Terminal Cannot Find Fileserver, Checked the Usual Suspects

[BIGGBYNinja]

One of our stores is a single-terminal setup with Windows 7 running on both the terminal and fileserver. This location has been open for a couple months now with no issues, and we have other locations using the same terminal and fileserver configuration with no issues. The difference with this store is they get support from an online security vendor named BHI Advanced Internet Solutions, who claim to help with PCI-DSS Security Compliance. In the middle of them performing some work, the terminal went down with the Make Fileserver button. I started with the usual suspects. I made sure ctlsvr was running on the BOH , it was. I restarted it just in case. I tried rebooting the FOH and BOH at the same time, still can't find fileserver. I confirmed that the BOH shared folder still had full read and write access to everybody in both the share permissions and folder security permissions. I checked the same for the shared folder on the terminal. I tested each share by writing a .txt file remotely. No problems doing that. I checked debouts on the terminal and all I get is that it can't locate the fileserver.

Jul 15, 23:07:40, [1400], [INFO],,"Determining Master And Fileserver"
Jul 15, 23:07:40, [1400], [INFO],,"Local DOB is 7/15/2011 in C:\ALOHA\DATA\ALOHA.INI (07 15 2011)"
Jul 15, 23:07:40, [1400], [INFO],,"AutoMakeFileserver: FALSE"
Jul 15, 23:07:40, [1400], [INFO],,"Local Terminal 1 asserts it is master since there are no others"
Jul 15, 23:07:40, [1400], [INFO],,"Master terminal is 1. Now determining fileserver..."
Jul 15, 23:08:11, [1400], [INFO],,"Enable make fileserver 1"
Jul 15, 23:08:11, [1400], [INFO],,"EnableMakeFileserver: enabled 1 automake 0"

At this point I believe a firewall or other type of network security is causing the issue. I have disabled the Windows Firewall on the BOH and FOH and we do not install any other third-party software firewalls ourselves. However, I believe whatever BHI Advanced Internet did today caused the terminal to stop receiving information from ctlsvr. Is there any way I can verify my theory that it is a "ctlsvr talk" issue and not something else? Does anybody have any technical information about how ctlsvr talks to the front terminals? I may need ports or other information to pass onto BHI. Thanks.

 

[BIGGBYNinja]

The issue was somehow related to multiple IP addresses on a single NIC. I'm not sure if it is specific to Aloha version or Windows version, but I was unable to get the Aloha FOH to find the fileserver when the BOH fileserver was set to use two IP addresses.

Here is how our stores are normally set up:

BOH: 192.168.100.100
FOH: 192.168.100.101
Gateway (Linksys BEFSR41 Cable/DSL Router): 192.168.100.1

With this store using SecureConnect (formerly BHI), they did not want us using our Linksys router behind their Fortiwifi50B wireless router. They wanted us to use a static IP on the BOH, which was to be connected directly to their wireless router. So I set the BOH to the following:

BOH IP1: 192.168.100.100
BOH IP2: 10.103.xxx.xxx (Going to Advanced and then Add)

Whenever I did this, the FOH would not see the fileserver. If I set just a single IP address of 192.168.100.100, it worked fine. Eventually, what I ended up doing was changing the FOH IP to 10.103.xxx.xxx and the BOH IP to 10.103.xxx.xxx , without a second IP. This worked as well.

So, for whatever reason, I was unable to get Aloha working with multiple IP addresses assigned to the single NIC in the BOH. I know we have set up other stores like this in the past, but the setup has changed since then.

New Setup:

BOH OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 x86
FOH OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 x86
Aloha Quick Service: version 6.4.28