This is the Administrator's toolkit for remote users, those who work outside of the office network. The Replicator Server utility manages unattended replication between the central database and remote users, providing users in the field access to the company data at any time.

Overview
The Replicator Server, the available Tasks and Utilities are found in the Administration Department, on the "Remote Replication & Administration" tab, which is only visible to System Administrators in applications with Remote Replication enabled.

The Replicator manages incoming replication packages from remote users through Microsoft Outlook, and then returns data to those users based on when the user last replicated and when records were updated in the central database.

Requirements

The system requirements are the same as for the standard application, plus the Replicator must have its own unique email account connected to Microsoft Outlook (2003 or 2007) in order to send and receive packages.  See the Setup instructions below for other settings needed to run the Replicator.

Enabling Remote Replication Services
To setup a system as the Replicator Server: 

1. Check the "Enable this system as the Replicator Server".  Please note that you should NOT be using this system for any other purpose, as it will be checking 24/7 for incoming packages.

2. Choose the Replicator Server Login Name from the drop-down list:  This list only contains Active Security records that are setup to be System Administrators (see Security).  This means that you will need to enter a login for the Replicator Server in Security before you can select it here.  If you do go back to enter the Replicator "User", just click the "Reload Users" button to reload the drop-down list.  When you choose the User Name, the email address is automatically enter in the "Replicator Server Email Address", which is were all users need to send their replication packages.

3. Outlook Inbox:  Replication searches in your 'Inbox' folder for incoming replication packages and task notifications. If your inbox has many messages, it may take a long time for these searches, as it needs to look through all of them.  (Usually you don't have any other emails using the Replicator Server, so this may be a non-issue.  However, you can specify a different folder by checking the "Enable Tasks" checkbox, then entering the name of it in the 'My Outlook Inbox for Replication & Tasks is:" textbox, then click the 'Create or Verify Folder' button to create it or verify it. A message will follow, reminding you to setup a rule in Outlook for using this folder, and it will copy to the Windows clipboard the text you will need in Step 2 below.
   
   If you choose to do this, you will also need to add a rule in Outlook to automatically put all replication emails into this folder. Choose Tools, Rules & Alerts, New Rule from the Outlook menu, then follow the steps on the dialog:
   Step 1 - Select a template - Choose to 'Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder'.
   Step 2 - Edit the description (click an underlined value) - click on the 'specific words' link and use Ctrl+V to paste the words from the windows clipboard. Click 'Add' and 'Ok' to close the dialog. Then click on the 'specified' (folder) link and choose the new folder.

4. Check the "Activate auto-monitoring for incoming packages" to have the Replicator Server automatically check the Outlook Inbox for incoming replication packages.  You'll see a small progress bar below this checkbox running when this is activated.  If you don't have this checked, you can click the "Manually check for Incoming Package" to run the replication utility just once.

5. Lock Admin Page Button - Since the current login is a System Administration, anyone walking up to this computer could view or edit any data in the system.  To prevent that, click the "Lock Admin Page" button to completely lock down the entire page.  You'll be prompted for a password; which is NOT stored anywhere, but remains in memory until you click the "Unlock" button again. If you forget the password, contact the Vendor for a temporary password to open the page again, or you'll have to shut down the application through the Windows Task Manager and restart it.

Locking The Admin Page

When you click the "Lock Page" button, all of the buttons, checkboxes, drop-down lists on this tab are disabled.  All other windows in the application are closed and all of the other tabs on the Administration window are locked.  The Department Navigator in the upper right corner of the window is also locked.  The only way to gain access to the system again is to click the "Unlock Admin Page" button and enter the password.

Tasks & Utilities

On the left side of the tab are the Tasks & Utilities buttons, which provide a way to communicate with remote users' systems (task) and a utility for viewing replication information.  The Tasks are:

• Setup Remote User - This prompts you for a User name from Security and then puts all of the data the user has access to from the current database into a replication package. When the user gets the replication package, they'll be prompted for a location for creating a new database. Use this utility to setup a new user who does not have LAN connection to your current database.

• Remove Remote User - This is the "undo" for the 'Setup Remote User'. This option will prompt you for a name from the Security users and then send a replication notification to remove the user's access to the application and database. You should use this utility BEFORE the user leaves your employ so that he/she does not know that this final replication will take away their application and data access.

• Send Rep Pkg To Remote User - This is the same as the Server sending a replication package to a remote user. Use this if a package was deleted or corrupt and the user needs the server to resend it.

• Send Application Update Link to Users - Use this utility to send a notification through email to users to force an application update. This is used when you get an application update notice from the vendor and want all users to update before editing any more data. You'll be prompted to enter the link to the new installer, then choose the names of who should get the message from the list of names in Security.

• Send SQL Settings/Server Email Address - This utility sends the current SQL settings to users and automatically updates their database with the information. If you're setting up a new user who will connect to your SQL server, the user's sample database (which is all a new user has) will be updated with this info so that it's there when they're ready to switch to the SQL database.

The Utilities section has...

• Open Replication Info File - Whenever a replication package is received (or sent) a parameter file (.txt) is included in the package which contains information from the sender. Some of this data is encrypted and cannot be read by simply opening the file. Use this utility to unscramble and display the information in a NotePad file.