Reducing client download size

In general, it is a good idea to keep the size of your Host On-Demand clients (whether download, Web Start, or cached clients) as small as possible. This speeds up their download time and conserves disk space on client machines.

The best way to minimize the size of your Host On-Demand clients is to create them by using the Deployment Wizard. The predefined clients supplied with Host On-Demand are typically larger than the custom clients created with the Deployment Wizard because they contain Host On-Demand's full range of client functionality. Clients created in the Deployment Wizard contain only the functions that you select to be pre-installed. In addition, Deployment Wizard clients are downloaded in compressed format. This further reduces their download size.

When you create a customized client with the Deployment Wizard, you can select only the functions that you know users are going to need on the Preload Options window in the Deployment Wizard. For instance, if your users are only going to need 3270 terminal and 3270 printer sessions, do not select any other session types when you are creating the client in the Deployment Wizard. Including support for unused session types increases the size of the client without improving its functionality.

If you click Auto Select on the Preload Options window, the Deployment Wizard selects the components you need based on your session configuration.

You can also choose not to download components for functions that are not frequently used. Unless you choose to disable that function in the Deployment Wizard, users will be prompted to download any necessary components when they use that function. If you need additional session types later, you don't necessarily have to create a new client type. You can add the new session types to the preload list on the Preload Options window instead.

On Mac OS X, you cannot install additional components after the initial download. For more information, refer to Cached client support for Mac OS X (Java clients only).

Do not use debugging or problem determination in either Deployment Wizard-generated or predefined clients. This greatly increases the size of the client and can slow down a client's performance. Debugging and problem determination clients are not intended for general use. Use them only in conjunction with Host On-Demand technical support to diagnose and solve problems with your Host On-Demand system.