Sage 100

Client has a remote facility that communicates with the their main office where the Sage 100 server resides.  Speeds range from 175 (down)/11 (up) (11 MS ping) at the main office to 80 (down)/ 40 (up) (2 MS ping) at the remote.  Speed directly between the two points are 17 (down) and 15 (up).  Both locations are using Comcast as their connection to the Net.

Client IT tech doesn't want to engage in problem solving.

Any thoughts on increasing connection speeds?  Can't believe this is the first time this choke point has been encountered.  Is Comcast just a slug?

TIA

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Jeff Schwenk
FORMER 90M Board Member
Bottomline Software, Inc.
Waynesboro VA
540-221-4444
------------------------------

Speed between the two is limited to the up speed, I would think.

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Phil McIntosh
President
Friendly Systems, Inc.
Asheville NC
678.273.4010 ext 5
------------------------------

For all remote connections we recommend a terminal server on the same physical network as the Sage server.

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Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
------------------------------

Yes, terminal server is the way to go for Sage solutions.  And that is probably what the fall back will be.  But the question may be why is there such a disparity between the two directions.  Client is verifying if there is anything Comcast can do to remedy the situation.

------------------------------
Jeff Schwenk
FORMER 90M Board Member
Bottomline Software, Inc.
Waynesboro VA
540-221-4444
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-28-2020 14:08
From: Kevin Moyes
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

For all remote connections we recommend a terminal server on the same physical network as the Sage server.

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Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
------------------------------

Is this advanced oraor premium?  If the slowest ping is 12 Ms then it should be running fine.  There must be something else going on.   Also, terminal server isn't the only option.  Many remote users have had success with Citrix Xen client.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary
------------------------------

There are a lot of things that could be going on with the connection. Is there a firewall between that is doing inspections and is it slowing down the connection (firewall could be physical and/or software). Could it be Jitter (Like this guys article on it. Not too technical but gives you good descriptions you can relate to https://haste.net/2017/08/23/what-is-jitter/)? 11 up at the main is not a lot if you have a branch office connection with multiple users. Also, remember that the default ping only uses 32 bytes. You can test with larger bytes to see as you transfer files and more information how the network performs. You may see a decrease in response when you do this.
Also, how are you getting these times? from speed test? You can install a local copy of speed test on a computer at each location and get an idea of the speed between the two locations from each direction. This may give you more insight to what is going on. 
Are these comcast accounts, business accounts or residential? I have seen some branch offices get residential accounts because they were in a neighborhood and the residential accounts had different throttling and caps that were put in place. They would shape the traffic to allow streaming and voip to be fast but other tcp connections were given less priority.

------------------------------
Todd Martin - President
MBA Business Software (https://www.mbabsi.com)
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-28-2020 21:59
From: Doug Higgs
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

Is this advanced oraor premium?  If the slowest ping is 12 Ms then it should be running fine.  There must be something else going on.   Also, terminal server isn't the only option.  Many remote users have had success with Citrix Xen client.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary
------------------------------

How many users at each site?  Is everyone experiencing slowness or just a pocket of users?  Are any other applications affected, or just Sage 100?

------------------------------
Steve Iwanowski, NextStep Technology Advisors, aka DSD Lancaster PA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
------------------------------

The main office that is hosting Sage needs more up speed. Or the remote office needs to log on to Remote Desktop server. Really impossible to troubleshoot without access to switches and routers, etc.

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Mary Mays
Sr. Consultant, DSD Business Systems
DSD Business Systems
KS
------------------------------

Isn't ping speed the ultimate test (when using advanced or premium)?  If you are getting 2ms returned packet speed from the remote location to the server then the bandwidth should be OK and I would suspect there is something else causing the bottleneck.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary
------------------------------

I would not say that Ping speed is the Ultimate test. It is a test but it doesn't tell you everything. For instance, If you have throttling happening you wouldn't see a change doing ping. If the firewall is doing something to inspect or proxy the connection then the ping test would not reflect that. It can depend on which layer of the network that the slowness is happening. Ping is on layer 3. There are 7 layers 

• Layer 7 (Application): Most of what the user actually interacts with is at this layer. Web browsers and other internet-connected applications (like Skype or Outlook) use Layer 7 application protocols.
• Layer 6 (Presentation): This layer converts data to and from the Application layer. In other words, it translates application formatting to network formatting and vice versa. This allows the different layers to understand each other.
• Layer 5 (Session): This layer establishes and terminates connections between devices. It also determines which packets belong to which text and image files.
• Layer 4 (Transport): This layer coordinates data transfer between system and hosts, including error-checking and data recovery.
• Layer 3 (Network): This layer determines how data is sent to the receiving device. It's responsible for packet forwarding, routing, and addressing.
• Layer 2 (Data Link): Translates binary (or BITs) into signals and allows upper layers to access media.
• Layer 1 (Physical): Actual hardware sits at this layer. It transmits signals over media.

Any of these layers could have an issue that appears to delay the application.

------------------------------
Todd Martin - President
MBA Business Software (https://www.mbabsi.com)
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 11:32
From: Doug Higgs
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

Isn't ping speed the ultimate test (when using advanced or premium)?  If you are getting 2ms returned packet speed from the remote location to the server then the bandwidth should be OK and I would suspect there is something else causing the bottleneck.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary
------------------------------

Wow, thanks all.  Great information.

This isn't really a Sage issue but one of point to point transfer speeds.  Like a chain, it is only as strong (fast) as the weakest link (upload speed).  If it were just a Sage issue, the RDS or Citrix would resolve it.  Comcast tech support is nearly impossible to get on the line so customer placed a support ticket to ensure the speed is up to snuff at the point of service entry.  IF that isn't the choke point, then I will lean on IT more. 

@Todd Martin - I used a product called LAN Speed Test (v4.4.0) to measure the transfer file speed between the two offices.  The upload/download speeds for both offices were measured using available Internet speed tests.

Happy Weekend

------------------------------
Jeff Schwenk
FORMER 90M Board Member
Bottomline Software, Inc.
Waynesboro VA
540-221-4444
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 12:37
From: Todd Martin
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

I would not say that Ping speed is the Ultimate test. It is a test but it doesn't tell you everything. For instance, If you have throttling happening you wouldn't see a change doing ping. If the firewall is doing something to inspect or proxy the connection then the ping test would not reflect that. It can depend on which layer of the network that the slowness is happening. Ping is on layer 3. There are 7 layers

• Layer 7 (Application): Most of what the user actually interacts with is at this layer. Web browsers and other internet-connected applications (like Skype or Outlook) use Layer 7 application protocols.
• Layer 6 (Presentation): This layer converts data to and from the Application layer. In other words, it translates application formatting to network formatting and vice versa. This allows the different layers to understand each other.
• Layer 5 (Session): This layer establishes and terminates connections between devices. It also determines which packets belong to which text and image files.
• Layer 4 (Transport): This layer coordinates data transfer between system and hosts, including error-checking and data recovery.
• Layer 3 (Network): This layer determines how data is sent to the receiving device. It's responsible for packet forwarding, routing, and addressing.
• Layer 2 (Data Link): Translates binary (or BITs) into signals and allows upper layers to access media.
• Layer 1 (Physical): Actual hardware sits at this layer. It transmits signals over media.

Any of these layers could have an issue that appears to delay the application.

------------------------------
Todd Martin - President
MBA Business Software (https://www.mbabsi.com)
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 11:32
From: Doug Higgs
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

Isn't ping speed the ultimate test (when using advanced or premium)?  If you are getting 2ms returned packet speed from the remote location to the server then the bandwidth should be OK and I would suspect there is something else causing the bottleneck.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary

You may consider changing sota.ini to look for the server IP address instead of the server name.  It could be a DNS lookup issue.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 15:00
From: Jeff Schwenk
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

Wow, thanks all.  Great information.

This isn't really a Sage issue but one of point to point transfer speeds.  Like a chain, it is only as strong (fast) as the weakest link (upload speed).  If it were just a Sage issue, the RDS or Citrix would resolve it.  Comcast tech support is nearly impossible to get on the line so customer placed a support ticket to ensure the speed is up to snuff at the point of service entry.  IF that isn't the choke point, then I will lean on IT more.

@Todd Martin - I used a product called LAN Speed Test (v4.4.0) to measure the transfer file speed between the two offices.  The upload/download speeds for both offices were measured using available Internet speed tests.

Happy Weekend

------------------------------
Jeff Schwenk
FORMER 90M Board Member
Bottomline Software, Inc.
Waynesboro VA
540-221-4444
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 12:37
From: Todd Martin
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

I would not say that Ping speed is the Ultimate test. It is a test but it doesn't tell you everything. For instance, If you have throttling happening you wouldn't see a change doing ping. If the firewall is doing something to inspect or proxy the connection then the ping test would not reflect that. It can depend on which layer of the network that the slowness is happening. Ping is on layer 3. There are 7 layers

• Layer 7 (Application): Most of what the user actually interacts with is at this layer. Web browsers and other internet-connected applications (like Skype or Outlook) use Layer 7 application protocols.
• Layer 6 (Presentation): This layer converts data to and from the Application layer. In other words, it translates application formatting to network formatting and vice versa. This allows the different layers to understand each other.
• Layer 5 (Session): This layer establishes and terminates connections between devices. It also determines which packets belong to which text and image files.
• Layer 4 (Transport): This layer coordinates data transfer between system and hosts, including error-checking and data recovery.
• Layer 3 (Network): This layer determines how data is sent to the receiving device. It's responsible for packet forwarding, routing, and addressing.
• Layer 2 (Data Link): Translates binary (or BITs) into signals and allows upper layers to access media.
• Layer 1 (Physical): Actual hardware sits at this layer. It transmits signals over media.

Any of these layers could have an issue that appears to delay the application.

------------------------------
Todd Martin - President
MBA Business Software (https://www.mbabsi.com)


Original Message:
Sent: 05-29-2020 11:32
From: Doug Higgs
Subject: Point to Point Internet Connection Speeds

Isn't ping speed the ultimate test (when using advanced or premium)?  If you are getting 2ms returned packet speed from the remote location to the server then the bandwidth should be OK and I would suspect there is something else causing the bottleneck.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Assistant to the Traveling Secretary