When an ATE workstation connects to a server, the server scans the %MIAME%/atesetup directory looking for ATE install packages newer than the ATE version running on the client. Now, in addition to looking for monolithic install packages named "ate-#.#.#.#*.exe," it also looks for:
ate-#.#.#.#*-web.exe
ate-#.#.#.#*-web.txt
The -web.exe files are assumed to be small, web-based, granular update packages, which compare your current version to the one associated with the update package, pulling down from the Internet just the modules that need updating. This style of update package is dramatically faster to transfer from the host to the client and start executing, due to a size different of about 200KB versus 18MB, and often faster to complete since often only a few modules require updating. However, they do require that the client have Internet access.
The -web.txt files are tiny text files containing just the URL of the the -web.exe module on the Internet. This version eliminates any need for a file transfer from the application server to the client prior to starting the update, as it merely commands the client to download the granular web installation package directly from the web. This approach is particularly attractive in conjunction with a Windows application server and 5.0 clients, where large file transfers from the Windows server to the client didn't always work very well.
In heterogeneous environments, you may want to use more than one type of update package. The original, monolithic (single-file) update modules are best with UNIX servers and LANs, particularly if the connection from the application server to the workstation has better throughput than the connection from the workstation to the Internet. But in WAN environments, and also with Windows servers, where the server-to-client file transfer may be slow or problematic, the -web.txt or -web.exe version may be best. An advantage of the -web.exe version is that the update procedure can be launched directly from the server after it transfers the file; with the -web.txt version, the installer gets downloaded from the Internet via the user's browser, which may require that the user click a button to save the file and then manually launch it when the download completes.
If there is more than one kind of update available, A-Shell will select the newest -web.exe or -web.txt version, unless it is able to determine that the client does not have internet access. Prior to ATE 5.1.1139, the server could not tell, so it assumes that the client does have Internet access. The -web.exe and -web.txt updates are given equal weighting; whichever one has the latest version will be used.
