Automation thought
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I have a customer who uses their Own IT department for Server security. We are only there to assist with things outside of the Server. (Windows Server 16)
We got them setup to be on the Cloud for Aloha called "Configuration Center" which is basically somewhere where they can go and make new items, add employees etc. to keep people out of the Server due to PCI Security.
the problem with that is they can't see reporting because reporting is pulled from Files that are stored on the computer. What we were doing in the past; The IT depart set up a remote access to a specific Program on the Server, so they couldn't do anything except for that program - but IT manager wants to make it to where no one is able to connect into the Server at all..So my thought was ; install the management program for point of sale, strictly for reports - and write a script that runs at the end of the day, and copies the Files needed for the reports to the Manager PC so they can view reports still, without connecting to the Server .
What's the reality? How easy/hard would that be to automate the script to run once a day, and pull that information?
This is just an Idea for now, I want to gather as much information as I can about it so I can take it to The IT manager and suggest this as an Answer to his wants.
Let me know if you need any other information
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
which
Is it a simple copy of files from the server to the workstation? If it is, that is super easy.
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@JasGot said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
which
Is it a simple copy of files from the server to the workstation? If it is, that is super easy.
Yeah, that's it. I've never thought about doing it before.
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@WrCombs So create a batch file that accomplishes your goal. Then make it a scheduled task.
Can you share the folders and files you need to copy along with the source and destination? You can use cryptic names to hide the real identity from us. (Like \Server1\SpecialFolder\ImportantFile.txt)
We're happy to help you get that going.
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I feel like it would be easier to copy folders : this is my initial thought
I need to copy \\server1\datedsubfolder to \\managerpc\datedsubfolderbecause there are a lot of files used for reporting in this system.
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
I feel like it would be easier to copy folders : this is my initial thought
I need to copy \\server1\datedsubfolder to \\managerpc\datedsubfolderbecause there are a lot of files used for reporting in this system.
or just this:
copy \\server1\datedsubfolder to \\managerpc\POSfolder -
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
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@JasGot said in Automation thought:
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
Robocopy? never looked into it.
But I will, Thanks ! -
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@JasGot said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
which
Is it a simple copy of files from the server to the workstation? If it is, that is super easy.
Yeah, that's it. I've never thought about doing it before.
Since it is Windows, RoboCopy is your tool of choice. Just use that as a Scheduled Task and voila.
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@JasGot said in Automation thought:
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
Robocopy? never looked into it.
But I will, Thanks !This is how Robocopy works...
You spend X years using Windows and never hear of it. Then one day someone says "Wait, what? You don't use Robocopy like every day?"
And then from then on, you use it non-stop for everything and wonder how there are any people not using it.
It was 2004 when I was first introduced to it and it was like "OMG, how is this not more standard!?!?!" It didn't used to be built into Windows, you had to add it. Linux has SCP/SFTP that handle the same tasks and the UNIX world had long mocked Windows for lacking the same. It took forever for them to make Robocopy part of the base OS, but it's in there now and you should use it constantly.
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@scottalanmiller said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@JasGot said in Automation thought:
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
Robocopy? never looked into it.
But I will, Thanks !This is how Robocopy works...
You spend X years using Windows and never hear of it. Then one day someone says "Wait, what? You don't use Robocopy like every day?"
And then from then on, you use it non-stop for everything and wonder how there are any people not using it.
It was 2004 when I was first introduced to it and it was like "OMG, how is this not more standard!?!?!" It didn't used to be built into Windows, you had to add it. Linux has SCP/SFTP that handle the same tasks and the UNIX world had long mocked Windows for lacking the same. It took forever for them to make Robocopy part of the base OS, but it's in there now and you should use it constantly.
I'll be using it more absoulutely
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@scottalanmiller said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@JasGot said in Automation thought:
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
Robocopy? never looked into it.
But I will, Thanks !This is how Robocopy works...
You spend X years using Windows and never hear of it. Then one day someone says "Wait, what? You don't use Robocopy like every day?"
And then from then on, you use it non-stop for everything and wonder how there are any people not using it.
It was 2004 when I was first introduced to it and it was like "OMG, how is this not more standard!?!?!" It didn't used to be built into Windows, you had to add it. Linux has SCP/SFTP that handle the same tasks and the UNIX world had long mocked Windows for lacking the same. It took forever for them to make Robocopy part of the base OS, but it's in there now and you should use it constantly.
I'll be using it more absoulutely
While testing, don't forget about the /L option. Much better to see what happens before it actually does.
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@scottalanmiller said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@JasGot said in Automation thought:
Sure, and consider Robocopy so you have the ability to handle open files, timeout, and logging; and transfer with a multithreaded tool.
Here one we use almost daily:
We run this command on the destination server.robocopy "\\server\d$\data files" "d:\Shares\data" /E /R:0 /W:0 /NFL /NDL /log+:d:\DATA-log.txt
Robocopy? never looked into it.
But I will, Thanks !This is how Robocopy works...
You spend X years using Windows and never hear of it. Then one day someone says "Wait, what? You don't use Robocopy like every day?"
And then from then on, you use it non-stop for everything and wonder how there are any people not using it.
It was 2004 when I was first introduced to it and it was like "OMG, how is this not more standard!?!?!" It didn't used to be built into Windows, you had to add it. Linux has SCP/SFTP that handle the same tasks and the UNIX world had long mocked Windows for lacking the same. It took forever for them to make Robocopy part of the base OS, but it's in there now and you should use it constantly.
We were using it right after it's initial release in 1996.
Also, same thing happens with
scp"I don't have to arse with ftp anymore!" -
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
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@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
they haven't? that seems crazy! That shouldn't be that hard to do if they really wanted.
Though I can see keeping it all local because if the internet goes down, the terminals continue to work.
So my question is - is there software that can go onto the manager's PC that will directly access the server (and it's data) where they can run their reports from?
Also, what are these files you're copying? are they CSVs - i..e something that can be opened by Excel and reports run? or some db type that has to be loaded into something to function?
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@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
they haven't? that seems crazy! That shouldn't be that hard to do if they really wanted.
Though I can see keeping it all local because if the internet goes down, the terminals continue to work.
So my question is - is there software that can go onto the manager's PC that will directly access the server (and it's data) where they can run their reports from?
Also, what are these files you're copying? are they CSVs - i..e something that can be opened by Excel and reports run? or some db type that has to be loaded into something to function?
The way it's looking like it's going to go is every Site is going to have a manager PC that will have the access to that Configuration Center, we would just need to pull the files - File types are .dbf files, which can be opened and ran in Excel, but it's messy.
and .log files, which need to loaded into something to read them.. -
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
they haven't? that seems crazy! That shouldn't be that hard to do if they really wanted.
Though I can see keeping it all local because if the internet goes down, the terminals continue to work.
So my question is - is there software that can go onto the manager's PC that will directly access the server (and it's data) where they can run their reports from?
Also, what are these files you're copying? are they CSVs - i..e something that can be opened by Excel and reports run? or some db type that has to be loaded into something to function?
The way it's looking like it's going to go is every Site is going to have a manager PC that will have the access to that Configuration Center, we would just need to pull the files - File types are .dbf files, which can be opened and ran in Excel, but it's messy.
and .log files, which need to loaded into something to read them..yeah that's ugly...
Aloha doesn't have software that can run on the manager PC to access the files more "normally"?
I assume today, most customers use the aloha software on the "server" to run their reports.... I'm proposing the same, only having a client software on the manager PC that the user uses instead of directly on the "server' itself.
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@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
they haven't? that seems crazy! That shouldn't be that hard to do if they really wanted.
Though I can see keeping it all local because if the internet goes down, the terminals continue to work.
So my question is - is there software that can go onto the manager's PC that will directly access the server (and it's data) where they can run their reports from?
Also, what are these files you're copying? are they CSVs - i..e something that can be opened by Excel and reports run? or some db type that has to be loaded into something to function?
The way it's looking like it's going to go is every Site is going to have a manager PC that will have the access to that Configuration Center, we would just need to pull the files - File types are .dbf files, which can be opened and ran in Excel, but it's messy.
and .log files, which need to loaded into something to read them..yeah that's ugly...
Aloha doesn't have software that can run on the manager PC to access the files more "normally"?
I assume today, most customers use the aloha software on the "server" to run their reports.... I'm proposing the same, only having a client software on the manager PC that the user uses instead of directly on the "server' itself.
LOL tell me about it..
they do have a "hosted solution" where they will pull the reports for you and keep them on a cloud but its some ridiculous price per month for them to do that... I wish there was an easier way
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@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
@WrCombs said in Automation thought:
@Dashrender said in Automation thought:
I'm confused how the data gets onto the server in the first place? Didn't you start thing thing by saying there's a cloud component.
Is the cloud component just a web front end that actually talks to the server and update the server with the things changed on that web front end?
Is there a client server setup for the manager's PC? i.e. software that runs on the Windows 10 PC that connects to Aloha on the server, and then they can run reports from that? More or less like they did when using the Aloha software directly on the "server"?
Let me try explaining how this works without sounding like a complete idiot:
The way the "Cloud" works for this software is : all of the Database files (i.e Items, Employees, Menus, Submenus etc) are saved a remote server, and sent down to the server every x amount of time ( I dont know the exact amount. but it is multiple times a day - basically every time you save a change.) that's it. The reports run off of a Transaction log that is held at the Server onsite, and Some of the Data Base files (i.e adjust Time, edit shifts etc) are all held on site as well.
The only way to view reports, is having the Transaction log, and Data base files that hold reporting information on them. It's not Ideal, but it does make it easier for some customers to make changes, and send them to the stores.The vendor hasn't came up with a way to store everything including reporting on the Cloud Server yet...
they haven't? that seems crazy! That shouldn't be that hard to do if they really wanted.
Though I can see keeping it all local because if the internet goes down, the terminals continue to work.
So my question is - is there software that can go onto the manager's PC that will directly access the server (and it's data) where they can run their reports from?
Also, what are these files you're copying? are they CSVs - i..e something that can be opened by Excel and reports run? or some db type that has to be loaded into something to function?
The way it's looking like it's going to go is every Site is going to have a manager PC that will have the access to that Configuration Center, we would just need to pull the files - File types are .dbf files, which can be opened and ran in Excel, but it's messy.
and .log files, which need to loaded into something to read them..yeah that's ugly...
Aloha doesn't have software that can run on the manager PC to access the files more "normally"?
I assume today, most customers use the aloha software on the "server" to run their reports.... I'm proposing the same, only having a client software on the manager PC that the user uses instead of directly on the "server' itself.
LOL tell me about it..
they do have a "hosted solution" where they will pull the reports for you and keep them on a cloud but its some ridiculous price per month for them to do that... I wish there was an easier way
Definitely not what I'm talking about.
Are you really telling me - aloha only ever expects someone to do report directly on the "server"? and other than this stupid online thing for billion dollars, they don't have a manager's PC option....
Why am I not surprised.. they are the quickbooks of restaurant systems..
