Advanced Features and Troubleshooting

Note: This article applies to Sage 100 Advanced and Premium.

This article explains some of the advanced features of Sage 100 Advanced and Premium, including Remote Access using Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS), push-down installation through Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS), and some basic troubleshooting techniques. Detailed technical information required by some IT professionals is also provided; some of the content in this article may not be applicable to every Sage 100 user.

Remote Access

Sage 100 Advanced and Premium are ideally suited for remote access and wide-area networks (WANs) by virtue of the product architecture. Communication across the remote connection is limited to data displayed on the window and user interface commands from the server. The local workstation handles the actual user interface and leaves the processing to the server.

Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS)

Performance through RRAS is slower than the performance of a computer attached directly to the network because the transfer rate is limited by the Internet connection speed. The minimum workstation requirements are the same for a remote workstation as they are for a local workstation. For a complete list of system requirements, refer to the Supported Platform Matrix.

Note: You should limit the initial number of records displayed in a lookup by setting the Lookup Limit for Initial Display field in Library Master User Maintenance.

The server must be configured with RRAS provided by Microsoft on the appropriate Windows Server DVD. For more information on installing and configuring RRAS on your server system, consult a Microsoft Windows Server engineer or consultant.

After RRAS is configured, remote users should be able to dial into the network and log on. Before attempting to start Sage 100, perform the following tasks:

  • Verify that you can access Windows Explorer and see all appropriate network resources.
  • Verify that firewalls between the remote workstation and the Sage 100 server are configured to allow traffic between the server and workstation using the specified TCP/IP port.
  • Verify that the IP addresses are unique.
  • Verify that you can ping to the server on which Sage 100 is installed.

If these tasks are successful, Sage 100 will start. Run the workstation installation wizard from the server. The installation may take several minutes, depending on the speed of the network and the modem connecting the workstation to the server.

Sage 100 does not require a logical drive connection; however, if you intend to use SAP Crystal Reports or other third-party software that accesses Sage 100 data files, these programs will require a drive mapping. When accessing a system remotely, if possible, install the applications on the local hard drive rather than accessing them from the server. This minimizes the amount of data transferred across the phone line and significantly improves performance.

Wide Area Networks (WAN)

Sage 100runs on any TCP/IP-based WAN and has been tested using ISDN, Frame Relays, and T1 connections. The configuration and setup of Sage 100 on a WAN are the same as those for remote access, and the same tests should be performed to make sure the remote workstation can access all network resources (including the ability to ping to the Sage 100 server).

Individual requirements vary from site to site, based on the amount of data being transferred and the number of users on the system. Sage cannot support the various hardware configurations possible in TCP/IP WANs. To set up and configure TCP/IP WANs using Windows servers (including routers, gateways, and DNS servers), consult with a Windows server WAN specialist or a Sage business partner qualified to support WAN configurations.

Note: Verify that routers and other network services do not re-map IP addresses for the server or workstation when packets are transferred through the WAN.

Performance Over RRAS/WAN

When running Sage 100 over a WAN or RRAS, you will experience slower system performance, specifically with screen displays. Slower system performance is caused by actions that travel from the remote workstation through the phone lines or dedicated cabling to the server, which processes the request and sends the response back to the remote workstation.

Clicking action controls (such as buttons) may require you to click the control more than once before the action begins. To make sure the command executes, hold the mouse button down until you see the button change to its depressed mode. When you release the mouse button, control returns to its normal mode. Additionally, do not click controls before the screen loads completely.

The Low Speed Connection check box on the User Maintenance Preferences tab will turn off the screen display while the panel is loading. Otherwise, if you click controls before they are loaded completely, you may receive some error conditions if certain controls are not loaded or are not properly initialized. Similar conditions may also be experienced when running through Windows with Terminal Services, especially if you are dialing in to the Windows server.

Note: Selecting the Low Speed Connection check box is recommended in environments with low bandwidth.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

If you are implementing VPN, you should consider that software-based solutions, such as VPN bundled with Windows Server on low speed connections, may slow performance, because of the security overhead.

Pinging a Server or Workstation

If you are having problems pinging to a server or workstation, for each LAN workstation, use the built-in TELNET utility to ping the specific socket and port the Application Server is listening on. For remote workstations, you can use ping and TELNET if the server’s router or firewall does not block Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) commands. If the router or firewall does block ICMP commands, use a port scanning utility instead.

Configuring the Workstation for the ODBC Driver Service

When configuring a Sage 100 Advanced workstation to use the client/server ODBC driver, if a failure occurs when testing the connection from the workstation to the client/server ODBC service, use the built-in TELNET utility or a port scanning utility to verify the workstation can connect to the server on port 20222.

Hanging Processes

On occasion, a process may become orphaned from the workstation if the connection between the workstation and server fails. This is more prevalent in low bandwidth remote WAN connections where reliability and stability cannot be guaranteed.

Detecting Existing Processes

When the Sage 100 Desktop is started, Sage 100 checks to see whether any processes exist for that computer. If there are orphaned processes or if a Sage 100 Desktop is already in use by this workstation, a message appears informing you that another Desktop has already been started for the computer.

Users in a LAN environment should not encounter these errors unless an error previously occurred, causing the workstation to lose its connection with the server, or if another Sage 100 Desktop is in use for this workstation. There is also the possibility that another computer on the network has the same name as the machine attempting to connect to the server.

Ending Processes

If the message dialog box stating that a Sage 100 Desktop is already in use appears when there is no Desktop in use, use Windows Task Manager to end any orphaned processes.

Important! Use this option only when you are certain that the tasks left on the server are, in fact, orphaned and not processing any information. Tasks that are interrupted in the middle of an update can continue to update, even though the connection has been severed.

If an update process has started and the connection is lost, let the task complete and end rather than “kill” the task using the option mentioned To end an orphaned process. Unless a remote connection is extremely stable (such as a dedicated ISDN line), do not run update or register programs from a remote workstation. This reduces the chances of data corruption and allows the files to be updated and closed correctly.

To end an orphaned process

  1. Press CTRL + ALT + DELETE to access the Windows Task Manager.
  2. In the Task Manager window, click the Processes tab.
  3. Select each instance of Pvxwin32.exe, and click End Process.

Increasing Default Limits Set by Windows Server

Windows servers may limit the number of Sage 100 processes that can run simultaneously, especially when the Application Server has been configured to run as a service. This can create an issue when a significant number of users are using Sage 100 at the same time. Blank, white screens may appear when any user tries to start a new task. If a user closes down an existing screen and then tries to open the original task, it then opens successfully. For more information on this issue, see article ID 20344 in the Sage Knowledgebase.