Laptop's and Cross Updating
Laptop's are an ideal way to have access to your data away from site. You have access to all your clients with the full history along with up-to date prices and stock data.
When used in a cross updating situation it works in an identical fashion to a fixed server. All the information in the manual http://localhost/premvet/manual/xud/xud.html is relevant. There is only one thing that you may need to do differently for two reasons:
- The laptop may not always be switched on
- The times when it is connected to the main server are not always fixed.
Cross updating works by making a copy of what has changed and periodically sending this to the other computers - normally this is done by a program called cron at regular intervals. As the times the laptop is available for this to take place is 'random' you cannot depend on cron to do this - it has to be done manually.
The procedure is:
- Make sure the laptop is connected to the main server (or has a modem connected).
- Log into the laptop as root
- Start up xmenu (by typing xmenu at the # prompt)
- Run the following options:
- 1 - Queue Logfile - This takes any work you have added to the laptop and queues it for the central server.
- 4 - Force a verbose connection - This causes the laptop to 'talk' to the central server and forces the work to transfer. When you see the message 'Conversation Complete' press the <DEL>ete key to return to the menu.
- 2 - Check for work - This takes any work received from the central server and moves it into a location suitable for Premvet to process.
- Once the above has been run, exit out of xmenu and login to Premvet. If work has been received you should see a row of dots (.....) as the work is added.
- You can disconnect from the server (or modem) and take the laptop out
on calls.
When the laptop is connected to the server you may want to think about anything else you may need: Up-to-date copy of the stock files, your procedures, any new definition files etc.
If any of these are required then run the appropriate option on the central server. See the manual for details on where the options are located - then repeat the above steps to get the two computers to 'talk'.