We just selected Navision and are planning an end-of-year implementation. We have 7 remote sites connected via a 256K Frame Relay WAN. Our remote users will be generating very limited transaction traffic (most entry work is handled in our Corporate Headquarters). Rather, they will be viewing reports and probably taking advantage of the drill down and around capabilities. Enough background. My question is…is anyone out there successfully operating in a similar environment or do you all use Terminal Server or Citirx to connect remote sites? We are already forced to go SQL Server (record level lockout for data access security control) at a greatly increased cost (we really wanted to run Navision on our AS/400) and want to avoid the added cost for Citrix if at all possible. Gary C. Leaf Dir. Of Information Mgmt. Overall Laundry Services Everett, WA 425.227.9202 x 291
With 256K (and problably several user per site sharing that bandwith) I recommend You to use Citrix or at least Terminal Server. Otherwise I don’t think Your users will be especially happy. //Lars
Thanks, Lars. It is VERY unlikely that more than 3 concurrent users will access Navision from any one remote location. Does that make a difference? We sent huge print spool files for remote printing every day with no complaint. Obviously, since we don’t even have a test platform yet I’m just musing over the options. Gary C. Leaf Dir. Of Information Mgmt. Overall Laundry Services Everett, WA 425.227.9202 x 291
I suggest that you contact Charon Systems Inc (http://www.charon.com/) regarding their UniPrint product. This product is designed to work with Citrix to reduce the bandwidth required to spool reports.
Its always difficult to explain network bandwidth. If you are using client server, the thing that (in Attain) will use the most bandwidth, is posting a sales invoice. But second, and a very close second, is printing. Most users, though think of printing as being a minor task. CPU wise YES, bandwidth wise NO. You have probably been printing to a character based printer. Sending plain ascii with a few escape codes. Now you are about to send graphical files over the 256k frame relay. This really is a different application, in a new world. You must prepare for this. As a simple test, create a complex graphical word document with embeded pictures, and ry to print it over you Frame relay, then imagine printing hundreds of invoices, and you will get an idea of what bandwidth is all about. Citrix really is the only solution for you. But even with Citrix, you will still have a bandwidth issue. Once using Citrix, printing will be the biggest bandwidth hog by a long shot, so realy, if you are looking at 21 users (you said 7 sites, 3 users per site), you may want to reconcider you 256k Frame realy, and go for an internet/VPN solution. _________________________ David Singleton Navision Consultant since 1991 dmks22@comcast.net___________