Configuring the Client Manager for Client Communications

With the advent of various thin-client product offerings, such as Microsoft Terminal Server with NT 5.0, multiple users (or "thin clients") can share application program resources that reside on a single, shared, Windows client workstation. The thin client logs on to the Windows client workstation.

In the traditional, single-user Windows workstation environment, only one desktop view is active. The view that is displayed is that of the user currently logged on to the physical workstation. Communicating from a Distributed Processing Client (DPC) to the Client Manager takes place using the Windows IPC mailslot API. This API uses a well-known mailslot identifier to connect an application executing on the workstation with its active Client Manager.

Within a multi-user server environment, multiple thin client users operating on separate physical user workstations, logon to a single client application workstation. Each user workstation has its own unique desktop view of the shared client application workstation. Each user's desktop view is displayed to their respective user workstations by way of it executing the thin client software. Communicating from a given DPC applications to their specific instance of the Client Manager takes place using the Windows IPC mailslot API. The well known, unique mailslot identifier is used to connect a user's distinct applications to their unique instance of the Client Manager.

In multi-user environments, it is necessary that each user have their own instance of the Client Manager. In this, case a user's Client Manager instance and their associated DPC applications make use of the same mailslot identifier.