REST Professional Network Troubleshooting Guide

Transcription

1 REST Professional Network Troubleshooting Guide This guide is designed to be carried out by an experienced IT Technician on all server and workstations The recommendations listed here are designed to help facilitate an optimal environment for REST Professional software. Some of these recommendations may interfere with other software. Please visit to ensure the environment meets our Minimum System Requirements. Note: We assume that regular maintenance is carried out on all computers, including regular reviews of items such as CPU/Memory/Disk space and windows event logs Additional supplements included: - Monitoring processes using Windows Sysinternals - Process Monitor - Monitoring network stability - Installing REST Professional / connecting a second database / relocating a database Server / Workstation REST Database Share Database consists of the following Windows folder structure: \Data Current months data \History Previous history \Documents Document management \Images Property images \Log Rest internal logs \Quickbak Default backup location \Upgrade Rest Professional Installation files \Word Word / Excel merge templates TCP/IP v4 Local Area Network Stable network connection between server and workstations REST PROFESSIONAL Workstations Default Database Connection: c:\rest\configdatasources\1\workstation.ini Tittle: Rest Professinal basic network diagram Version: 1.1 / 03/07/13 1

2 1. The REST database must be located on a supported Windows operating system. REST now incorporates features that use.net technologies as well as Windows Services. Historically support for other file locking protocols such as NAS, Linux and Macintosh (for example) have proven to be restrictive and time consuming. In many instances we are not able to run our required support tools or support the latest features. We may also ask for the REST Database to be relocated to a supported Windows operating system before providing support. 2. Antivirus software should be up to date and may need to be disabled or uninstalled during network testing. We recommend disabling aggressive modes such as Heuristic Scanning, it is important that you learn about how your Antivirus effects your environment. The following areas should be excluded from Real time scanning on all servers and workstations using REST Professional, to ensure this has taken effect we highly recommend checking the Rest Database folders by running the section Monitoring processes using Windows Sysinternals - Process Monitor. REST Database Share on the server, disable scanning of mapped drives or network shares. REST Program folder (IE: C:\REST), as well as excluding C:\REST\RESTPro.exe. Windows Print Spool directory may also need to be excluded. 3. Windows configuration recommendations Sufficient windows user permissions (MODIFY) to the REST Database Share and local Program folder (IE: C:\REST). Ensure adequate permissions are setup on the Share tab as well as the Security tab. Ensure Windows Sync Centre (Windows Offline Folders) is disabled. Being enabled by default it may direct REST to an offline version of a data file. We recommend to Reconfigure the REST Database Share to ensure No files or programs are available offline. (Share Properties > Advanced Sharing > Caching Disable User Account Control (UAC). Exclude RESTpro.exe in the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) List. Check the computers network card and configuration Ensure the connection is wired using Cat5 / Cat6 cabling standards, connections over WIFI or VPN are not supported by Rockend. Disable QOS. Ensure the link speed is at least 100Mbit and that TCP/IPv4 is the only protocol in use (IE: Disable TCP/IP v6). **For Domain Controllers or Exchange Servers we recommend TCP/IP v6 is left as default. Ensure the computer is only connected to one physical network. Check the type of network card installed on the computer, confirm the correct drivers are installed. Under connection properties, disable all power management options to remove control from other programs. If running DHCP check how often new TCP/IP addresses are allocated. Review all screen saver and power saving plans Optimise for High Performance. Disable items such as hibernation, turning off HDD and Network cards etc. Confirm the computer clocks are synchronised to the same time source and within a few seconds of each other. Confirm the computer has all of the current Microsoft Updates installed. Turn off Disk Compression to optimise disk I/O performance. Disable Outlook Security Warnings (Programmatic Access Security settings). 4. REST SMTP Settings are setup under Other > Utilities > Company Details. At this stage there is no provisioning for authentication, the server needs to be setup to Relay, generally by allowing all of the REST Workstations by Hostname or IP. Sent Items Address is essentially a BCC address, enter an external address when testing to ensure Relay is allowed externally. Many REST users will use their ISP s SMTP server (IE: smtp.telstrabusiness.com), please ensure any 3 rd party SMTP servers are setup to allow bulk , some REST users send out 100 s of s at once which can be halted by SMTP spam filters. 2

3 5. Suggestions for isolating issues, try to identify a user process in REST that can be used to replicate the fault. Confirm how many workstations are effected, run Strata Master as a different user, or a local administrator to isolate a windows user based issue. Uninstall REST, rename the REST program folder (IE: c:\rest) and install REST again. Use the Run as Administrator option for launching or installing REST. Locked or open REST database files on the server, check for open files on the server. A definitive test is to temporarily rename the Databases \Data folder (ensure REST is closed on all workstations). Further steps can be taken to block isolate some areas, for example the REST Database can be temporarily relocated to another stable workstation. 6. Additional notes Consider any 3 rd party software that may be running throughout the day. For example backup software, scheduled tasks, group policy settings etc. REST Professional requires a highly stable network connection between the workstations and server. Review the grade of network equipment, we recommend a single managed layer-3 switch with sufficient ports and professional bandwidth management. We do not recommend cascading switches together. Review the workstation.ini file(s) (Refer diagram on first page), connecting via a UNC path is preferred over a mapped drive. Ensure there are no full stops in the path s, this can cause some issues in REST. REST can require a high amount of Disk I/O, SSD Hard Drives have been known to improve performance in some environments. In a Terminal Server environment, redirected printers appear in Windows with an extension their name (EI: Redirected from PC01), REST does not display this extension so be conscious of any printers on the local Terminal Server with the same printer name as there may be two in the list with the same name. Ensure that all REST Professional workstations connect to the REST Database over a stable local LAN, you may need to restrict users who connect over WAN or WIFI to the REST Database share. If you require any further information please contact Rockend Support via the Customer Lounge at or

4 Monitoring processes using Windows Sysinternals - Process Monitor Purpose: - To identify 3 rd party processes effecting REST database files. Examples include Antivirus, Windows search service etc. - To monitor the REST Professional process when experiencing errors. Requirements: 1. ProcMon.exe Location of the REST Data folder on the local hard drive. Procedure: Process Monitor can be used to monitor processes on the local computer. Monitoring REST Database files must be performed on the server or workstation where the REST Database resides, the REST Database location can be found by following the instructions for installing REST Professional on the proceeding pages. Setup the filter for the REST Data folder o Select Filter, Filter, click on Reset (Reset any current filters). o Deselect the SYSTEM process from the list to capture remote processes. IE: RESTPro.exe processes from other workstations will run as the local SYSTEM process. o Create a new filter using Path > Begins With > REST Data folder location IE: e:\rockend\rest\data, select Add and then OK. Setup the filter for the REST Professional Process o Select Filter, Filter, click on Reset (Reset any current filters). o Create a new filter using Process > is > RestPro.exe Note: On a terminal server we recommend to use the PID (ProcessID), identify your RestPro.exe PID in task manager and filter using PID Items to consider when reviewing the trace results will depend on the symptoms, for example o Any processes effecting the Rest Database files that are not SYSTEM or RestRro.exe processes are considered 3 rd party processes. o Results indicating ACCESS DENIED or SHARING VIOLATIONS can be caused by insufficient windows permissions or Antivirus, for example. Start and stop the monitoring by clicking on the Magnify Glass Right click on a process to view the properties. Results can be cleared by clicking on the Eraser Running results can be auto scrolled by clicking on the Scroll 4

5 Monitoring network stability Purpose: To monitor network stability between server and workstations, for an extended duration of time. We recommend that the connections are tested every 5 seconds, all ping response times should be <1ms. This can be achieved using a number of professional software products, to assist with this process we can recommend Ping Info View. Requirements: PingInfoView.exe - List of all workstation hostnames or IP s. Procedure: From the server, open PingInfoView.exe o Enter all Host Names or IP addresses, ensure there are no spaces before or after the addresses. o Recommended configuration from default: Configure timeout response to 5000ms. Ping every 5 seconds, or every 1 second for smaller monitoring durations. o Press the green Play button to start. If required save a copy of the results by highlighting all results from each IP and click Save Selected Items. Ping results can be reset under File \ Reset. We recommend monitoring the network over a period of days, depending on the nature of the issues. 5

6 Installing REST Professional / connecting a second database / relocating a database Requirements: 1. Location of the REST database(s) on the network. Repeat these steps if multiple databases are in use. From a working client, open REST and select Help > About REST > REST Info > File Locations. You can also check the Workstation.ini file for each database, IE: C:\REST\ConfigDataSources\1\Workstation.ini Folder names under ConfigDataSources\ refer to different database connections (IE: 1 and 2 and 3). 2. REST Professional installation on the server is not technically required but we ask that it is installed for processing upgrades and general support. Installation files are located in the Databases Upgrade folder or by contacting Rockend Support. There is one set of install files that covers both new installations and upgrades. Installing REST Professional Launch the Setup.exe file and follow the default prompts, we recommend that REST is installed to C:\REST. Once installed, launch REST and follow the Database Connection Wizard to Connect and Browse to the database location. Note: If you do not receive the Database Connection Wizard, this can be manually invoked by renaming the existing ConfigDataSources folder in the REST program folder (IE: C:\REST\ConfigDataSources). This will be recreated by the Database Connection Wizard. Ensure a printer is configured in REST Professional to avoid potential issues previewing data, Other > Utilities > Printer Setup. Connecting a second REST Professional database Additional databases can be connected from within REST, click Files > New Database > Database Wizard to launch the Database Connection Wizard, select Connect and Browse to the database location. 6

7 Relocating a REST Professional database Ensure REST Professional has been closed on all workstations. Create a new Windows Share on the new location o Ensure Caching is disabled o Confirm the appropriate Windows User Permissions have been configured (IE: Full Control for Everyone) Using explorer copy and paste all database folders to the new location. Rename the BackupLog file under Log\BackupLog (previous backup paths may slow the REST backup wizard) Reconfigure the REST workstations using the Database Connection Wizard mentioned in the REST Professional Installation steps. We strongly recommend disabling the old share and relocating the contents of the previous database. This will avoid issues in the event a REST workstation is left out and the user key s data into the old database. Open REST and change any required file paths that the client has setup, for example: o SMTP Server: Other > Utilities > System Options > SMTP o 1Forms: Other > Utilities > System Options > System o Custom Logo s: Other > Utilities > Company Details > Defaults o Tenant Direct Debit and Bpay: Other > Utilities > Company Details > General o Bank Downloads: Other > Utilities > Company Details > Charges/Taxes > Configure / View Check if the REST Messenger is installed (check Programs & Features for REST Messenger), contact REST Technical Support for more information on this product. Check if the REST Communicator is installed (check Programs & Features for Rockend Web Access) ensure it is uninstalled from the old server. Intermittent issues can occur if it continues to report through to Rockend alongside another installation. o Uninstall the program Rockend Web Access o Reinstall on the new server following the installation instructions which can be obtained from the Rockend Client Lounge at 7