CIS Installation Introduction

CIS Installion Introduction

The CIS suite of applications can be deployed in either thin or fat client configurations.

Thin client means that the client PC is used only as a presentation manager. In this mode, only four files that consume around 200Kb of disk space are stored on the client PC while the remaining TRIMtools and CIS applications are stored on the server.
Fat clients have all TRIMtools and all CIS applications on the client. Fat clients can be configured in two ways to either create an environment for the software developer or to create a stand alone system for the end user. For developers, all TRIMtools and CIS applications are installed on the PC making a very fat client. For the end user, the installation of MIR files (Machine Independent Run files) reduces the number of files to the CIS applications to simplify installation and maintenance.

Each configuration has its advantages and disadvantages. Since thin clients get their data from the server, they are vulnerable to network and modem speeds. On the other hand, fat clients operate as stand alone machines and get their data from the local hard drive. From a CIS management point of view, thin clients are preferable because there is only one copy of each application located on the server and this simplifies version updates. Conversely, each fat client stores all CIS applications and new version must be copied to the hard drive of each client and compiled. In summary, deploy thin clients when network speeds are acceptable. Deploy fat clients on remote computers operating over slow networks and modems.