Remotely Accessing GP

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Posted on by Bob Harrison

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We currently run GP with local installs on each workstation running over a 1GB LAN . Now our department is going to be moved 3 miles away from the server.

We have found two solutions: Dynamics-GP Web Client and using RDP.

Does anyone have recommendations or experience with either of these?

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks

Bob Harrison

Lighthouse

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EaglesForLife15 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

We use RDP; overall, I would give it a B+. Some users experience freezing pretty regularly. However, it does not last long, but it is somewhat inconvenient.

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Tom Cruse 1,477 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

I'm sure this post will get plenty of feedback so here's my two-cents. We actually utilize a combination of both. The Web-Client still lacks a few features that requires access to the Desktop Application but for the light read-only users the Web-Client works just fine.

We also use the Web-Client on a separate Web Server so it lightens the load put on our Terminal Server because we'll have on average around 12 users at any given time working in the Terminal Server and those users usually end up using Office on the server so that can put a strain on it too.

As for issues using RDP to a Terminal Server, we really don't have any, granted we are fairly small with only 20 licensed users so if you have hundreds of users then a larger scaled-out model will be required which can be a pretty heavy overhead cost.

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Bob Harrison 823 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

We have 6 users. We mainly use payroll and AP and GL. We do use Integration Manager a lot.

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Tom Cruse 1,477 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

You should be fine with a Terminal Server install. To give you an idea, our current server is running with 4 CPU cores and 8 gigs of RAM and it works just fine.

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Bill Campbell 12 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

I have to say I am on side with Tom on this one.

We have been and still are using RDP to access GP for a number of clients. When a client wants to access GP from the road, we do not hassle with install on laptop - we just get them access to the Terminal Server and POW they are connected.

With a right fit Terminal Server configuration you should not have a issue with the users.

Of course all of this is predicated on a solid Internet Connection - if that is flakey then the connection is flaky - but that is not the application problem, that is internet and bandwidth.

Hope this helps confirm a good suggestion from Tom.

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Bob Harrison 823 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

Thanks for the input from everyone. I see only one comment about the Web-Client and nothing about Integration Manager.

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Tom Cruse 1,477 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

Integration manager will have no problem running on a Terminal Server through RDP. We use it all the time.

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Bill Campbell 12 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

Bob, sorry about that but I was considering the entire application - including Integration Manager in my answer.

I have a number of client for whom I do IM work all the time and I access their systems via RDP all the time and encounter little to no lag - granted I often start the process and come back after it is done integrating several thousand lines.

As to Web Client - I think Tom hit the nail on this one - there are features that are not well addressed in Web Client - and act slow - however depending the nature of the client - it may not matter.

Hope this along with other comments helps.

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Tom Cruse 1,477 on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

Also one more thing to note about the WebClient is it's current architecture. It's a Silverlight application so depending on your browser you might run into some issues due to the lack of Silverlight support going forward.

Microsoft Edge, and Chrome no longer support Silverlight so if those are your two main browsers of choice then you'll need to re-evaluate your browser choice to either IE or Firefox.

The next version of the WebClient due out is supposed to be fully converted to HTML5 so browser compatibility won't and shouldn't be an issue.

The WebClient is still definitely a work in progress but has come along way in the past year.

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Beat Bucher GP Gee... 28,058 Moderator on at

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RE: Remotely Accessing GP

Hi Bob,

Totally agree with Tom & Bill... We've been using GP on remote server for over 10 years (first Citrix XenApp, now TS from MS). Works flawlessly. And if connection gets lost, your app won't shutdown, because it continues to run on the server side, so you just reconnect your existing session on voilà.

I've been testing the GP Web Client 2015R2 for a couple of months now and must confirm that for now it's OK for light user activities on GP, but wouldn't use for heavy transactions and posting. Plus, the GP web client will suffer from slow internet connections too, not the best solution. For only 6 users, the investment in TS licenses is not that high and you'll get a much better experience.

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