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MercuryX, dialling and scheduled access 86
Commands issued before and after connecting

MercuryX, dialling and scheduled access

Mercury will typically be run in one of two environments – one that is permanently connected
to the Internet via a leased line, cable or ADSL connection, or one that connects to the Internet
intermittently, typically via a modem or ISDN link. In the case of intermittent connections,
proper scheduling of the various modules in the system is essential to ensure the shortest
practical connection time, and that the various modules in the system are properly co-ordi-
nated with the periods of connection. The MercuryX module is responsible for this co-ordi-
nation in the dialup environment.

MercuryX allows you to create different schedules for each day of the week. Each day can
have a peak time and an off peak time - the assumption is that peak time connections will be
more frequent and will last longer than off-peak connections. Defining a scheduling rota, or
a set of times for a given day, is simplicity itself - simply select the day from the drop-down
control, then indicate the peak times in the Between XXXX and XXXX fields; once you have
done this, indicate how often MercuryX should start the protocol modules and for how long,
then do the same in the remaining fields for the off-peak times. Note that the connection cycle
includes the activation time - so, if you tell MercuryX to start processing every five minutes
for two minutes, it will begin a new connection three minutes after it shuts down the current
cycle.

To copy the definition from another day into the current day, click the Copy from button and
mark the day from which you wish to copy settings.

Commands issued before and after connecting

MercuryX can be told to execute programs before it starts the Mercury Protocol modules and
after it has shut them down during each rota period. You can enter any command in these
fields, and the command can have a commandline. For maximum reliability, we recommend
that you include a full path to the executable file in the commandline.

Run this command before starting If this field is not blank, MercuryX will attempt to run the
command you specify before activating the Mercury protocol modules. Possible uses for this
include invoking dialers, or loading network modules.

Wait until this process terminates before starting Mercury service processes If this control
is checked, MercuryX will attempt to wait until the process in the Run this command before
starting option has terminated before proceeding to activate the Mercury protocol modules.
This option will work reliably with all Win32 applications, most Win16 applications, and
some DOS applications. If this control is checked, MercuryX will not wait X seconds before
starting the protocol modules - it will start them as soon as the process terminates.

Run this command after stopping If this field is not blank, Mercury will run this command
after it has shut down all the protocol modules at the end of a rota cycle and waited the X
seconds delay, if that is defined
.
Before and after connections wait X seconds before running command If you enter a number
in this field, MercuryX will wait that many seconds after invoking the startup command at
the start of a rota cycle, and before invoking the shutdown command at the end of a rota cycle.
If the wait until this process terminates control is checked, MercuryX will ignore this delay.