Remote Access Solutions?

I have successfully connected to both Store Ops & HQ over VPN.

Example #1: We have four stores that use the same cable internet provider for VPN/WAN communications. Since we're all on the same ISP, my traffic never really gets to the internet--it stays on the local cable network. From two of the three remote stores I have only one hop between the terminating routers. Ping times are routinely under 20ms and practically never over

30ms. That's fast enough that I can connect to any store DB from any location without trouble.

Example #2: Coffee shop wireless & Windows VPN client. Much to my surprise, it worked! I don't know what ISP the coffee shop was using. If it was the same cable co. as my company uses, that would definitely improve performance. If it were any other ISP, my traffic could well have gone to San Francisco or even Virginia before it got to my office less than 100 miles down the coast. In any case, I was able to connect and run reports with HQ Manager from the coffee shop.

Just so you know, this is what MS would refer to as an 'unsupported configuration' so if you have trouble you are on your own.

Tom

Hi John N

1 If you want to integrate different locations, you need a WAN. 2 If you can acces in to your server, you can acces POS, MANAGER, ADMINISTRATOR. 3 You maybe have to contract a Internet Provider to make your network, they have many services like Data conections using antenas, optical fibre, etc. 4 You have other option, use a dialup connection (yes usin your phone line) 5 ok, after you have the network, you only need to configurate in the pc's, the SO Administrator with your informaticon (server, user, password, database name). You dont need to move your dongle or something like that. 6 if you need to be inside of your office pc from your house, you can use pcanywhere. This solution dont need to install SO in more pc's. 7 The quantitiy of users connected in your POS depend of your license, you dont need extra license to use SO MANAGER

"John N" wrote:

An easy solution is GOTOMYPC.com

This will only work if you have a local computer that is free for them to log into. You install the app on the local computer and then you can log on to it from any internet connection. If you have high-speed at both ends, it will be pretty quick.

The local computer cannot be used while the remote person is using it. Everyone that wants to log into the system can go through the one local computer. If you try to login, you will be able to see if some other remote user is already on and you will have to wait for them to log off.

I th> We are an RMS user with a single store and a corporate office in another

We are an RMS user with a single store and a corporate office in another location. We have RMS installed on a small network in the store. Store Operations is installed on a server running Windows 2003 Server as the OS. Everything works fine locally. However, we would like to have remote access to the RMS system from outside of the store. This would include connections from the corporate office as well as from other remote locations (for example, the store manager's home PC). We only need access to the Store Operations Manager module, not POS or Administrator. These connections would be occasional, rather than constant. We could probably get by with just one connection, but it would be nice if two remote users could access the RMS system concurrently.

Given this framework, what remote access solutions would you suggest? One concern I have involves the dongle, which is attached to a local workstation. Are there problems with remote computers not being able to run Store Operations because they cannot "see" the dongle, due to the fact that it is on a remote computer? Will RMS operate remotely with a product like Go To My PC or LogMeIn because of the dongle situation?

We want to implement something that will work reliably and consistently. Thanks very much for any assistance you can offer.

RDP (remote desktop, terminal services all the same)is the way to go if you only need one user at a time in RMS. Your 2003 server will support up to 2 Administrative use RDP licenses. If you want more concurrent RDP sessions you need to change the Terminal Server to Application Mode and purchase additional Terminal Services CAL's.

The issue with RMS and terminal services is that RMS sees each user as being the same Register number. So if I login to RDP and open SO Manager I'm seen as register X. If another user logs into RDP and opens RMS they are also seen as register X and RMS will close with a licensing error.

Someone posted a work around quite a while ago to allow multiple users to access RMS via RDP. I don't remember if it was this forum or the private. This is something that is an issue in the code of RMS and really should be changed since terminal services is a Microsoft technology built into their o/s's.

Mike McCormick, CPA

John N wrote:

For remote access of Manager you can simply install Store Ops on the remote pc and configure the server name in Administrator to be the ip address of the store. I have Manager installed at home and it works great, albeit slower than at the store. Assuming the server is behind a router you will need to forward port 1433 which is for sql server. That opens some security issues so you'll want a software firewall at a minimum. There is no license restriction on Manager so you can install it in as many locations as you want. The licensing only applies to POS registers. So in your case the dongle won't come into play.

A great alternative to gotomypc is ultravnc.com which is free. A wonderful ssl vpn product can be found at sshtools.com. The community edition of ssl-explorer is free and works extremely well. It provides access to RDP which is by far the best remote access tool (compared to any vnc product like ultravnc or gotomypc). The nice thing about ssl-explorer is that you only need to open ports 80 and 444 (or other port of your choice).