Sage 100

Visited a small SAGE 100 ERP customer that I had not worked with for awhile. They are still using mostly Windows XP workstations, but will add some Windows 7 Pro workstations soon. They have converted their Windows server to a virtual machine (VMware) and now I cannot access the server OS, at the server. What do I use to install SAGE 100 ERP updates, TTUs, etc.? Is the proper way to access the Windows server OS by using a RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) from a Windows XP workstation? Also, if I want to make a complete backup (copy) of the SAGE 100 ERP system, before I install any updates, will the copy run faster in RDC mode, or should I use mapped drives and Windows Explorer on the Windows XP workstation.

I'm working with a customer now with a virtual server and I RDP into the server to work on this directly.

RDP all the way. The days of having to execute your RDP session from the command line to run in admin mode are long gone. You can do everything needed through a remote session. Physical access to the machine is not needed. Regarding running backups, think of your RDP session as running from the server terminal. Everything runs faster when executed from the machine where the data resides rather than over a network connection. A network infrastructure has yet to be developed that we mere humans can afford that can touch the speeds of the system bus.

@WayneSchulz and @ShawnSlavin Thanks for your response.

Since they are using VMware, in addition to your backup, you may wish to have them create a server image.

Always get a server image. It is a big easy button for a do-over!

@ShawnSlavin I know this doesn't apply to 99% of the MAS90 sized clients, but Fiber Channel with a SAN will give faster performance than internal drives on the bus. Yes, the system bus is fastest, but the hard drives are substantially slower than what the system bus can handle. The real future is Enterprise SSD. However, enterprise units (I just sold a server with 6) cost about $3,800 per 200gig drive, but the performance (HP Server in this case) is off the charts

As you said, VERY few of my Sage 100 customers invest in Fiber Channel SAN array's. I definitely agree on the speed of SSD's. We replaced the hard drives in all our notebooks with SSD's in the last year. I many cases, we simply replaced the notebook as it was faster and more cost effective than swapping the drives. Cost is still an impediment for most server deployments but as prices continue to come down, they will eventually come into reach of the masses.

I still can't believe the difference in price between consumer SSD's and Server SSD's. You can get a nice 512gig SSD for like $350 to $500. But a 200gig SSD for a server is friggen $3800+. Some massive gouging if you ask me...