THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA : quickbooks 2008

Installing Quickbooks 2008 on SBS 2008

bradley — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:51:00 GMT

(This post will be about installing QB 2008 on SBS 2008, I'll be doing one for QB 2009 and also in a TS setting)

This assumes that you need to have multiple people accessing the SAME data file at the SAME time.

First off you have to install only the database part on the server and then the program on the workstations. First a little bit of homework... Quickbooks has a networking page that covers a lot of tips and trick here:

http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/opencms/sites/default/QBSupportSite/PDFs/Networking/QB08NetInstall.pdf

If you installing QB 2008 start by downloading the latest and greatest version from here:

Download QuickBooks Premier - www.usequickbooks.com/premier2008
Download QuickBooks Pro - www.usequickbooks.com/pro2008
Download QuickBooks Enterprise - www.usequickbooks.com/Enterprise2008

Running QuickBooks on Windows Server 2008:
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/1009944

This page and download recommends that you still install the software on the server itself.. I'm not sure I agree with that but it's an interesting read nonethless - http://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=358&Itemid=134

Start the download:

When it downloads then launch the program by right mouse clicking the icon and clicking on Run As Admin

You'll not that it wants to install Flash (yuck)

Click on the EULA

Now, make sure you choose the More than one user to install the database monitoring program on the server

Choose install Database Server ONLY

Let it install in the x86 folder

Click finish when done

Now launch start, programs and find the QB database manager program

Make sure the service is running on the server...

QuickBooksDB is for 2006
QuickBooksDB17 is for 2007
QuickBooksDB18 is for 2008
QuickBooksDB19 is for 2009

Check in Services to ensure it's running, Start, admin tools, services and see the running service

We now need to add some ports in the firewall. There's several ways to do this. One way is to go into the control panel, Windows firewall, and allow a program (and ports) through the firewall.

For QB 2008 the necessary port are:

Add the QuickBooks Database Server Manager and port 10180

Add the database server manager

(Mind you I did the quick and dirty way to add port exclusions, Philip has the other way to do it)

Add port 10180

Ensure you have both open

Next we need to set up the shared folder where we're going to put QB and

Set the NTFS permissions (on the security tab of the folder properties) to include all domain QuickBooks users or the QuickBooks user group (if group membership has been assigned) for Full Control.

So we need to check the permissions of that folder and add domain users (if that's who has access) or Quickbooks user group and give them Full Control.

You still will set granular permissions and passwords inside the program so this feels worse in permissions than it actually is.

Add the qbdataserviceuser18 (for 2008 or Enterprise 8.0) or qbdataserviceuser19 (for 2009 or Enterprise 9.0) to the NTFS permissions and allow Full Control.

Choose QBDataServiceUser18 and add full control.

Remember you can add more granular permissions by setting up a Security group but make sure you add the QBDataServiceUser18 (for 2008) to the Security group to ensure it has full control as well.

Now install the QB on the workstation.

Pick the multi user install but this time ensure you pick the "non database" option.

Now in this instance you'll not need to share out the file on the workstation

I always choose to not install the extra shortcuts and do not install google desktop

And finish the install.

Now plop your QB data files up on the server in that shared space

Go back up to the server and run the Database Server manager (by clicking the icon running in the system tray and click on 'scan' to ensure it's finding your shared file.

The final step I do on the workstation is to open up port 10180 there as well. There are several ways to do this.

The RIGHT way is to set up a security group and go into group policy, build a firewall policy to specifically open up port 10180 for this security group.

The lazy way Susan does it at the end of a blog post is to just open up the Vista's firewall in the control panel, go to firewall, click on Allow a program to go through the firewall and add the port exception.

We'll save the "how to add a port exception through group policy the RIGHT way another night and for another lesson.

Now we've saved the best for last (or worst for last depending on your opinion) 2009's version of the database program worked fine with 2k8's UAC. 2008's version of the Database monitoring app on the server didn't like it. That meant I had to adjust UAC to silently elevate on the server.

http://community.intuit.com/post/detail/dmW8q4tQiqllvkab8P4pmk I'll be doing some checking on the last one to see if I can hack up some registry settings and get around this so stay tuned.

So after double checking and confirming with others, even though on a 2k3 box that icon shows up in the system tray all the time, on a 2k8 box it doesn't. But never fear the service is still running and monitoring the shared file location.

So on a 2k8 box you'll only see that in the system tray after you manually launch and scan for files. Otherwise it's running as a service as it should.

Sending that Quickbooks file via email

bradley — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 03:12:00 GMT

The next time you spot someone emailing a Quickbooks file as an attachment to an email, tell them to stop doing that. And tell them instead to install Quickbooks 2008, urge their clients to update immediately and transfer the files using the smarter, more secure way.

The Quickbooks Accountants transfer version was something we hated in prior versions. We'd always want the raw database and not the accountants version as it was never quite as full function/featured as we'd need it.

2008 changed all that. And in fact it's quite easy for the client to start the accountants transfer version process:

Step one, choose the file transfer process

Step 2 - choose the cut off date that the accountant can post entries to

Step 3 - enter the email address information

Step 4 -- create a strong password for the encryption

Step 5 -- Ensure that it's a strong password

Step 6 -- QB will begin the process

Step 7 -- the email will be created and sent

Step 8 -- the file will be transfered

Step 9 -- the email will be received by the accountant

The Accountant then can post entries and make changes. At the end of the process he can make the 'change file' to be sent back to the client.

Urge your CPA clients and customers to NEVER EVER merely attach the quickbooks file via email and send it. If you send it unencrypted, remember that it contains sensitive information like Social Security numbers of employees. If you think that because it's password protected, it's safe, think again. www.elcomsoft.com or www.lostpassword.com have password cracking programs that can crack any QB password in mere seconds.

While the chances that someone can intercept that email are probably at low risk (they are more apt to want to infect your system with a keystroke logger or something than sit there sniffing traffic looking for QB files attached to emails) the reality is that an unencrypted file, sent via email "is" at risk. I live in a state covered by Identity theft regulation, thus to take a REASONABLE precaution to protect the data is EXTREMELY prudent on my part and showcases to my clients that I care about their identity and am willing to take reasonable precautions to protect them.

Bottom line if your CPA says "just email that file", tell them no, you don't do that anymore. Tell them you've upgraded to Quickbooks 2008 and they have to now use your preferred secure method.

Quickbooks 2008 and icons

bradley — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:36:00 GMT

When installing Quickbooks 2008... keep a sharp eye out for the screen that you can unclick to only install the ONE icon on your desktop.... not five.

Otherwise you'll need to clean up ...just a tad...