Looking for some networking help...

TeK-FX

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
503
I am trying to help a friend setup a gift card and royalty software between his two stores. The issue I am having is wondering what kind of setup I would need to get Store 2 to read and write to a database file at Store 1 so that the cards can be used between both stores and be kept track of. The software he chose to use is this http://www.patronpal.com/. I know this is not a lot of information to provide but I am not sure what more to say but I will answer questions as they come. I do appreciate the help and thank you ahead of time!
 
Most likely you're going to need to have some sort of VPN between the two since it most likely won't work over the internet. What kind of internet/firewalls are at each location?


 
Not much info on the software vendor's site to determine how the application is structured and communicates either.
 
Set up the software at the main store, then do a VPN/remote to the main store to access the software from your second store.
 
Hard to tell without learning more about this software.

Quite a bit of point of sale/retail software has "multi-site" options...where a satellite store can replicate it's database through a VPN tunnel at intervals.

In some regions, you can get some fat internet connections.....example, I just upgraded a client of mine to Comcasts 50/10 package...yup, 10 megs upload. If you have that setup at mothership, the satellite office would have a pretty fat VPN tunnel and most software would run fine like it was on a LAN. However, you might be limited in your broadband options...perhaps stuck with a 3 meg/256k upload...in which case running the software through a skinny VPN tunnel like that would be tedious, and prone to errors/hiccups. In which case you'd have to turn to a terminal server environment...or on a budget, a dedicated XP pro "host" to act as a single remote host.
 
Well over the past few days I have been trying different ways of getting this VPN working. I looked into Untangle but I guess I did not fully understand it. When I downloaded the ISO and went to install it wanted to install Linux outside of the windows environment (or thats how it seemed) so I looked for an alternative route. As for internet both places have a Time Warner business class with 1.5 meg/256k up and they are just running basic Windows firewalls. All they do is stream Pandora and want to be able to keep their gift card database in sync. I have been trying to mess with the built in Windows 7 VPN and I can get my computer to establish a connection but when I do the client I am connecting from can no longer navigate the internet and I cannot see any files I have shared on the host computer despite saying I am connected. I am very new to this form of networking and I appreciate any help. Thank you.


Solved the loss of internet when connecting through the VPN! Now I just need to know why I cannot see or access any files.
 
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Yeah Untangle goes on dedicated hardware....you don't install that on a workstation unless you want to toss Windows and use that box as your router. They did have a silver bullet demo mode which installed a little VM inside of Windows....that was a sales/demo tool and not to be used in a production environment. It's been long discontinued.

So....is there currently a router in between the workstations and the cable modem? Gosh I hope so...because having a computer plugged directly into a cable modem sitting on a public IP address..with business software/point of sale...holding peoples information on it like credit cards...oh my gosh!!! :eek: Get a router in between the PC(s) and the cable modem pronto! And since a site to site tunnel is desirable..select the router for each location wisely...go with something that does router to router VPN tunnels. A quick 1/2 decent approach....Linksys/Cisco RV042 for each location.
 
There is a router setup between the machine that contains the information. This machine holds no credit card info or anything like that. Its a loyalty rewards program and the only info they have is a first and last name plus email address. Its being used to send out weekly newsletters plus keep track how much each customer spends so that when they hit a certain dollar amount they get a gift certificate.

So any ideas as to why I can connect to the host but not be able to see any shared files? Thanks again!
 
it sounds like what you want is 2 routers on either end that can connect toeach other via vpn. I use them all the time.
 
Got any recommendations?

the Linksys/Cisco RV042 YeOlde recommended a couple posts up.

with one of these on either end, you can setup a site-to-site VPN between to the locations. This essentially creates a LAN over the internet.
 
While I look into the routers and presenting the idea to the owner would anyone have an idea as to why I can connect but not see the host machine's shared files?
 
Are you by chance connecting to a computer without a password?

At first I tried that but it would not let me connect to the host until the host account had a password put onto it. After I put a password on it I could connect no problem but I just cannot browse any files.
 
When you setup the RAS, did you set it's DHCP to give out an IP range in the same range as the actual hosts LAN IP?

IE...if the XP VPN server has a LAN IP of 192.168.1.100, did you set it's RAS DHCP service to hand out an IP of the same range..192.168.1.xxx?

And when you selected Users...they were already added local users? Which your "Shares" are shared out to the local users group? Double check those shares against which accounts you added to the RAS group.
 
Install hamachi and see how it runs make sure you share the directory
 
Install hamachi and see how it runs make sure you share the directory

Hamachi worked great! Very quick and painless especially considering we have an account already with them to remote our two stores. Thank you! :D

I can see files and folders now BUT I have run into one more snag. The PatronPal software I mentioned before requires access to a MDF file running on the host machine. When I try to change the database path at the other store it tells me the file is in use and that I cannot do it at this time. So now I am left wondering if its possible to VPN a connection to a remote MSSQL server running on the host machine. Any ideas?
 
So now I am left wondering if its possible to VPN a connection to a remote MSSQL server running on the host machine. Any ideas?

It is, I've done it frequently. I've not used hamachi for this though, dunno if that's molesting the traffic in some manner.

Do you have multi-user licensing for PatronPal?
Does their host software have a "enable multi-user" toggle switch?
 
I am not sure if there is a multi-user toggle switch. I could not find anything like that in the settings. I emailed tech support about my question which brought up another one for me. I tried my Google-fu for this one but could not find an answer. Can I change the number of connections allowed to a database and how would I go about doing that? Thanks again for your help.
 
You can fine tune settings like that with the MMC plugin...I think for the SQL Express one (which I bet is the one you're using) it's called SQL Studio Express. If you're not familiar with this area, stay the heck out...you'll dork things up badly.

However if the software developers locked it for licensing....you should call and ask/find out, and pay for additional CALs if needed.
 
sounds like the database is set for single user instance mode. iirc that's what it's called.
the setting would be accessible via SQL Studio Express as YeOlde mentioned. Although I can't remember exactly where the setting is at, but it's in the properties of the particular database.
 
Ok, apparently I CAN connect to the other store through the VPN to their database BUT I need it to be shared and visible somehow to the second store. So my next question, how do I share a MSSQL server across a network?
 
have you called the software company? normally you would install the "client" software on the machine, and at a point it will search for the database, and you may have to point it to the other machine over vpn.
 
I called the company and they told me to share the SQL server over the network and then tell the other machine to connect to it BUT the gentleman I spoke to is only a salesman and if I had a technical question to send it to him and he would forward it to the appropriate person. When I go into the software to change to the location of the database server it offers me a drop down list but the one I am looking for is not listed there. The man I spoke to said this is how its supposed to be done.
 
what version of SQL?

edit: oh, and where in the front-end application do you point it to a SQL server? have you tried using the IP address instead of NetBIOS name?
 
what version of SQL?

edit: oh, and where in the front-end application do you point it to a SQL server? have you tried using the IP address instead of NetBIOS name?


Under the about it says:

Microsoft SQL Server Service Manager
Version 8.00.760
Copyright 1991-2000

This version was specifically pointed out as the one I needed to install when I picked this job up. I do use an IP address to tell it where to connect.
 
Under the about it says:

Microsoft SQL Server Service Manager
Version 8.00.760
Copyright 1991-2000

This version was specifically pointed out as the one I needed to install when I picked this job up. I do use an IP address to tell it where to connect.

that sounds like MSDE.. Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine. Basically a stripped down version of SQL 2000, but a freebie. It can do what you need it to.

You will need to install either SQL Enterprise Manager, or SQL Management Studio on the machine with the database. Both should be available at Microsoft.com (although Enterprise Manager may be difficult to find since it was "replaced" by Management Studio)

Basically, by default installation, MSDE does not enable remote connections to the SQL database. Depending on how the application works, and if there is a server-side app along with the SQL database; and the client-app accesses the server-app, which then accesses the SQL database, the SQL db is not getting accessed remotely (since it's being accessed by an app on the same machine).

If that makes sense.


edit: I guess I should have also asked if there is a server-side app along with the SQL database.
 
Ok so a tech guy named Bob emailed me and told me that I should be using the Access version of the database now and not the SQL version because its a multi-store setup. Thing is I was only given instructions for the SQL setup when this all started and didn't know they had another version even though the company knew ahead of time that it was a multi-store setup!!! AARGH! Networking can be a pain in the @§§!
 
there's absolutely no reason SQL can't be used for a multi-store setup, unless the limitation is in their software.
SQL allows multiple concurrent connections.

I, personally, would prefer a SQL db over an Access db.
 
there's absolutely no reason SQL can't be used for a multi-store setup, unless the limitation is in their software.
SQL allows multiple concurrent connections.

I, personally, would prefer a SQL db over an Access db.

QFT

 
How can I convert a .mdf to .mdb file? I have been looking and I cannot find a solution.
 
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Ok so a tech guy named Bob emailed me and told me that I should be using the Access version of the database now and not the SQL version because its a multi-store setup. Thing is I was only given instructions for the SQL setup when this all started and didn't know they had another version even though the company knew ahead of time that it was a multi-store setup!!! AARGH! Networking can be a pain in the @§§!

LOL that's funny....
The progression is databases is usually
Excel, Access, SQL. This guy is telling you to go backwards.
 
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