Technical Differences Server vs. Workgroup

There are a few significant differences between a server engine and a Workgroup engine. This section explains the differences.

Platforms

The NetWare and Linux engines are server engines only. Our Windows server engine and the Workgroup engine require a Windows 32-bi platform.

User Interface

While the Windows server engine runs as a service, the Workgroup engine is started as a regular process that has a tray icon for an interface. It must be put into the startup folder if there is local data to be shared.

Network Connections

The Windows server engine can use Named Pipes for operating system level file security and establishing connections. Since Windows 98/ME does not allow the creation of named pipes, the workgroup engine uses NetBIOS as a connection protocol.

Authentication and Btrieve Security Policies

The server engine enforces file permissions set up in the operating system. The Workgroup engine does not authenticate users on its own. With the Workgroup engine, if you can see the computer on the network, you can get to the data. This relaxed security is intended for small offices where security is not an issue and ease of use is.

A behavior difference between the Server and Workgroup engines with regard to this lack of OS authentication on the part of the Workgroup engine is that the Mixed security policy for Btrieve is the same as the Classic security policy.

Gateway Support

The Workgroup engine creates locator files everywhere it opens files, allowing the engine to dynamically adjust gateway ownership on a day-to-day basis. By default, the Workgroup engine also runs under a user ID, which can be authenticated on other computers and network devices. The Server engine runs as system services. The services typically do not have access rights to files on other computers or network devices. Therefore, replacing a Workgroup engine with a Server engine as a gateway in a workgroup environment is not supported.

User Counts

The server engines start at 10 concurrent connections and the Workgroup engine starts at 5.

Asynchronous I/O

The server engine for Windows makes use of Asynchronous I/O. This feature can provide a significant performance advantage.

Runs as Service

The server engine for Windows is installed as a Windows Service. The Workgroup engine is not. However, if you wish to run the Workgroup engine as a service, the following Pervasive Knowledge base articles explain how:

Note that the engine does not have a tray icon when started this way, because at the time of start-up, the "tray" has not been created.