The network configuration is based only on command line parameters. It is not possible today to specify the connection type and hosts in a configuration file. This may change if there is a specific need.

The jMax user interface and the computational engine, called FTS, can run on different machines. For example, FTS can run on a high end server, and the user interface on a PC. Also, jMax support different architectures, so you can for example run FTS on a Power server or on a SPARC server, while the user interface run on an Intel workstation.

This aspect of jMax derive from the time it was developed: it was developed in a big institution with a significant computing and network infrastructure, where multiple kind of machines where available in the same environment, and where the final user had not at direct disposal enough computing power to run DSP applications.

Now the time are changed, and we expect that most of the time jMax and FTS will run on a local workstation, using a purely local configuration.

For this reason, while still supporting some aspects the original powerful configuration system, jMax Phoenix try to simplify the life of the users by providing a default configuration valid for a workstation use.

If no option is specified, jMax assume that the FTS engine should run locally, start it and connect to it thru a pipe, or other adapted OS mechanism.

Specifing the jmaxHost command line option will run FTS on the specified host; the way jMax connect to FTS is specified by the jmaxConnection command line option; depending on the choosen connection, jMax will attempt to start FTS remotely using the rsh command, or will try to contact an already running instance of FTS (useful expecially for debugging).

jmax -jmaxHost host

Specifies the host where to run the server. The value can be either local (default) to specify the host where the client run, or a complete canonical internet name for an other host, like mymachine.mycompany.com. Beware that jMax currently uses the rsh Unix command to run the server remotely.

jmax -jmaxConnection connectionType

Choose the kind of connection between the Java client and the server; the following values are currently supported:

• local run fts as a local subprocess and connect thru pipes (the default).
• udp use an UDP based connection,
• client use a TCP based connection.
• udpclient connect using UDP to an existing fts process (for debug only).
• socket connect using TCP to an existing fts process (for debug only).

In general, UDP will give a better real time response for controllers, while TCP will guarantee you do not loose data in the connection. The choice depends on your system and installation, you should try which one give you the best results for your project.

jmax -jmaxPort portNumber

Specify the port number, for connection types requiring it.