RES3700 - Laptop Install, Running Standalone or via VPN Connection??

[JonnyB82]

Hi Guys,

Looking for a bit of advice, we currently have 38 workstations running on a local network, and have never run a till remotely.
We are now taking on a business that will need to use a till remotely, at various locations, but link into our RES3700 system to enable it to deplete stock from our Materials Control application..

Here's where it gets interesting, the idea is to run standalone mode on a laptop if no network is available, then in the evening the staff member will need to connect a VPN connection to our business network, and allow the sales to upload to the server on the same business date... OR... if the remote locations have a WiFi connection available, the staff member will connect to the WiFi, then connect VPN and use the till as if it was on our network.

My questions are,
Will this idea work?
Does RES3700 have to run via a static IP? or will it handle DHCP assigned addresses?


Many Thanks
Jon

 

[Moregelen]

3700 must be run via a static IP address - it actually will check the IP address of the node, to the point that if your binding order is wrong on a multi NIC system things like the KDS controller will start shutting themselves down.

This will technically work, though you won't be able to run credit cards or anything obviously. You might also run into issues during the replay which causes you to lose data.

 

[JonnyB82]

So, we would need the remote machines static IP to remain active once connected through the VPN..
I will discuss this further with our I.T Manager.. to see if this is even possible, as I do not manage the VPN side of things at our site.

 

[Moregelen]

I think ops on the workstation can be more forgiving, but I have definitely seen encryption issues with the IP addresses being wrong. I think it should work as long as the NIC with the IP in Pos Config is the primary and the virtual VPN NIC is secondary, but certain things might not work. If all you want to do is run ops and ring things in, I don't think having the communications over a different IP will break things, so I would at least give it a try.

 

[JonnyB82]

I have just started testing this, seems like it is working on the internal WiFi, and also when connected via 3G tethering across a VPN connection. I need to test further over the weekend, but this looks promising... we only need to ring through sales, no printing or anything fancy...

If we use the laptop for a period of time in standalone, if it is then shut down and later joined to a WiFi connection, then connected to the business VPN, will the sales automatically upload straight away once OPS is re-opened? or is there a delay where the laptop would have to be left connected with OPS open for a period of time?

Getting excited now... been a long time since something has 'just worked as expected'

 

[Moregelen]

It will automatically start syncing if it sees the server. We've had sites that ended up in standalone for a couple of days while their server was being rebuilt and when it finally came back up ops took FOREVER to sync, so keep that in mind. You might want to make a sync a daily thing. We do let a couple of our stores do this with their tablets (pure standalone) for things like school events, and haven't had any issues other than occasionally getting a bad credit card in the offline data (which holds up the entire batch until omitted).

 

[JonnyB82]

That's good to know. The staff member that works remotely will be performing a daily connection via WiFi or tethered 3G connection, so should work out ok...

We use the MPG (Micros Payment Gateway) for all our on-site RVC Chip & PIN transactions, so for the remote site they will have to use a standalone GPRS Chip & PIN device, and then record the transaction within Micros as an offline tender type.

 

[Moregelen]

And that is where you step way outside my realm of knowledge. We are just now feeling our way (extremely clumsily) into chipped cards here in the states. We aren't even managing PIN yet. We are definitely seeing a pickup in the number of 'you used the magcard!' charge backs, so hopefully our solution will begin rolling out later this month on schedule.

 

[JonnyB82]

will be interesting to see how it goes for you, we have had C&P for a few years now, it was an ordeal to start with, but as the versions progressed, things became more stable... we still have issues, but not like we did at the start...
I am now looking at a project to update all our devices software to run the contactless version, which will also accept ApplePay... it's a rather costly exercise, but we have to move with the times.

 

[Moregelen]

Yeah, if it weren't for ApplePay, GooglePay, AndroidPay, SamsungPay.. all the other android based pays out there.. that will be supported out of the gate, we'd probably be meeting a lot more resistance for moving forward with this. Everyone seems to want all of that stuff though. We are just happy to get Point to Point going finally so that we can relax just a tiny bit on our security on the POS network.