Dialog@Site Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use this software to read my CD-ROM products from other vendors?

No, DIALOG@Site will only read Dialog OnDisc® Databases. This allows us to take advantage of the value added indexing and bring up menus that accurately reflect the specific content of each individual database. (Note: Dialog OnDisc Academic Press and OHMS ONDISC do not work with the DIALOG@Site product.)

Are there Dialog OnDisc databases that cannot be used with DIALOG@Site?

Yes. Dialog OnDisc Books - Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Third & Fourth Editions ASM Handbooks and OHS MSDS Academic Press Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology are not currently released for use on DIALOG@Site.

I know the specs say NT 4.0, or Windows 2000, but we have upgraded to Windows XP. Can I use it?

No, you must use NT 4.0 or 2000.

Do I need a dedicated Server to run this application?

In general, the answer is no. DIALOG@Site has been uniquely designed to have minimal impact on system performance. However, information retrieval can be a very processor and memory intensive activity. The resources that you need to run this application will depend largely on how many users and how many databases you have simultaneously running. It is mainly a performance issue.

We recommend that you either run it as a dedicated server or use a high-end server to run it in tandem with other software. If you see a performance lag as you add other applications, you may wish to increase the capacity of your server or move the other applications to different machines.

I want to ensure that the company abides by the license agreement. How can I control the number of simultaneous users on the system?

The licensed agreement refers to the number of users simultaneously accessing a specific database. To ensure that your license agreement is intact, set the user limit in the database management section of the administration page.

How can I control which users have access to the databases?

The administrator can now identify specific IP Addresses, or groups of IP Addresses, and allow access to Dialog@Site with or without the need to enter a UserId and Password.

Furthermore, the IP Address processing is extended to database access. In this way, for example, the client workstations in the Physics Department of a university can be allocated a set of databases to view, that is distinct from the set of databases that are available to the client workstations in the Economics Department.

When Enable User Creation of Accounts is not clicked, that option is disabled and only the administrator can create a user name through the administration page.

Where are search strategies saved?

There are now (version 5.3 onwards) two methods for saving search strategies. All users can save search strategies locally, to hard disc or removable media, such as floppy disc or thumb drive, as a plain text file which can be reloaded into @Site. For users with @Site accounts (on all versions) strategies can also be stored on the server running the @Site program. Here, they are stored in the registry.

What Kind of Usage Statistics can Dialog@Site produce?

All database connects and disconnects for every user are automatically recorded and time-stamped accurately by Dialog@Site. These statistics are put into a comma-delimited datafile that can subsequently be manipulated with Excel (for example). The number and type of reports produced are therefore limited only by the users' imagination!

Related Technical Documentation:

• Dialog@Site - Filtering the Access Log [PDF, 103kb]
• Dialog@Site - Counting Concurrent Users [PDF, 64kb]
• Dialog@Site - Calculating Total Search Time [PDF, 67kb]
• Dialog@Site - Identifying Most Active Users [PDF, 27kb]

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