Technical Specifications 

System requirements

General

Crash Magic is the newest generation of crash records analysis tools from Pd' Programming, Inc.

It follows the successful Intersection Magic crash records analysis software created in 1987, and used by thousands of engineers in city, county and state DOT offices across the country.
This new tool is server based. It runs as a service, connected to an SQL database. Users connect via a web browser on a local intranet or across the Internet.
Note: The system may also operate as an ISAPI add-on to Microsoft IIS. Comparisons have not been done, but this method should be able to handle more concurrent users.

Server Operating Systems

As a server-based product, Crash Magic has different requirements than our desktop systems:

• MS Windows 2000 Professional; Server; Advanced; DataCenter;¹
• MS Windows XP Professional¹
• MS Windows Server 2003 Standard; Enterprise; DataCenter; Web Edition;

SQL Servers

Crash Magic requires two types of database connections:

1. System connection - used by the Crash Magic application only
   System tables are used by the program to store system state, user settings, configuration, etc.
   The program requires SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE access to these tables. If the program is to create the tables, it will also need CREATE TABLE access. (optionally the program can provide the SQL statements required to create the tables and a system administrator can execute the commands)
2. Crash Data connection - used by clients connected to Crash Magic
   Crash, roadway and other safety releated data.
   These tables are accessed in read-only mode. Therefore, all that is needed is SELECT access.

Logins, security and connection pooling:

• Crash Magic performs connection pooling for it's system tables. In general, each user action utilizes a system connection for the moment the action is occuring. Users do not maintain system table connections across requests.
• Connections to crash data may be made on a per-user login basis, or with all users sharing the same login. In both cases a connection is created, used and destroyed during the processing of each report. When a per-user login is specified for the crash data connection, each user's login and password is used by Crash Magic when connecting. When a single login is specified, that login and password is used for every user.
• Each user of the Crash Magic system must have an account in Crash Magic. That account specifies a login name and password.
  In order to avoid the task of maintaining passwords in multiple systems, Crash Magic can store only a login, and "pass-thru" the password from login to the SQL server. This login can also be used to validate users into Crash Magic.

This system has been developed and tested around the following systems, and all of them function properly:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - uses standard "ansi" joins
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - uses standard "ansi" joins
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 - uses standard "ansi" joins
• MSDE - uses standard "ansi" joins
• Oracle 9i - uses standard "ansi" joins
• Oracle 10g - uses standard "ansi" joins
• MS Access - generally just used for testing (not recommended for multi-user environment)

Hardware

• Intel-based PC with a Pentium III or higher processor (Pentium IV 2.0 Ghz or better is recommended).
• 40 Megabytes available RAM required, 100 Megabytes or more recommended.
• 50 Megabytes of application hard disk space.
• 200 Megabytes of hard disk space available for processing. This will vary depending on number of concurrent users and reports in use.
• Program database size is determined by client database. Generally the SQL database server should be installed on a dedicated server.

Networking

• Bandwidth - minimum recommended 128k.
• TCP/HTTP protocol to browsers
• Single IP address - user defined
• Single port - user defined

Client software

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 or 9
  Other "unsupported" browsers which have limitations:
  • Netscape v6 or newer
  • Mozilla Firefox - Limited collision diagram interaction
• Adobe Acrobat Reader - Required for print output of reports
• Adobe SVG Viewer v3.03 or v6 beta - Required of collision diagrams and some charts
• Single IP address - user defined
• Single port - user defined

Deliverables

Software provided for installation

• Product installer
• Crash Magic executables (Desktop, Service and ISAPI provided)
• Crash Magic Configuration and launch utility (Windows desktop application)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader - Also available at Adobe's Acrobat web site
• Adobe SVG Viewer - Also available at Adobe's SVG web site
• Windows-based appliation utilities for configuration changes, SQL database access, etc. (not required for program use)
• Wands configuration files*

Items not provided except by contract

• Computer hardware
• Networking hardware or software
• Operating systems
• SQL server software (see above for options)
• Database Drivers