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  • 1.  Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-14-2022 19:54
    Edited by Alnoor Cassim 07-14-2022 19:54
    On a Sage 100 Standard v2021 system our customer uses PM and IRP. Running the IRP Generation daily is critical for them. Unfortunately when they run it from any workstation it takes 6 hours or so. But only take 20 minutes if run directly from the server. Also, IRP Gen is not written to allow for running via Sage Task Scheduler. Also, it is not Sage source code (not until v2022.1), so I cannot with my MD hat put the Task Scheduler hooks in for auto-running. 

    That leaves one type of option. We downloaded a 3rd party tool called Macro Express which I've used before and others here as well. My coworker created a nifty macro that records the keystrokes and mouse-clicks for starting up Sage 100, selecting IRP module, running it, closing Sage. She was able to also create a desktop shortcut for it too. Any any point she can run the shortcut and IRP gen finishes in 20 minutes!

    Now we get to scheduling the macro. What makes this different is the macro by definition has to have a user logged into the server's desktop (a la Sage App Server running as a desktop app) and executed from there. IOW there is no service, and the macro requires the UI to actually start the Sage Launcher and do the IRP gen. The outsourced IT guy will not allow us to keep the user logged into the server's desktop. I certainly understand why and was wondering if any of you might have a creative solution that could solve No 1 and 3 below.

    1. Have an automatic logon of a Windows user run at a scheduled time, say 6:30am. I've used the Microsoft Sysinternals Autoruns utilty that @Steve Iwanowski introduced me awhile back that solves the problem of a server reboot requiring a manual user logon to the server so the Sage App Server can run as a desktop app. However, I don't think Autoruns can run on a schedule.
    2. Run the shortcut for the macro. We know how to do with a Task Scheduler job set to "run at logon"
    3. At 7:00am, 30 minutes later, 10 minutes after we know the macro completes, force a logoff of the current user logged in.
    @Steve Iwanowski  or @George Khairallah or @Kevin Moyes or @Carmen Cruz or anyone, any ideas​​​? Can No 3 be accomplished by limiting the user's allowed logon hours in Active Directory or have a PowerShell run at 7:00am that forces the logoff?

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    Alnoor Cassim

    Email: alnoor.cassim@90minds.com
    Ph:
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  • 2.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-14-2022 23:17
    Here is the 64K question to your "Also, IRP Gen is not written to allow for running via Sage Task Schedule" 

    Will the IRP just released in v2022 PU 1 run in task scheduler and could you upgrade to v2022 given the fact that the PM modules (and possibly IRP) are different?

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    Jeff Schwenk
    Bottomline Software, Inc.
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  • 3.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-14-2022 23:33

    Our solution for anything that requires an interactive desktop is to have an auto-logon. But our environment is locked down, so users don't have access to it, and the auto logon account is a dedicated auto logon account with a specific GPO that controls its timeouts differently than regular users.


    We do have a Powershell script that actually locks the auto logon user after it logs in, so it becomes essentially logged in, and disconnected state. in most cases, we are able to run Interactive Desktop Scheduled tasks, but in some cases it requires the account to actually be logged in and active. 


    One thing you can do if all you're trying to do is to make sure that the task ran, is to still use the auto logon, but then write a small "validation" Powershell script that monitors the task during its run time at the intervals you want, and it can potentially even write some logs and notify key users, and then if it's successful, you would log off that profile via the script as well to appease the IT folks' requirements. 



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    George Khairallah
    CTO | gotomyerp, LLC
    george.k@gotomyerp.com |
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  • 4.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-15-2022 01:42
    You could have a batch file get called at logon that calls the macro program and waits for it to finish and then use any of the options documented below to log off.


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    David Speck II
    Tennessee Software Solutions
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  • 5.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-15-2022 10:23
    Schedule the task to run a script that uses PSExec64.exe from sysinternals to run it as the user you want.

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    Todd Martin
    MBA Business Software
    https://www.mbabsi.com
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  • 6.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-15-2022 10:57
    Could you set up a macro on a secure workstation to trigger the remote session and auto-disconnect?  Then have a command run (after the macro finishes) to log off.  (David posted the logoff methods I'd have referenced... and I think Group Policy has an idle timeout logoff too).

    As a side comment, we've had serious functional issues with UI requirements for scheduled tasks.  So delicate, and easy to fail (especially without good IT support).  If the new PM in 2022.1 has what you need, I'd try to get them upgraded to avoid all the extra headaches.

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    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
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  • 7.  RE: Need Ideas for Auto Logon and Auto Running 3rd Party Application on Sage Server Desktop

    Posted 07-15-2022 12:52
    2022.1, with IRP enabled for PMZ, I don't see I/P in the list within Task Scheduler.


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    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
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