If you are tackling a new QuickBooks server installation, consider this story line.
Let me be honest with myself here. I would like to have a five user QuickBooks installation that allows me the same functionality as a commercially hosted QuickBooks setup, one that would run me $250 per month.
Actually, I really want to recoup my cost by hosting a few of my clients for $50 a user. I know of twenty clients that I can host right now. It can’t be that hard, as I find myself opening up my new $1000 Dell server I succumbed to purchasing online.
Much to my surprise, the server sets up almost automatically right out of the box. My new copy of QuickBooks Pro sets up quickly. Within a few hours, I’m up on the network and sharing files and QuickBooks with my other two employees. So, I’ve decided to add a couple more employees and set this server up for a few customers. Although sharing QuickBooks with a few employees and customers sounds simple and straight forward, this story usually ends with many unhappy customers and a project that turns into a money pit.
Consider the real gotchas.
The $1000 on sale server might be enough to share QuickBooks among three employees, but it won’t live in a situation that demands any more stress. Options like virtualization, redundant power supplies, redundant disk arrays, multiple processors and up to 32GB memory for multiple application loads do not come standard on a $1000 server.
Terminal Services, a necessity for running QuickBooks in a multi user remote access environment requires additional Microsoft licensing to be purchased. Microsoft states, “In addition to a server license, a Windows Server Client Access License (CAL) is required to access the Windows Server software. If you wish to utilize the RDS functionality of the Windows Server software, an incremental Terminal Services Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Client Access License (TS CAL), or the new Remote Desktop Services Client Access License (RDS CAL) is required as well”
Intuit will not support QuickBooks Pro in a Terminal Services environment for end user customers. One will lose access to any support help from Intuit unless the Enterprise version and Enterprise support are purchased and run exclusively.
The typical software architecture to add multiple secured users to Windows Server is not possible, when clients require any third party add on software or integrated FEDEX or UPS shipping functionality. Virtualization of QuickBooks and the underlying server software established itself as a mature technology long ago. Third party software is expensive but an absolute must.
Recently, Rick Fallahee, CEO of NovelASPect, offered some great advice about choosing an application Hosting provider. One of Rick’s suggestions is spot on. “When searching for an application hosting provider, make sure they offer Citrix.” Microsoft Terminal Services presents a “remote desktop” to the end user. But software designed to virtualize applications such as QuickBooks and Peachtree often finds its way to the cutting room floor in order for hosting providers to cut cost. Citrix removes boundaries imposed by default Terminal Services and allows effortless printing and scanning from USB devices such as POS devices, webcams, microphones, scanners, digital cameras, and more. Citrix facilitates access from many types of devices like Apple MACs and smart phones. Invest your $250 a month (a typical five user hosted application) in a solution with Citrix.
QuickBooks Enterprise retails for $3000 for a five user version. A fully virtualized and redundant server setup from Dell with appropriate licensing runs well over $20000. I don’t think I’ll be offering up my $1000 server to host QuickBooks Pro and Premier to my customers anytime soon.
If you need QuickBooks hosting or Peachtree hosting, contact me. I can help out.
Posted in QuickBooks by .
Apr 11
22
Some Serious Backup
We live and work in hurricane country, which incidentally, its season is right around the corner. The past several years have proven to be a profound test of our ability to execute business continuity. Some of us have not fared so well.
I’ve experienced business continuity failure because a business continuity plan was not in place and executed. Although I stood ready to bring up a DR Data Facility within hours, disaster recovery was completely compromised because of the lack of a business continuity plan.
If you would like a Business Continuity Plan template at no cost, head over to bakupz.com and download the template. It provides a great start for a small to medium sized business. Most importantly, go through the steps to make it real.
The most important part of successfully implementing a Business Continuity Plan is to understand that it is a team effort and not the responsibility of your IT guy. And, there’s more to disaster recovery than your tape backup. In my case, I had duplicated the primary line of business servers, segmented the network to facilitate turning up another data center and synchronized database servers. I understood the need for DR infrastructure.
In the past, my biggest enemy to pull off disaster recovery was time. Besides needing production ready servers, in time, one might download files from one’s online backup service or recover data from an archived tape, but you cannot use files and data if your infrastructure is damaged. What I would have given to have a production-ready virtual network for active disaster recovery and failover, with “active” production-ready infrastructure images, backed up at regular pre-determined intervals and in real time, and stored for use any time.
If you’re in IT or just very interested in IT, you need to watch this video. It shows how quickly server recovery can occur if the right disaster recovery technology is deployed. In the event of major system failures or hardware destructive disasters, simply fail over by switching your infrastructure to redundant production-ready images in the virtual network. Your systems are back online in minutes, enabling your business to recover and maintain its pace.
Apr 11
4
Schedule Posts In WordPress
Tame the rollercoaster. Do you create a flurry of articles as you nurture your creative process? Some of us must have the time and focus to sit down and develop a series of articles, optimized for our websites and totally congruent with our overall message.
Although many writers discipline themselves to write an article on Tuesday and Friday mornings, the norm seems to be the creative rollercoaster. You can tame the rollercoaster by scheduling your articles to post using the WordPress post scheduling. Here’s how:
If you use the native WordPress posts authoring interface, select the “Edit” link next to “Publish Immediately” It will open to a dialog to give you the option to post in the future. Select the date and time to publish and then select “OK”. Hit the "Publish" button when you have completed the post to publish at the desired time and date.
You can also change the publish date to a date in the past to back-date posts. Change the settings to the desired time and date and select “OK”.
If you use a local client like Microsoft’s Live Writer to create and post your articles, select “Set post date” to schedule. That’s all there is to it.
Posted in WordPress by .
Mar 11
25
Family Internet Protection
Easily Block Adult Web Content From Your Family’s Internet
OpenDNS, one of the world’s top DNS providers, created FamilyShield, a free tool to help your family secure your Internet connection from Adult websites that are unsuitable for children, malware and virus websites and phishing websites that steal your personal information.
You can protect your family by following several very simple steps.
Navigate to the OpenDNS FamilyShield page and locate Setup FamilyShield. Click on “Set up FamilyShield”
Enter your email address and click "Let’s Begin!" or, click "continue" to continue setup without signing up.
Select Router or Computer.
Follow the simple instructions for your particular setup and you’re done!
I’ve used OpenDNS as a least cost/first deployment tool for years. If you want to monitor Internet usage as well as block and unblock websites, try the OpenDNS Basic product, also free, but it requires some additional configuration.Combined with a computer security product, your computers and laptops will run secure for years. And, your family will be protected from the dark side of the Internet.
Posted in Business Systems Support Cyber Security by .
Mar 11
16
Interested In A Used Copy Machine
Next time you turn your copy machine back to the leasing company, you might want to consider cleaning it up a bit. No, I’m not talking about the dust and coffee stains. This video will knock your lights out.
The good news; most copy machine manuals detail the process to delete data on the machines. Copy machine manuals can easily be found on the Internet. Or, pull the drive from the machine and wipe it or replace it with an ebay drive.
