lookandfeel Free Software -- Installing DLLs

The following is a synopsis of how lookandfeel installs COM DLLs on production servers. This is not necessarily The Right Way to do it, nor is it The Only Way to do it but it works well and is easy to maintain.

1. Install any missing dependencies.
2. Create a subdirectory for the package somewhere in the vicinity of the website files but not under a website root. If possible, use D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\packagename.
3. Create three subdirectories within the package directory, one named EXEC, one named WEBSITE and the last named JNI.
4. Copy all the executable files into the EXEC directory (usually this is just the DLL).
5. Copy all of the web-usable files into the WEBSITE directory (any _VBS.TXT and ASP files).
6. Copy all of the JNI-related files into the JNI directory (any JAR files).
7. Set the NTFS permissions (if applicable) on the EXEC and WEBSITE directories to allow the SYSTEM and anonymous IUSR_machinename users Read access.
8. Delete all other copies of the package files from the server, leaving only the one you just moved into place. Important: this includes old versions and temporary directories.
9. Use REGSVR32.EXE to register the DLL within the EXEC directory.
10. In the MMC, add a virtual directory to the root of each website that needs access to the web-usable files for the package, using the name of the package as the name of the virtual directory. Grant the virtual directory "Execute" permission if there are ASP files in the WEBSITE folder that the site will use. The virtual directory does not need to be an IIS application, nor does it need to run in a separate memory space.
11. To allow Java applications to find the component, add the EXEC directory to the PATH environment variable and add the full path to each JAR file to the CLASSPATH environment variable.

For example:

• While logged in as Administrator on my Windows NT 4.0 server named GRENDEL, I download LAFmessage-0.0.16.0-binaries.zip from the LAFmessage package to my desktop, C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP.
• I extract the ZIP file into a temporary directory named C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP\TMP.
• I create the directories D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\EXEC, D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\WEBSITE and D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\JNI.
• I grant SYSTEM and IUSR_GRENDEL Read permission to the EXEC and WEBSITE directories.
• I copy C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP\TMP\BIN-WIN32\LAFMESSAGE.DLL to D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\EXEC.
• I copy C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP\TMP\WEBSITE\LAFMESSAGE_VBS.TXT to D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\WEBSITE. (I ignore the LAFMAIL subdirectory because I do not intend to use LAFmail.)
• I copy C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP\TMP\JNI\LAFMESSAGE.JAR to D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\JNI.
• I delete the temporary directory C:\WINNT\PROFILES\ADMINISTRATOR\DESKTOP\TMP.
• I use REGSVR32.EXE (in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) to try to register D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\EXEC\LAFMESSAGE.DLL but it fails because I did not install the Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Runtime.
• I install the Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Runtime. This requires me to reboot but that's fine -- I love rebooting my servers!
• I use REGSVR32.EXE (in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32) to register D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\EXEC\LAFMESSAGE.DLL. It works this time.
• In the MMC, I add a virtual directory to my website www.grendelcorp.com. I name the virtual directory LAFmessage and target it at the directory D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\WEBSITE. Because it only contains one text file, I do not give it Script or Execute permission.
• I add D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\EXEC to my PATH environment variable and I add D:\PUB\SITES\COMPONENTS\LAFMESSAGE\JNI\LAFMESSAGE.JAR to my CLASSPATH environment variable.

That's it!

There are a few advantages to installing the components this way. First and foremost, by being very careful to only have one copy of the package's files on the server, upgrading to a later version is much easier. If many copies get scattered around, the system administrator has to find every copy on the machine and replace it with the later version. Also, since COM tends to get strange when multiple copies of registered DLLs are floating around, keeping only one copy on the server helps reduce the troubleshooting work later.

Second, by maintaining a consistant process for installing components, it's much easier to determine what components are available and find their versions without having to search the registry.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• The process recommended above is just that: recommended. There is nothing magic about the directory paths named above and NONE of lookandfeel's components assume that they are installed in any particular directory. The COM DLLs will work just as well when installed in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 or F:\SOME\OTHER\DIR.
• All of lookandfeel's COM DLLs are written in C++, which means that later versions use the same interface identifiers (GUIDs) as previous versions (as opposed to COM DLLs written in Visual Basic). For that reason, it is generally not necessary to unregister previous versions of the DLLs in order to upgrade them (although it does not hurt). More importantly, it is NEVER necessary to run Microsoft's RegClean utility because of lookandfeel's components. lookandfeel strongly recommends against ever running RegClean for any reason -- it does not function as advertised and often destroys servers.