Amirus Mirror Memory Update information

Notes

• The current version of the product can be found by running MMManager and using "Help"/"About MMManager" (or checking the splash screen).  In addition, all kit binary images have version information within them. Use "Windows Explorer" to view the file properties, and select "Version".

• Unless otherwise stated, please update ALL nodes at the same time. Differences in the network protocols will cause the various nodes to exit with the Application Event log message SERVICE_INCOMPATIBLE_SOFTWARE, EventID =24.

Release 1.4 (builds 38, 39 & 40).

The following enhancements and changes have been made

• Enhancements to the license facility to circumvent a caching problem for our distribution partners
• The Help file (AmirusMM.chm) has been updated
• Contact information in the help file and message subsystem has been internationalized per customer request.

If a previous version has already been installed, it must be removed before this version is installed. No other nodes need to be upgraded, since no changes have been made to the network communication protocol.

Please report any bugs in this version here. Builds 39 and 40 include minor patches to correct license problems in build 38, which they supercedes.

Release 1.3 (build 37).

The following enhancements and changes have been made

• Support for the LC (Low cost) license option, with changes made to MMManager and MMService.
• The Help file (AmirusMM.chm) has been updated and some minor errors corrected.
• Bug Fix: Errors which caused MMManager to crash in certain situations while configuring MMService have been fixed.
• Bug Fix: The canned configuration (Canned.mmem) is now properly marked 'Read Only' after installation.
• Bug Fix: A threaded library mismatch, which caused MMManager to fail occasionally when a window was destroyed after the Help system was initialized, has been corrected.

If a previous version has already been installed, it must be removed before this version is installed. No other nodes need to be upgraded, since no changes have been made to the network communication protocol.

Please report any bugs in this version here.

Release 1.2 Beta (build 36).

The following enhancements and changes have been made

• This version includes an optional Visual Basic .NET interface, which consists of a class definition source code file and three examples of usage (a slider control, a strip chart and a distributed rolling mill control demonstration). The interface allows variables to be defined in shared memory, and provides data synchronization services through the AmirusMM lock manager. The example programs will run 'stand alone' on computers without Visual Basic .NET compiler support.
• The application support library, MMLibrary.dll, has been upgraded to use fixed ordinal values in a DEF file. This will ensure upward compatibility as new routines are introduced in the future.
• A new routine, MMCopy has been introduced into MMLibrary.dll to assist in efficient data transfer to shared memory for those languages (such as Visual Basic .NET) which do not provide inherent pointer support.
• MMManager timeout interval for configuring remote nodes has been increased to 5 seconds. This improves reliability when attempting to configure clients on wireless networks.
• The default ring configuration parameters (and their representations in "Canned.mmem") have been changed to improve reliability when used with some brands of routers. In particular, transmission packet sizes have been reduced to ensure that UDP broadcast packets do not get fragmented on Ethernet networks.
• Default wireless ring parameters (for the canned ring definitions) have been modified in light of experience to improve performance.
• MMMonitor has been enhanced to report total bandwidth utilization and to count the number of times packets have been delayed to fit within target bandwidth specifications.
• Bug Fix: Some types of network hardware errors could result in swamping the system application error log file with reports. This would slow the system to a crawl and generally would require a reboot. These have now been fixed.
• Bug Fix: MMServiceConfigurer now correctly adjusts its Start/Stop button sensitivities if MMService crashes.

If a previous version has already been installed, it must be removed before this version is installed. No other nodes need to be upgraded, since no changes have been made to the network communication protocol.

Please report any bugs in this version here.

Release 1.1 (build 34).

The following enhancements have been made

• This version includes an optional MATLAB interface, which consists of a support library (MEX-file) and several class definitions. The interface allows variables to be defined in shared memory, and provides data synchronization services through the AmirusMM lock manager
• The application support library, MMLibrary.dll, has been upgraded to allow it to be loaded dynamically using LOADLIB.
• A bug where multiple calls to MMMap would map the memory area multiple times under certain circumstances has been fixed. The routine now properly determines if a memory area has been loaded before, returns success, and returns the address of the original mapping. The behavior is now consistent with the documentation.

If a previous version has already been installed, it must be removed before this version is installed.

Please report any bugs in this version here.

Release 1.0 (build 30).

The following enhancements have been made

• NT version 4 support integrated with package. Installation requires SP6, but AmirusMM code itself only requires SP2 for correct operation.

• Help system upgraded to use HtmlHelp rather than WinHelp. Help system and Product installation integrated with Citrus Controls web site.

• Utilities help systems (screen help and context-sensitive help) merged with general product help.

• Trial license integrated with product distribution

• Bug fix for connect/disconnect stress test problem.

There is no need to uninstall prior versions (if any are installed).

Please report any bugs in this version here.

Beta version 0.9 (build 28).

The following enhancements/changes have been made:-

• Joining & Leaving algorithm changed to scale better for Rings with large numbers of nodes. The old algorithm scaled as N^2.7, whereas the new one scales as N¹ (on a noiseless network)

• CopyUp/CopyDown algorithm improved to speed Ring coherence when a single node joins an existing Ring with several members. Data coherence mechanism changed so as to more rapidly refresh 'sparse' memory configurations, typical at Ring startup.

• Hardware bridging software implemented.

• Global locking facility implemented

• Distributed data caching introduced to ensure memory coherence on noisy networks when any node unexpectedly fails (wireless).

• Severe network dropout algorithm introduced to prevent Ring fragmentation during periods of extreme packet loss (wireless/general).

• "Canned" configurations developed for FDDI, wireless, and Ethernet supported networks.

To install, first remove version 0.8.22 (if installed). Prior version is not fully integrated with Microsoft installation (MSI) framework. This version is fully integrated with MSI, so subsequent upgrades should be simpler..

Pre-beta version 0.8 (build 22).

This is the first version released for independent testing.