Problem:

With MFE 3.1, there can be three XDB.INI files which may be used by a single user application.  The vast majority of our clients should not be modifying their XDB.INI files without using our GUI utilities or under the direction of SupportLine for specialized tracing.  Furthermore, the configuration utilities should be run from the MFE menu rather than an MFE command prompt so they can ascertain the environment properly.  

Resolution:

The first XDB.INI file that may be used is project specific.  In MFE, the user can have a project specific XDB.INI file by selecting "Project uses its own client-side settings".  When this is set, an XDB.INI file within the project root directory will be used when invoking a program (COBOL or PL/I) from within the IDE or invoking an XDB utility from within the IDE while the project is open.

The second XDB.INI is stored in the MFUSER\\CONFIG directory.  This was always used for XDB server settings since the XDB Server is an entity that is outside of the realm of an MFE project.  If the client didn't want project specific settings, this XDB.INI file is also used for that as well.

The third XDB.INI file is a product of WTS/Citrix support in MFE 3.1  With WTS/Citrix support, we officially support running more than one XDB Server on a single machine.   In WTS/Citrix environments, there are multiple MFUSER\\CONFIG directories.  Each user will have their own unique MFUSER\\CONFIG directory and the MFE installation with have another MFUSER\\CONFIG that is used by XDB for the XDB Server Windows service.  This MFE installation MFUSER\\CONFIG directory will be used only by the XDB Server Windows service.  By definition, there can only be a single XDB Server Windows service.  However, clients can run what we used to refer to as the XDB "Blue Screen" Server.  This XDB Server runs as a normal user process and relies on the user's unique MFUSER\\CONFIG directory XDB.INI file for its settings.