Name:         AppleShare Custom Settings
Version:      1.0
Released:     June 17, 1996 
Description:  Unsupported utility that enables large volume support
              on servers with volumes between 2 and 4 gigabytes.  
              Also allows increasing the number of open files the
              server will support for remote clients. Please see
              below for complete information.

This software consists of a self-extracting archive. To use, download, double-click the downloaded file (this decompresses it).

From the Read Me included with this software:

Important Information about AppleShare Custom Settings.

There are two reasons that an administrator might choose to use the AppleShare Custom Settings (ASCS) application to configure their AppleShare server.

	¥ To enable large volume support on servers with volumes between 2 and 4 gigabytes.
	¥ To increase the number of open files the server will support for remote clients.

The vast majority of AppleShare sites will not require either of these options.  The AppleShare Custom Settings application can only be run on systems with AppleShare 4.2.1 or later.

                            Large Volume Support

When a client mounts a server volume, AppleShare returns the disk information for the volume mounted. Support for large volumes that are greater than 2 gigabytes was added with System 7.5. Versions of the Finder prior to 7.5 are not able to function correctly with volumes that are larger than 2 gigabytes. 

Since AppleShare can't determine the version of system software a client is using, it ensures that the disk information is 'clipped' to 2 gigabytes for backward compatibility. In this case, clients generally function as you would expect with a significant caveat. While the user is able to copy data to or from such a volume, the disk information displayed in the Finder is not accurate. Only the 'in disk' or the 'available' will be accurate. The other value will be inaccurate.

For administrators who understand the backward compatibility issues, the AppleShare Custom Settings makes it possible to configure AppleShare 4.2.1 or later server to return accurate disk information for volumes up to 4 gigabytes in size.

WARNING!: If a client running system software prior to System 7.5 mounts an AppleShare server with the large volume support enabled and the volume is larger than 2 gigabytes, the Mac may crash and data loss can occur. Apple will only support this option with clients and servers that are using System 7.5 or later.

                          Maximum Number of Open Files

The Mac O/S allows a maximum of 346 open files at any one time. This number includes files opened by the system on the user's behalf. Also, a file with both the data and resource forks open, count as two files. For multi-user database applications using AppleShare this limitation can significantly reduce the number of users that can be supported at any one time.

However, often these applications are opening the same file(s) over and over in read only mode. For example, each user that signs in might open the user-id file. A feature introduced with AppleShare 4.2 was the ability to track and count these read only requests and, while the 346 unique file limit remained,  it allowed many more users to access the database.

Most servers will not run into the default limit of 3,000 open files. However, for those that do, the administrator can now increase the maximum number of concurrent open files to 6,000 using the AppleShare Custom Settings application.

