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Month: May 2016

Farmhouse Network Tech Blog WordPress Migration

While marketing Farmhouse Networking to the city of Grants Pass via the old fashioned method of knocking on doors, I came across a local company that does SEO for website and social media management. They are called Moving Mountains and though based in Grants Pass, OR they are really a global presence thanks to social media and marketing via SEO on Google. While speaking to the owner of this company I was pointed in the direction of a WordPress migration for my blog and eventually my whole site. After some consideration, I decided to take the plunge and learned the basics of WordPress and SEO to bring my readers a better experience than the old Serendipity blog could offer.

Serendipity to WordPress Migration

Export the Current Serendipity Blog to RSS

  1. Make the following change to the rss.php file in the Seredipity blog install directory:

    serendipity_printEntries_rss($entries, $version, $comments, $metadata[‘fullFeed’], $metadata[‘showMail’]);

    Above this line type in the following:

    $metadata[‘fullFeed’] = true;

  2. Login to Serendipity Admin Console
  3. Click on Maintenance in the left hand menu
  4. Click on Export full RSS feed
    Wordpress Migration - Export full RSS feed

Fix the RSS encoding

  1. Open the RSS feed in your favorite text editor
  2. Perform a search and replace for the following:

    > replace with >
    &lt; replace with <
    &quot; replace with "

Fix Time-out Issue

  • Add the following to the top of the admin.php file in the admin folder in the WordPress install directory:

    add set_time_limit(0);

contact us for assistance.

Multi-user Switching Quickbooks H202 Error

Had a client with a simple peer-to-peer network of three machines that was using Quickbooks for their accounting and customer database. Their main bookkeeper’s workstation was the “file server” for their network with the rest as “client” workstations on their network. This allowed the secretary to access the customer data while scanning in contracts. Regularly these computers would become disconnected and their secretary was unable to connect properly. It would give a Quickbooks H202 error when trying to open across the network. This was causing multiple files to be created and their bookkeeper was often contacted to “fix” the problem. When I got an opportunity to work on their network there were several issues that needed addressing to properly fix the issue:

In a peer-to-peer environment, hosting should only be enabled on the hosting computer (file server).

  1. On each workstation (not the file server), open QuickBooks and choose File Utilities.
  2. If you see Host Multi-User Access on the list, this computer is not hosting the company file and you can go to the next computer. Note: Don’t change anything if you see Host Multi User Access at your workstation.
  3. If you see Stop Hosting Multi-User Access, select that option.
    Quickbooks - Stop Hosting Multi-User Access
  1. Click Yes to confirm. In the Company File Must Be Closed window, click Yes.
  2. Repeat steps 1-4 on each computer.

Verify QuickBooks Services

When working with QuickBooks in a multi-user mode, QuickBooks services need to be running on the file server computer.

  1. Make sure the QuickBooksDBXX (XX represents the year of QuickBooks) and QBCFMonitorService services are started.
    1. Click the Windows Start button.
    2. Press the Windows key + R to bring up the run box.
    3. Type services.msc and press Enter.
  2. In the services window, scroll down and look for the QuickBooksDBXX service. Note: XX represents the year of QuickBooks you are troubleshooting.
    • If you do not see the QuickBooksDBXX service, open QuickBooks, go to File– Utilities– and make sure hosting is enabled (it should say Stop Hosting Multi User access. If it says Host Multi User mode, click it to enable hosting on the server)
  3. Double-click the QuickBooksDBXX service and make sure the Startup Type is set to Automatic and service status is Started.
    Quickbooks Database Service - General
  4. Click the Recovery tab.
  5. Click the drop-down menu for First failure and select Restart the Service. This will automatically restart the QuickBooksDB service if it fails. Do the same for Second failure and Subsequent failures:Quickbooks Database Service - Recovery
  6. Click OK to save the changes.
  7. Repeat steps 1-6 above for the QBCFMonitorService.
  8. Open QuickBooks in multi-user mode on each affected workstation. If the issue persists, try to make sure the QuickBooksDBXX service is a member of the administrator group and has the appropriate permissions.

Open the Network Ports QuickBooks Uses to Transmit Data

Perform the following on each computer:

  1. Access Windows Firewall Settings
    • For Windows 8
      1. Hover the mouse in the upper or lower right-hand corners and select Settings
      2. Click on Control Panel and choose Windows Firewall
      3. On the left, click on Advanced Settings
    • For Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows Server 2008
      1. Click the Start menu and enter firewall.
      2. Click on Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
        Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
  2. On the left, right-click on Outbound Rules, and choose New Rule
    • Note (Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows Server 2008): It’s a little tricky, you have to left-click Outbound Rules first to highlight it, then right-click on it.
      Quickbooks - New Windows Firewall Rule
  3. Choose Ports and click Next.
  4. Select TCP and in the specific local ports box, enter in the following ports:
    • QuickBooks 2016: 8019, 56726, 55368-55372
    • QuickBooks 2015: 8019, 56725, 55363-55367
    • QuickBooks 2014: 8019, 56724, 55358-55362
    • QuickBooks 2013: 8019, 56723, 55353-55357
      Quickbooks - Windows Firewall Rule Ports
  5. Click Next and select Allow the Connection.
  6. Click Next to enter a name in the name field (for example, “QuickBooks ports” ) and click Finish.
  7. Repeat steps 1-5 for the Inbound Rules.
  8. Open QuickBooks in multi-user mode.
    • If you have a third party antivirus/firewall program, you may need to configure any other firewall or antivirus software.
    • Note: For a temporary solution, you may disable the anti-virus/firewall program to identify it as a problem and make sure to re-enable it when you’re done with the test. If the error persists, continue to step 3 (Ping the Server Computer).

Once these three items are configured properly on each of the network workstations then there should be no problems with connectivity or get any further Quickbooks H202 errors – that is of course as long as the “file server” workstation is not turned off or allowed to go to sleep. Also the file cannot be switched to single user mode on any computer unless it is then set back to multi-user mode once advanced configuration is done. If your company is using Quickbooks for your accounting or customer database and need help getting the network connected to the file, then contact us for assistance.

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