Network Configuration

Introduction

QikKids 4 Professional is able to operate in any networked environment supported by Microsoft Access. Access is a file sharing or peer to peer database, which means that it is better suited for Local Area Networks (LAN) than Wide Area Networks (WAN). When running QikKids over a WAN, we strongly recommend the use of Terminal Services, or QikKids 4 Enterprise (which uses SQL Server). The QikKids client has been optimised for use with Terminal Services.

Setting Up

IMPORTANT: Read http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;303528, especially the section about network best practices. Sharing QikKids on an incorrectly configured network greatly increases the possibility of data corruption.
Decide which computer will be the server. It should be reliable, running Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 , and should be switched on whenever any other computers are active. It must also be accessible to all computers running QikKids and it should have an uninterruptible power supply. If there will be more than 5 concurrent connections to the server, you must use a Windows Server product.
On the server, make sure Service Pack 3 or higher is installed if running Windows 2000, or Service Pack 1 or higher is installed if running Windows XP. These service packs fix a problem with opportunistic file locking that can cause corruption in JET databases. Windows Server 2003 has this fix built in.
Create a network share on the server to hold the QikKids data files (data.mdb and gl.mdb). Ensure that all QikKids clients have full read, write and create privileges in the network share. To test this, connect to the network share from a client computer, using the same Windows account(s) as your QikKids user, right click and choose New->Text Document. Name and open the newly created text file; test that you can type and save text; and finally delete it. If you are unable to do this, you will need to change the permissions for this share on the server.
QikKids should be installed on each computer that will require access to the database. The server does not require QikKids to be installed unless it will also be used to run QikKids locally. If you will be using the server only as a file server and not a QikKids client, then there is no need to install QikKids or the Runtime Access Files
The server and ALL client computers should have the latest JET 4 service pack installed (at the time of writing, sp8). This is very important as the versions of JET that shipped with Office 2000/XP/2003 have bugs that can prevent QikKids from operating correctly.
If this is a first time installation, clear the sample data and enter your Centre Details (these can be changed later).
Start each QikKids client and at the logon screen, click Data and enter the full path to the shared folder. Use either UNC paths (\\Server\Folder) or a mapped network drive. The user can accidentally disconnect mapped network drives; we would suggest the use of UNC paths.
You can safely delete the local data.mdb file on the client computers to avoid any confusion.

In a network installation we would suggest that the QikKids backup is disabled and your network backup software is used. Critical backup files are data.mdb (and if using general ledger, gl.mdb).

Terminal Services / Citrix / Remote Desktop

QikKids is fully terminal server optimised and the executable is marked as such, enabling Windows 2000/2003 to launch it without the TS application translation layer. When QikKids detects that it is running in a TS client session, shared resources are moved from session space to global space reducing server memory requirements. Colours and graphics are also switched to lower bandwidth versions. Multiple instance checking is restricted to the local session space so that multiple instances can be launched on the same machine (QikKids normally allows only one instance of QikKids to access the same database on a single machine). Windows XP provides a limited version of terminal services used mainly for remote support and desktop sharing.