Epicor ERP

Administration Console Course

9.05.606
Disclaimer
This document is for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. This document and its
contents, including the viewpoints, dates and functional content expressed herein are believed to be accurate as of its
date of publication. However, Epicor Software Corporation makes no guarantee, representations or warranties with
regard to the enclosed information and specifically disclaims any applicable implied warranties, such as fitness for a
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are always advised to discuss the content of this document with their Epicor account manager. All information contained
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about the software product are made or published in release notes, and you are urged to obtain the current release
notes for the software product. We welcome user comments and reserve the right to revise this publication and/or
make improvements or changes to the products or programs described in this publication at any time, without notice.
The usage of any Epicor software shall be pursuant to an Epicor end user license agreement and the performance of
any consulting services by Epicor personnel shall be pursuant to Epicor's standard services terms and conditions. Usage
of the solution(s) described in this document with other Epicor software or third party products may require the purchase
of licenses for such other products. Where any software is expressed to be compliant with local laws or requirements
in this document, such compliance is not a warranty and is based solely on Epicor's current understanding of such laws
and requirements. All laws and requirements are subject to varying interpretations as well as to change and accordingly
Epicor cannot guarantee that the software will be compliant and up to date with such changes. All statements of
platform and product compatibility in this document shall be considered individually in relation to the products referred
to in the relevant statement, i.e., where any Epicor software is stated to be compatible with one product and also
stated to be compatible with another product, it should not be interpreted that such Epicor software is compatible
with both of the products running at the same time on the same platform or environment. Additionally platform or
product compatibility may require the application of Epicor or third-party updates, patches and/or service packs and
Epicor has no responsibility for compatibility issues which may be caused by updates, patches and/or service packs
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trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © Epicor Software Corporation 2011.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of
Epicor Software Corporation.

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Administration Console Course Contents

Contents
Administration Console Course.............................................................................................4
Before You Begin....................................................................................................................5
Audience.........................................................................................................................................................5
Prerequisites....................................................................................................................................................5
Environment Setup..........................................................................................................................................5
Overview.................................................................................................................................7
Server Management Snap-in.................................................................................................8
Epicor Server....................................................................................................................................................8
Application Server............................................................................................................................................8
Companies......................................................................................................................................................8
Users...............................................................................................................................................................9
Sessions...........................................................................................................................................................9
Licensing..........................................................................................................................................................9
Replication Server Snap-in...................................................................................................10
Architecture...................................................................................................................................................11
Replication Profile Maintenance.....................................................................................................................12
Replication System Maintenance....................................................................................................................12
Replication Agent Process..............................................................................................................................13
Replication Log Reader Process......................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................14

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Administration Console Course Administration Console Course

Administration Console Course

This course introduces the Epicor Administration Console. The Epicor Administration Console is a Microsoft®
Management Console (MMC) which provides the ability to manage multiple installations on multiple physical
servers from a single interface. The MMC can be installed on any client box.
The Administration Console includes a Server Management snap-in for managing application servers and a
Replication Server snap-in for managing server replication.
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Identify key areas of the Server Management snap-in.
• Account for the basic uses of the Server Management snap-in and Replication Server snap-in.
• Use the new licensing functionality offered by the Server Management snap-in.
• Profit from the use of the Replication Server snap-in.

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Administration Console Course Before You Begin

Before You Begin

Read this topic for information you should know in order to successfully complete this course.

Audience

Specific audiences will benefit from this course.

• System Administrator
• IT/Technical Staff

Prerequisites

In order to complete the workshops in this course, all necessary modules must be licensed and operating in your
training environment. For more information on the modules available, contact your Epicor Customer Account
Manager at EpicorCAM@epicor.com. It is also important you understand the prerequisite knowledge contained
in other valuable courses.
• Navigation Course - This course introduces navigational aspects of the Epicor application's user interface.
Designed for a hands-on environment, general navigation principles and techniques are available at each of
the interface levels in the Epicor application - system, module, and program. Workshops focus on each of
these levels and guide you through each navigational principle introduced.
It is recommended that you have working knowledge of the Epicor 9 database structure and system administration
concepts.

Environment Setup

The environment setup steps and potential workshop constraints must be reviewed in order to successfully
complete the workshops in this course.
Your Epicor training environment, in which the Epicor demonstration database is found, enables you to experience
Epicor functionality in action but does not affect data in your live, production environment.
The following steps must be taken to successfully complete the workshops in this course.

1. Verify the following or ask your system administrator to verify for you:
• Your Epicor training icon (or web address if you are using Epicor Web Access) points to your
Epicor training environment with the Epicor demonstration database installed. Do not complete
the course workshops in your live, production environment.
Note It is recommended that multiple Epicor demonstration databases are installed. Contact
Support or Systems Consulting for billable assistance.

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Before You Begin Administration Console Course

• The Epicor demonstration database is at the same service pack and patch as the Epicor
application. Epicor's education team updates the Epicor demonstration database for each service pack
and patch. If your system administrator upgrades your Epicor application to a new service pack or patch,
he or she must also download the corresponding Epicor demonstration database from EPICweb > Support
> Epicor > Downloads and install it. If this is not performed, unexpected results can occur when completing
the course workshops.
• Your system administrator restored (refreshed) the Epicor demonstration database prior to
starting this course. The Epicor demonstration database comes standard with parts, customers, sales
orders, and so on, already defined. If the Epicor demonstration database is shared with multiple users
(that is, the database is located on a server and users access the same data, much like your live, production
environment) and is not periodically refreshed, unexpected results can occur. For example, if a course
workshop requires you to ship a sales order that came standard in the Epicor demonstration database,
but a different user already completed this workshop and the Epicor demonstration database was not
restored (refreshed), then you will not be able to ship the sales order. Epicor's education team has written
the course workshops to minimize situations like this from occurring, but Epicor cannot prevent users
from manipulating the data in your installation of the Epicor demonstration database.

2. Log in to the training environment using the credentials manager/manager. If you are logged into your
training environment as a different user, from the Options menu, select Change User.

3. From the Main menu, select the company Epicor Education (EPIC06).

4. From the Main menu, select the Main Plant.

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Administration Console Course Overview

Overview

The Epicor Administration Console is a set of Microsoft Management Console snap-ins, used to set up and
maintain the Epicor application.
The Microsoft Management Console is used to create, save, and open collections of administrative tools, called
consoles. Consoles contain items such as snap-ins, extension snap-ins, monitor controls, tasks, wizards, as well
as the documentation required to manage many of the hardware, software, and networking components on
your Epicor application.
Epicor Administration Console allows you to manage security. It can also be used to perform various configuration
and administration tasks on the Epicor installation.

Advantages of the Administration Console:

• Enables you to manage multiple installations on multiple servers from a single interface that can be installed
on any client box.
• Reduces duplicate code elements between the Client server and server areas. It uses the Business Object
Framework provided by the Epicor application to connect to the application servers.
• Improves interaction with other products (for example, the Productivity Pyramid).
Note For field-specific information throughout the course, please refer to Application Help.

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Server Management Snap-in Administration Console Course

Server Management Snap-in

This section of the course discusses the Server Management snap-in used to manage application servers.

Epicor Server

Epicor servers are controlled under the Server Management node.

The Server Management node is the root node of the Epicor Administration Console. One or more Epicor servers
display under this node. Each Epicor server runs the Epicor application. Multiple application servers can be
configured on each Epicor server.
Use the Server Management node to add new Epicor servers, remove existing Epicor servers, and view or edit
properties of the Epicor servers.
When you select the Server Management node, the list of application servers for the Epicor server display.

Application Server

An application server provides a connection to the database and is the key element that is administered.
Note
One or more application servers can be defined for an Epicor server.

An application server is created under the Epicor server. After the application server is created, you can connect
to or disconnect from this server. You can view the server log, as well as lock and unlock the server.

Companies

Companies for the application server are managed under the Companies node.
One or more companies can be defined for an application server.
Use the Companies node to add new companies, delete existing companies, and view or edit properties of
companies.

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Administration Console Course Server Management Snap-in

Users

Users created in the Epicor application are managed in the Epicor Administration Console under the Users node.
Configure users that display by utilizing different filters. You can also activate and deactivate users, grant users
permission to function as a global security manager, or deprive users of this permission. Under the Users node,
copy and paste users from one server to another. You can require users to reset their passwords when they log
into the Epicor application.

Sessions

Sessions for the application server are managed under the Sessions node.
One or more sessions can exist for an application server.
Under the Sessions node, you can manage sessions, delete sessions, and select which sessions display by utilizing
different filters.

Licensing

Licenses for the Epicor application are managed in the Epicor Administration Console under the Licensing node.
In previous versions, it was necessary to manually enter a large number of 16 digit codes that were set up four
digits at a time. Now, instead of manually entering codes, you select the license file from your hard drive. All
codes are imported and transferred to the server. You can then enable the module list as you implement various
features of the Epicor application.
You can import or delete the license file. View the license properties, including basic information such as the
license serial number, expiration date, license type, and data on companies and modules included in the license.

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Replication Server Snap-in Administration Console Course

Replication Server Snap-in

This section discusses the Replication Server snap-in. Database replication synchronizes data between an Epicor
source database and one or more target databases. The target database types can be:
• Epicor running under a MS SQL Server
• Ad-hoc running under a MS SQL Server
• Customer-defined database running under any database engine

There are several scenarios replication supports:

• Many to one: In this scenario, two or more Epicor applications publish the data into the same target database.
It can happen during reporting when multiple companies consolidate data to the same database.
• One to many: In this scenario, one Epicor application publishes the data to two or more target databases.
This scenario is used when companies need load balancing to offload the main transactional server.
• Many to many: In this scenario, several Epicor application publish data to several destinations. This scenario
can also occur when load balancing.

When to Use Replication

Replication can be used to complete the following tasks:
• Scale the Epicor application by offloading read-only queries from the main transactional server.
• Facilitate reporting by using a database schema optimized for a particular reporting task.
• Export data to another third party application in real-time.
• Archive the data by moving rarely-used data to the archive database to make the main database smaller and
easier to update.
• Introduce a service that requires the Microsoft Windows platform into a UNIX based Epicor enterprise.

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Administration Console Course Replication Server Snap-in

Architecture

The replication process architecture is as follows:

The replication process involves the following components:

• A source Epicor database from which data is replicated
• A number of destination databases to replicate
• For each type of destination database, there is an entity that stores information regarding how to work with
this database or database scheme. This component is called a subscriber. A subscriber is a .NET class. For
each type of database, there must be a separate subscriber.
• The replication server is a separate component that performs the functionality involved in the data replication,
common for all database types. The replication server is a .NET component. It is run as a Windows® service
or a console application. Subscribers are loaded into the replication server process context.
• Sonic messages are used as the means of transport.
• The replication agent and replication log reader are components on the publishing side that interface with
the database and the Sonic server simultaneously. The replication agent is used to process the replication
server requests. The replication log reader represents one-way data flow from the publishing database to the
replication server.

The arrows in the graphic above represent data flow between the components.
Replication process components are managed by the following applications:
• Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is used to manage the replication server and the subscriber. It is
an MMC snap-in that uses .NET remoting to connect to the replication server.
Note
For additional information on the Management Console and the configuration settings, which should
be done for the replication process, refer to the Management Console topic in Application Help.

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Replication Server Snap-in Administration Console Course

• The publishing side is managed through a set of Epicor programs, such as Replication Agent and Replication
Log Reader processes, as well as Replication Profile Maintenance and Replication System Maintenance.

Replication Profile Maintenance

Use Replication Profile Maintenance to create, edit, and delete profiles.

A profile is a set of database tables. After a profile is created, it can be assigned to a company. Once a company
is assigned a profile and a change is made to one of the database tables in the company profile, that change is
replicated (published) to the target database.
Use the Detail sheet to create a new profile or edit an existing one. Define the profile name and description.
Use the Tables sheet to select the tables to include in the profile. You can also select tables for the new profile,
delete tables from the existing profile, and re-define the list of tables for the existing profile.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Replication > Replication Profile Maintenance
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

Replication System Maintenance

Use Replication System Maintenance to assign profiles and check the settings of the replication system.
When you open Replication System Maintenance, the list of available companies displays in the tree view. When
you select a company in the tree view, its data displays on the Details > Company Details and Details > Profile
List sheets.
The Details > Company Details sheet displays information specific to the company selected in the tree view.
You cannot perform any actions on this sheet. It is for informational purposes only. It displays the company ID
and the company name.
Use the Details > Profile List sheet to assign profiles to companies.
There is a Settings Option to invoke the Replication Settings dialog box. Use this dialog box to view and edit the
default application settings.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Replication > Replication System Maintenance
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

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Administration Console Course Replication Server Snap-in

Replication Agent Process

Use the Replication Agent Process to configure the replication agent and to process requests from the replication
server.
Example
An example of how the replication agent is used when a request is submitted to initialize a new subscriber
in the replication server management console. The replication server sends this request in a Sonic message
to the replication agent, and the replication agent saves this request to the repl* tables in the Epicor
database.

Replication agent processes save requests by polling the repl* tables at certain time intervals. This task checks if
a request is available in the Epicor database, executes the request, and sends a response to the replication server.
For the initialization request example, the replication server then notifies the subscriber and subscriber commits
the data to the database.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Replication > Replication Agent Process
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

Replication Log Reader Process

Use the Replication Log Reader Process to configure the replication log reader. The replication log reader
transfers data from the publishing database to the replication server.
Note
The Replication Log Reader is a task used to send data from the P.D. to R.S.

The replication log reader task runs by a specified schedule. Typically, it is a startup schedule, which means the
task starts each time the process and agent application servers start. By default, this task executes every minute;
however, configure this parameter according to your needs. This task queries for records in the replication log
table. It then places them in a Sonic message, consolidating these records in chronological order and grouping
them by tables.
After the records from the replication log table are transferred to the Sonic messenger service, the replication
log table clears.

Menu Path
Navigate to this program from the Main Menu:
• System Management > Replication > Replication Log Reader Process
Important This program is not available
®
in the Epicor Web Access™ interface. You can launch this program
from an Epicor Smart Client (Windows ) interface.

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Conclusion Administration Console Course

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have completed the Epicor Administration Console course.

Please take a moment to let Epicor know how to serve you better by completing a course evaluation at
http://www.keysurvey.com/survey/191084/2e21/ or by clicking the Course Evaluation link below. Your feedback
provides the guidelines for the future direction of Epicor education.

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 Additional information is available at the Education and
Documentation areas of the EPICweb Customer Portal. To access
this site, you need a Site ID and an EPICweb account. To create an
account, go to http://support.epicor.com.