Initial synchronization

[mahasamatman]

Yesterday, I installed Act for a user who will be travelling with his laptop. I then set up a database to database synchronization so that the user could use Act while offline.

I am new to Act, so I have a couple of questions. The most important one - how long should that synchronization take? The database had about 7850 records, and I was pulling it across normal ethernet. It took at least four hours (I went home for the evening before it finished). Is that a normal time frame? Secondly, is there a usual way this configuration would be set up? Right now, our Act guy is one of the Salesmen. I'm trying to document the install procedure so someone in the IT department can handle it without needing him there. If you have a URL for a useful site, that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help,
mahasamatman

 

[TomH356]

Hi, depending on the size of the database(# of fields, legnth of fields, # of records..etc)...and the speed of the LAN/WAN, it could take 4+ hours...especially on the first synch. All records are send on the first synch.

After the first synch, it could take as little as just a few minutes.

I have had remote users take the 4+ hours to synch on the first go around.

Tom

 

[mahasamatman]

TomH356, thanks for the help.

mahasamatman

 

[swk]

One thought to add to the mix; how did you create the database on the laptop? Was it a copy of the one on the server, or did you create an empty copy, then merge the data into the empty one?

Correct answer is the latter as synching will be a problem if the Unique ID is the same on both systems. Synching will work in the other scenario, but you will see things creeping in later that seem to come from nowhere. There are several good articles in the Knowledgebase that address this as well as supplements like EasyACT! newsletter.

HTH

swk