on in the Server Settings section of the Administrator. On that same dialogue is an option for StayLinked Encryption. Using the default encryption of ‘Level 1’ will encrypt the handler and socket log files, making them unusable. These logs files are stored on the StayLinked Server within the …\Logs subdirectory. The three different log files include:
Session – This is a log of the telnet session traffic. It records the StayLinked submissions to the telnet server and information about the responses from the telnet server. This log shows all input events, but does not show presentation events from the telnet host.
Handler – This file contain details about the ‘handling’ of the session by the StayLinked Server. Details such as the device group, telnet host, keyboard mapping and presentation updates can be found in this file. This log shows most input events, but does not show the data included in large scan transactions.
Socket – This is the record of network transactions between the StayLinked Client and StayLinked Server. The socket log can be helpful in determining the contents of individual network transactions.
There is also a client log. This file is the Client view of all transactions and should always be gathered last. Retrieving this file uses the StayLinked Reliable Protocol, which is recorded in the other log files as Client-Server transactions. Gathering this log may cause the loss of important information in the other log files.
When gathering log files is required, you can enable a keyboard mapping for a ‘logging snapshot’ in the keyboard map for this device. This feature creates a snapshot of the three logs listed above, storing them in the Server’s logs directory.
Other Administrator Features
These are just a few of the features available from the connections list. Sending messages, disconnecting, rebooting, sending files, pushing client settings, receiving files and other features are available. The Administrator User’s Guide describes all of the menu options available for each version of the Administrator. Some menu items may be improved or renamed, so it’s always best to review the Administrator User Guide version that matches the version of your installed software. Newer Administrators can be used to manage older Servers, but be sure to check that the versions match if options selected in the Administrator are not working as expected.
Server versions are displayed in the Administrator’s list of Server as well as on the information bar along the bottom of the Administrator. Administrator versions are displayed under the Help > About menu option along the top of the Administrator window.
Technology Team
Getting the StayLinked components installed is the first step. Licensing and basic configuration steps are outlined in the Server Installation Guides and the Installation Checklist. Once installed, the essential configuration consists of the telnet host entry and installing keyboard maps for the Clients that will be connecting to this Server. Some of our most common questions to the support team come long after the initial installation when it comes time to add some new handhelds or move the StayLinked Server to another machine. For these instances, we have guides on keyboard maps and Server migration. These ‘Technical Reference’ documents are intended to answer specific questions, but they can also be helpful in understanding what components live where and how they might be managed.
Even after the initial configuration, the emulation settings in the telnet host group remain one of the most critical configuration sections. Some errors may reference issues with the StayLinked Server to connect to your telnet host. If the business adds or moves telnet hosts, these settings must be adjusted to match those changes.
Managing Licensing
Another critical item to review is licensing. StayLinked is licensed for concurrent connections to the Server. Purchasing 100 seats would allow for 100 interactive sessions, regardless of the source. This allows you to retire old devices and merge in new ones. The Administrator’s Connections List will display all connections (assuming you are not logging in with a user account that has connections filters). Using the last activity column, you can see how long since each session has checked in with the StayLinked Server. Sessions that have been inactive may then be cleaned up by right clicking and taking control or terminating the session. Regular restarts on the StayLinked Server process will clean up old sessions and allow for complete backup of the StayLinked database objects. Using settings like ‘autoconnect=always’ will result in constant connections between devices and the Server, typically requiring at least one session per device instead of licensing for a high-usage mark. All devices with a session will consume a license even if they have had the battery removed or sit on a host sign-on screen.
Input Adjustments
As new products come from new business partners, it’s not uncommon for new barcodes to find their way into your business. Making new barcode data fit into the fields that were previously designed can sometimes take adjustments. These barcode adjustments can be added to the StayLinked Server at the telnet host entry or in the device group. Any settings that can be configured in both locations will follow the rules in the device group and ignore the conflicting settings in the telnet host entry. This allows you to provide data manipulation to the users that need it. You can set global prefix and suffix values, but barcode manipulation is configured by specific barcode symbologies. The barcode management dialogues include a wide range of basic manipulation options, as well as the option for regular expressions. Regular expressions are widely used in the data collection industry and have a wealth of details available online.
Account Management
Managing the creation and authorities of Administrator user accounts will likely fall to the technology team. The only way to reset the Administrator’s master account is to place a file on the Server file system and bounce the Server process. This also means that the users would be interrupted or the bounce would need to be scheduled after hours.
Server Tuning
During the initial installation there are Java and operating system parameters that can affect StayLinked Server operation. It’s also important to review these values if seats are added or features enabled that require additional processing or system resources. Features like logging and usage tracking can quickly amount to significant storage and open files. More information is included in the Server Tuning Parameters Technical Reference. Reviewing the default Java memory allocations is typically recommended as customers near 100 concurrent users. Included in version 12.0 and newer is a Java Heap Monitor that graphs several pieces of information. This program is a separate program that can be run from the StayLinked Administrator directory.
Some of the key log files for reviewing StayLinked Server performance include:
StayLinked Manager – This log file shows several pieces of information including the JVM memory allocation, incoming connection requests, and a startup banner (displayed during each server process startup). Making sure the JVM heap is properly allocated requires review of typical usage that is specific to your environment.
StayLinked Stats – This file is not enabled by default, but can show the size and quantity of transactions between the StayLinked Server and Clients as well as other informational statistics.
StdErr and StdOut – These files are typically noise generated by the telnet client and Java runtime. In some cases, these files can grow quickly when the hosted application performs non-standard transactions that are written to log. These files can be controlled by excluding certain entries or by setting them to disabled in the StayLinked Server settings.
More information on log file management is available in the Server Tuning Technical Reference.
Backup Files
Backups are thoroughly discussed in the High-Availability Guide. In most cases, the critical part of the backup will be the configuration files. That database is used to record Administrator User accounts and data recorded using the Usage Tracking features. The more critical these features are to your business then the more critical they become to have current backup data. The configuration files can be copied from one machine to another to replicate the Server configuration, even if these hosts are different platforms.
One important consideration when moving files is that they may contain static network addresses. The telnet host entries must be updated if address changes are made to the production telnet host.
High Availability and Support
Maintaining current support has many benefits. The key features include:
Access to our technical support team – Sometimes it’s best to ask the experts. Searching for an answer yourself may not be the best way to maximize the up-time for your users.
Access to current downloads and new releases – As the industry changes, new devices and server updates can sometimes require updates to supported programs. Without support, it’s not possible to get the latest software updates that work with these new devices.
High-Availability Licensing – StayLinked provides permanent licenses for seats that are purchased. Customers on current support are eligible to receive temporary licensing for their backup environments. Backup licensing expires with support contracts and is automatically renewed during the renewal process.
As a reliability product, it’s often important to our customers that user downtime is controlled and mitigated whenever possible. Typical StayLinked installations place the StayLinked Server directly on the telnet host. If the telnet host fails, the entire application and database may be inaccessible. Having a backup plan and replacement can help keep users working in the event of a server outage or hardware failure.
Additional benefits and options for support are available by contacting the sales team at StayLinked. Please visit our website for current contact information.
Additional Features
StayLinked offers a few features that can be critical tools to improve workflow and operations. These features come with documentation of their own, but are briefly summarized here:
Screen Recognition and Reformatting – These features can identify the contents of host screens and perform special functions based on the contents or user input. For applications that are not designed for current handheld options, these features can be used to substitute alternative screens to the devices. Eliminating extraneous text, simplifying content and automatically responding to events are just some examples of these features.
Usage Tracking – These features are designed to record events and keep track of various events that are important to your business. Most commonly used in conjunction with the Screen Recognition features, these tools can tell you who used a device last or how many orders they processed.
Voice Controls – Text to Speech and more complete voice controls can be useful tools to reduce input times and increase user productivity. StayLinked includes APIs that can work with voice product partners allowing voice to be added to existing systems with minimal integration efforts.
Summary
It’s always important to manage the impact that one application has on the other applications in your environment. The goal of StayLinked is to provide measurable improvements to business productivity.
As with any application, long term use is best guaranteed by regular review and attention. In most cases, StayLinked is the install-and-forget solution that just works, but it doesn’t need to be. All of these tools and features are designed to bring a reliable and centralized architecture to your remote users.
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