Terminal Server and Sage Accounts

What is Terminal Server?

Terminal Server, also known as Terminal Services or TSE, allows users to access applications or data stored on a remote computer over a network connection.

Citrix uses the same principles as Terminal Server, but is far more advanced. Terminal Server capability is standard Windows Server functionality, whilst Citrix requires the purchase of additional software.  

Sage Support will assist you where we can, when our software is being used within a Citrix environment. Where possible we will attempt to resolve issues, however if our technical support teams identify the root cause of the issue is related to our software being deployed within Citrix, and we cannot provide you with a working solution we will refer you to seek support from your internal or external IT resource.  If you contact us needing assistance on how to use the software or its functionality we will support as we would ordinarily.

When a user logs into Terminal Server from a client PC, they can see the desktop of the server and can use any applications as though they were sat at the actual server.

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Installing

Windows Server 2016

• Start > Control Panel > Programs > Install Application on Remote Desktop Server.

This option runs a wizard so you can specify an executable file (for example, setup.exe) which then starts the installation.  It's very important that the installation of the software is fully completed before selecting Finish to end the wizard.

File locking in Sage Accounts and Terminal Server

Multi-user versions of Sage Accounts rely heavily on file locking to prevent data corruption. For example, 2 users shouldn't be able to access and update the same records at the same time. To prevent this, Sage Accounts uses file locking and the message 'Waiting to lock files' or 'Waiting to open files' appear as the other users changes are applied. Sage Accounts uses the information in the QUEUE.DTA file to determine which users are accessing which files and when to lock them.

To identify different users, Sage Accounts uses the PC name and adds the PID number (Process Identifier) to the end. This can be seen in the Status bar in the bottom-left hand corner of Sage Accounts or by opening View > User List. 

Every process that runs on a PC has its own unique PID. Consequently, every user that opens Sage Accounts on the Terminal Server is assigned a unique PID which means that the file locking in Sage Accounts continues to function correctly.