CMS over Microsoft Remote Desktop
From NewHaven Software Wiki
Remote Desktop (RDP) allows a client to connect to a remote machine as though they were sitting in front of it. There are no inherent challenges with CMS running in this environment but it may present some challenges with peripherals and integrations which we'll discuss here.
- Note: You'll want to have the most current version of Remote Desktop Connection for this to work as expected. Also note, that while these solutions have been tested and work, Remote Desktop is a 3rd party application. As a result we do not provide direct support for it.
Contents |
Printing
To setup your workstation so a local printer may print from the remote system please follow the instructions below:
- Open remote desktop connection
- Click on the Options >> button to open more options
- Click on the Local Resources tab
- Make sure Printers is checked.
After setting these configurations, you'll want to save the connection.
- Click on the General tab
- Click Save or Save As if this is a new connection
Note: In order for most printers to work on Remote Desktop, they need to be installed on the host system (the computer you are connecting to). Whichever printer you are using for your Crystal invoices (or reports if you don't use Crystal invoices) should be set as the Default Printer on the host system (server if Terminal Services). This is critical to ensure Crystal forms will render correctly such as the invoice PDF's attached to email confirmations.
Once the printers are configured and tested in windows, you can configure your workstation settings to use those new printers.
RECOMMENDED READING for Terminal Services users - An excellent article on Windows printing Terminal Services (TS) - http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2004/02/02/the-ultimate-guide-to-terminal-server-printing-design-and-configuration.aspx
Scale
To setup your workstation so a local scale may be used with the remote system please follow the instructions below:
- Note: If for some reason your COM port is not being read correctly, restart both the host and client system to reset the ports.
- Open remote desktop connection
- Click on the Options >> button to open more options
- Click on the Local Resources tab
- Click on the More... button
- Make sure Serial ports is checked.
- Click OK
After setting these configurations, you'll want to save the connection.
- Click on the General tab
- Click Save or Save As if this is a new connection
Scanner
If the scanner creates a com port see the Scale setup info. If the scanner is strictly USB see the credit card swiper info.
Credit Card Swiper / Pole Display
To setup your workstation so a local credit card swiper or Pole display may be used with the remote system, please follow the instructions below:
Note: You'll need to turn off the redirector to use the card swiper locally. Also this requires a third party software that costs money, though it has a 15 day trial for testing. See USB Redirector for more information.
- Install http://www.incentivespro.com/usb-redirector-rdp.zip on both the Terminal Server (host) and the workstation (client)
- Start the redirection software on the server
- Start the redirection software on the client
- Connect to the RDP session
- Connect the USB device.
- Share the device(s) from the USB Redirector console
At this point if the USB device requires a driver it will ask for that information on the host. Otherwise it will be available and ready to go.
Troubleshooting Info
- Firewalls and other security measures may prevent the use of some of the configurations above. Please make sure to add CMS in any "Trusted" lists your security software may use. Also a list of common ports that CMS works across is provided below, you will need to make sure these ports are open for CMS to communicate on.
- Outgoing CMS is communicating on standard ports 443, 80 (for most webservices/ecms) and the default Sybase port of 2638. Email can communicate on the ports you specify in email setup. The default is 25 other, with other smtp port include 465, 587.
