Remote Access and Hosting options (Windows)
Working from home, satellite office or on the road? Would you rather have your AcctVantage Server hosted on the cloud? This article describes a number of options for you to consider.
Some of the products and services referenced below are 3rd party platforms. Remote access can be setup to work in a mixed macOS and Windows environment in most cases.
It must be noted, the options below are what we have tested and found to work. There are many alternatives to address this issue that your IT staff or consultants may be more familiar or more comfortable with. We are happy to help in any way we can!
1:1 Screen Sharing options
The simplest option is to use any number of screen sharing utilities to access a computer on the office LAN. The computer at the office would run the AcctVantage Client app while the remote user connects via a screen sharing utility such as:
- Splashtop Business (this is what we use to connect to your machine during a software support call)
- LogMeIn
- TeamViewer
- many many more....
Considerations for screen sharing applications include how to best manage printing and file sharing between the remote and office computers. Each application will approach these issues in a different way.
The limitation here is that you need a host computer on the office network for each remote connection.
Remote Desktop Services, General
Windows supports a feature known as Remote Desktop Services (RDS) or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
This service allows you to host <more than 1> user account on a single computer at the office site. Each user that logs into the RDP server will see a unique desktop environment and will be able to use their account on that server computer to access applications, including the AcctVantage Client app.
The number of concurrent users supported by RDS is primarily a function of the hardware. There is a direct relationship between the processor speed, number of processor cores and available RAM vs. the number of concurrent users that can be supported. Several RDP servers can be used simultaneously to support an unlimited number of remote users.
The AcctVantage Server application can also run on the RDP server in its own user account. With enough computing power, you could have a single computer on your office network that runs both the AcctVantage Server and a number of AcctVantage Client sessions simultaneously! Alternatively, your AcctVantage Server can continue to run on its own dedicated server machine while the RDP machines(s) host the AcctVantage Client sessions.
Windows Pro or Server versions generally have Remote Desktop Services built in as part of the operating system. We strongly suggest consulting a qualified systems engineer to best deploy your RDS infrastructure.
Remote Desktop Services are best setup and configured by a qualified systems engineer. There are many options to consider that will differ from site to site.
Windows Remote Desktop
These articles provide setup instructions to access your Windows office computer from any remote location with internet access.
Remote Desktop Services overview in Windows Server
Chrome Remote Desktop
See the link below for instructions to use Google's version of Remote Desktop.
Hosted Servers
The Windows world has countless options for hosting dedicated servers that can support multiple AcctVantage users. They key criteria is that you have a dedicated server at the host site rather than a shared server.
Some options include:
LiquidWeb (reviewed, not tested)
IONOS (reviewed, not tested)
We also have AcctVantage customers that host their ERP systems entirely in the cloud using MS Azure (in place at AV Client site) as the host platform. This approach would certainly warrant a highly qualified network engineer or consultant to design and deploy.