[sims] SIMS via TS RemoteApp in server 2008R2

[mrbios]

First of all is this possible? i can run sims on the server locally, albeit with a manually changed sims.ini specificly for that server but when i run it via remoteapp it tells me the sims.ini file cannot be found.

 

Is there a way around this? I really want to get rid of our current way of people remotely using sims

[SYNACK]

Is your sims.ini stored on a mapped network drive? If so then the mapped drive probably does not exist in the context of the remoteapp user so you may need to use UNC paths or a script or something to make sure that the path does exist before the application fires up within the user context.

 

We use RemoteApp with our MIS software MUSAC and while its 'not officially supported' it works great and seems to be a much better solution than the primative one that they suggest (full RDP TS environment on 32bit servers).

[wesleyw]

When you install sims and login for the first time it'll ask you if you have a connect.ini file if you put in no and manually enter the details to the sql instance that should help just to clarify it is the connect.ini you mean the sims.ini file is something else entirely and is used for updating among other things this is generally installed on the local machine and is machine specific?

 

Wes

[mrbios]

Got it working in the end, copied the sims.ini file into the sims install folder and updated the ini to be compatible with the 64bit windows (changed all the \Program files\ to \Program Files (x86)\ - that got sims running on the server itself followed by disallowing the local drive of the clients to map across to the server enabled it to work via remoteapp

 

I love the new terminal services in 2008R2, fantastic compared to the dull yawn fest of 2003

[matt40k]

Shame FMS doesn't work as well

[mrbios]

Got it to run except i get two errors on logging in: commandpulsar.exe not found in C:\Program files\sims\sims.net

 

obviously that's because fms resides in C:\Program Files (x86)\ and the other one is "crystal reports is not intalled on this machine. You will not be able to produce reports", after that the program runs fine

[matt40k]

I like you definition of fine.

[mrbios]

haha well fine as in, it runs, you can see the information, edit information, you just can't make reports i don't actually know what commandpulsar.exe does and i wouldn't want to go poking around FMS too much anyway, so there are probably other bugs ive not seen yet i guess

[matt40k]

The commandpulsar sync SIMS personnel with FMS.

[zshadar]

All I had to do is to copy the connect.ini from the SIMS server and paste it to overwrite the same file in sims. net folder on the TS server.

[Chris_]

Are you able to run TS RemoteApp in a Server 2003 environment? It's something I'm looking at doing rather than having staff log into the terminal server before launching SIMS.

[mrbios]

Are you able to run TS RemoteApp in a Server 2003 environment? It's something I'm looking at doing rather than having staff log into the terminal server before launching SIMS.

 

I'm pretty sure it's a new feature introduced in server 2008 and made good in 2008R2, well worth it if you can upgrade.

[Chris_]

I'm pretty sure it's a new feature introduced in server 2008 and made good in 2008R2, well worth it if you can upgrade.

 

Ah, I thought that might be the case. I'll look at the possibility of upgrading. I think the server license might be for 2008 if not 2008 R2 but just downgraded to 2003. Was yours in an RM environment or vanilla?

[mrbios]

Ah, I thought that might be the case. I'll look at the possibility of upgrading. I think the server license might be for 2008 if not 2008 R2 but just downgraded to 2003. Was yours in an RM environment or vanilla?

 

Vanilla, I thought i would have to go through a nightmare of finding licences and how much they cost etc, turned out of MSVL school agreement covers it completely which I was pleased about, had never touched terminal server licensing prior to this one, not sure if it was this easy in the past though.

[mrbios]

I've got another issue with this now, if i connect internally i see my apps in the RemoteApp window and i can open them etc, but if i open them via http://www.website.com route it logs me in, certificates are correct etc but none of the programs appear, what have i done wrong there then?

[SYNACK]

Have you made sure that the Apps are enabled for TS Web access in the list and also that you are using the correct server as a source for the apps?

Publishing Applications with TS RemoteApp - IT Tutorials - OS

[Ian_ICTDS]

Hi,

 

We have about 80 schools using SIMS and FMS through remote app. The main problem we’ve had, like you, is that configuration and dll files often can not be found. What I’ve noticed in the past is that on the terminal server it creates a Windows directory within C:\Users\[username]\Windows. Often the files in that windows directory are out of sync with the ones in the real Windows directory. You can either correct the files in the users windows folder or delete the folder forcing the terminal server to recreate them.

 

This has solved most of our problems, specifically with FMS. The only ongoing issue we have with remote app is printing from FMS. FMS is quite temperamental with detecting printers mapped using TS easy print.

 

Good luck

 

Ian

[dhicks]

Are you able to run TS RemoteApp in a Server 2003 environment? It's something I'm looking at doing rather than having staff log into the terminal server before launching SIMS.

 

On Server 2003, you can have the RDP session shortcut specify an application to open after it logs in. The user clicks on the "SIMS" shortcut, they type their AD username and password to log in, SIMS knows to trust the AD account and log the user straight in. The user does get two "close" buttons, though, which can cause confusion, so if you can switch to 2008 / 2008 R2 instead it'd be good.

 

--

David Hicks

[Chris_]

On Server 2003, you can have the RDP session shortcut specify an application to open after it logs in. The user clicks on the "SIMS" shortcut, they type their AD username and password to log in, SIMS knows to trust the AD account and log the user straight in. The user does get two "close" buttons, though, which can cause confusion, so if you can switch to 2008 / 2008 R2 instead it'd be good.

 

--

David Hicks

 

At the minute we use RDP shortcuts that launch SIMS when the user logs in. They have to log into the terminal server and then log into SIMS which is a bit of a pain still... RemoteApp would remove the need to log into the terminal server first.

[dhicks]

At the minute we use RDP shortcuts that launch SIMS when the user logs in. They have to log into the terminal server and then log into SIMS which is a bit of a pain still...

 

You can get SIMS to automatically log the user in based on their AD credentials (actually, nothing so fancy - you can get SIMS to automatically log the user in based on the contents of the $USER shell variable) - the user logs in to the Terminal Server, then SIMS recongnises who they are and just starts up without the separate login step.

 

--

David Hicks

[spc-rocket]

Hi,

 

We are testing sims.net on a windows 2008 R2 remoteapps at the moment and have resolved the issue of the commandpulsar.exe by carrying out the following procedure:

 

1) Load up FMS as usual and login to it

2) Let the error message of commandpulsar.exe not found come up and OK to it

3) In the FMS Application goto Tool menu and select Star 7 settings and update the path i.e. put in c:\program files (x86)\Sims\sims .net.

4) Save the changes and restart FMS. The error will no longer appear now.

 

Hope this help anyone who's having this issue. We fixed it by looking at this site and it mentioned about this error:

 

Helplines Online: July 2010 - about a third way down is some info regarding this error. This actually says to untick the Star 7 settings but we just modified the path and it works happily.

 

Ash.

[mrbios]

Hi spc-rocket, does that setting change affect any users of 32bit OS's or is the setting change specific to the machine the setting is changed on?

[spc-rocket]

Hiya,

 

Good point, didn't think about that, just tested it and its not machine specific it does cause issue for other users on windows xp stations. I've reverted it back again now.

 

Bummer! back to the drawing board again

 

I suppose another way to do it would be to copy the sims .net folder into the proper program files (i.e. c:\program files\sims\sims .net) and when there is any upgrades just do the copy again i.e. overwriting. We've tested this and it seems to work i.e no commandpulsar.exe error and the rest of the users on 32bit OS are fine as well. Its a workaround until capita fixes this for 64bit installs.

 

Ash.

Edited November 18, 2010 by spc-rocket

[SYNACK]

Add a reparse point from x86\sims to Program Files\sims, that way there is no extra work as both paths poin to the same place.

NTFS reparse point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[spc-rocket]

Hi,

 

Will try the reparse point method.

 

Thanks,

 

Ash.