General Reference > Getting Started Guide > Installing Zen Clients for Windows
Installing Zen Clients for Windows
The following topics cover Zen Client installation:
Before You Install the Windows Client
Before you install any edition of the database, you should be familiar with the following information:
• Preparing to Install Zen – Important information, including system requirements and platform specific notes, relevant to your operation.
• Release Notes – The release notes are located in readme_zen.htm on the distribution media and contain late-breaking news that could not be included in the user documentation.
Installing Zen Client for Windows
Zen Client is installed by default with Zen Enterprise Server, Cloud Server, and Workgroup. You can also install it on a client system. After the installer runs, the installation log file is in the Windows %Temp% directory. This log may be useful if the installation fails.
To install Zen Client for Windows
1. Launch the Zen installer from your Windows machine in one of the following ways:
• Download and run the installer.
• Insert the installation CD into the CD-ROM drive. If the installer does not start automatically, then open the CD root directory and run autorun.exe.
2. In the installer selection list, click Client Only to install the components appropriate for your 32- or 64-bit Windows system.
3. If prompted, close or uninstall any running applications that may interfere with Zen installation. If you wish to leave any of these programs running, you must click Ignore to continue. However, unpredictable behavior may occur during Zen installation that cause it to fail.
4. In the Welcome screen, click Next.
5. Choose the type of installation:
• Select the default Run as a Service if either or both of the following is true:
• You want to run Client Cache Engine when the machine starts.
• You will run Client Cache Engine in a Terminal Services or multiuser environment with fast user switching.
• Select Run as an Application if:
You will run Client Cache Engine only as needed. After it starts, an icon in the notification area at the far right of the taskbar allows you to manage engine caching.
Note:  Running Client as a service requires the Log On as Service privilege. If you select to run it as a service under a user account other than the default local system account, be sure to modify the Log On Properties for the Service in the Windows Control Panel. If installed as a service, the Client cache is set by default to start automatically. However, even though the Client cache service is running, an application does not use the cache unless its configuration setting is enabled.
The Client Cache Engine is a specialized version of the MicroKernel Engine that caches read-only data and runs as a separate process. By default, whether installed as a service or as an application, use of the Client Cache Engine is disabled. Disabling it means that nothing is cached on the client side. Read requests from an application retrieve data from the remote database engine. Enabling the cache engine means that it acts as an intermediary cache between the client and the remote database.
See the Use Cache Engine property in Advanced Operations Guide.
6. On the License Agreement page, read and accept the Software License Agreement, then click Next.
7. Select one of the following setups:
• Complete setup is recommended for most users. It installs all Zen components using the default options and locations. If you choose this setup, click Next and continue with step 12.
• Custom setup is for advanced users. It allows you to choose installation locations and control the number of Zen components installed. If you choose Custom, continue with the next step.
8. To choose different installation locations, click Change for any of the directories listed. When you have made your choices, click OK.
9. Click Next to continue.
10. By default, all Zen components and features are selected for installation. If needed, select from the following items to exclude them from installation and click Next.
• Data Access
• ADO.NET Providers
• Btrieve DOS (32-bit only)
• DTO/DTI
• JCL
• JDBC Driver
• PDAC
• Utilities
• Java Utilities
• Zen Control Center (ZenCC)
• Documentation plug-in for ZenCC
• DDF Builder
• Other Utilities
• Cobol Schema Executor
• Zen System Analyzer
11. Click Next to continue.
12. Click Install to begin the installation.
13. Once the installation is complete, the wizard indicates whether it was successful. Click Finish.
If you are prompted to restart your system, please do so for proper operation of the product.
Note:  The installer modifies selected system environment variables.
Installing the BTRBOX Requester
The Zen database engine supports DOS Btrieve applications with the BTRBOX requester for Windows platforms. Use this requester for legacy DOS applications.
A separate installation is no longer needed for the DOS Requester. The DOS Requester is automatically installed during a complete Zen engine installation. In the case of a custom installation, you must select the Btrieve DOS optional feature in the Zen Access Methods group to install the DOS Requester.
Note:  Clients using the DOS operating system will have only transactional access to the data files. No relational access is available for this platform.
Win32 DOS Box Support
BTRBOX allows a DOS application to run in a DOS box on a Windows workstation. This enables direct communication with Windows 32-bit workstation components rather than with the database engine. This configuration can be used with either a local Workgroup engine or a remote Zen server engine. The TCP/IP protocol supported for client-server access depends on the configuration of the Windows 32-bit components.
DOS applications are not supported on 64-bit Windows platforms. Therefore, BTRBOX is not supported on 64-bit Windows platforms.
Understanding Client Requesters
A workstation that needs to access database files is considered a client to the machine running the Zen server. A piece of software called a client requester, or requester for short, is required to access database files from a Zen database server. Your application calls the Zen server through the requester, which sends them to the server for processing and then returns the reply to your application.
See the Zen release notes for a list of the platforms where Zen requesters are supported. The requesters use the TCP protocol to communicate with the server MicroKernel, depending on the type of server you have. Ensure that your workstation has the appropriate network protocol software installed.
Note:  Clients using DOS operating systems will have only transactional access to the data files. No relational access is available for this platform.
Types of Windows Requesters
Zen includes the following types of requesters for Windows:
• DOS
• Trace
You do not load or unload the Requester explicitly; the system loads the Requester with the first application call to Zen and unloads the Requester when you exit your application.
DOS Requesters
This type of requester is used for applications that run under the DOS operating system.
Trace Requesters
Trace requesters are used for troubleshooting (tracing) client problems at a low level. Generally, you will never need to perform this type of tracing. The low-level tracing is intended for use by trained support staff. Your product vendor or Zen Support will direct you on how to conduct low-level client tracing, which includes how to use the trace requesters.
Note that the tools provided with Zen solve most troubleshooting issues. For example, you would run the network connectivity tests in Zen System Analyzer to verify network connectivity. Also at your disposal is the knowledge base at the Actian website, through which you may search for information about particular client issues.
Where to Go from Here
A proper configuration is essential to smooth operation of your Zen Client. See Setting Up Network Communications for Clients for detailed information on how to do this task.
 
Last modified date: 10/31/2023