TAMUS Terminal Server Setup

TAMUS Terminal Server Setup

BPP SQL/Alva

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We have a new method of connecting to the BPP SQL/Alva databases that does not involve using the Texas A&M campus VPN. The new way of gaining access is via Remote Desktop software to a terminal server running here in College Station. To get started, you will need to download the TAMUS Remote Connection client and save it to your desktop. The URL is http://it.tamus.edu/system-office-employees/remote-desktop-connection/

Click on the link on the right side of the screen or click here “Download TAMUS Remote Desktop Connection File”.

When prompted, select “Save”

http://it.tamus.edu/system-office-employees/remote-desktop-connection/

http://www.tamus.edu/assets/files/its/ts-gateway.rdp

http://www.tamus.edu/assets/files/its/ts-gateway.rdp


BPP SQL/Alva

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Change the “Save in” drop-down box to “Desktop” and leave the name as the default (ts-gateway.rdp). Click “Save”. Navigate to your desktop and find the Remote Desktop Connection (ts-gateway.rdp) shortcut you just created and double-click it.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Enter the name of the computer as “SO-TERM-EXT” but do not click “Connect” yet. Click the arrow next to “Options” in the bottom left corner.

Enter your SAGO User name with the ‘SAGO\’ prefix, (e.g. SAGO\JDoe) Click on the “Local Resources” tab at the top.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Click on the “More”… button at the bottom and you will see the dialog box on the right. Here you will select drives on your local machine (C: in the above example) that you want to have access to while connected to the remote terminal server. NOTE: You will need to do this if you wish to use an existing Access database with this new connection method. Once you’ve done that, click “OK” to return to the original dialog box.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Once here, click “Save” to save the configuration so that each time you connect, the same settings will be used. After saving, click “Connect”.


BPP SQL/Alva

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The first time you connect you will see this dialog box asking if you trust the computer you’re connecting to. Check the box “Don’t ask me again for connection to this computer” and click “Connect”. The next time you logon, this box will be bypassed.

You will be prompted for your password once connected to the remote machine. Use the password associated with your SAGO userid issued for the SQL/Alva database. If not already set to “SAGO”, choose ‘SAGO” within the “Log on to:” field drop-down list.


BPP SQL/Alva

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The next steps vary depending on whether you are planning to use an existing Access database or if you are creating a new one from scratch. If you wish to use an existing Access database that you’ve created containing queries, reports, etc. follow the steps for “Copying Your Access Database to the Terminal Server Desktop”. If you wish to create a new Access database skip to “Creating a New Access Database” To setup an icon to connect to Alva on the remote desktop, see “Creating an ALVA icon on the Desktop” For printing options and/or to setup your printer for use with the Terminal Server, see the section on “Printing from the Terminal Server”


BPP SQL/Alva

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Copying Your Access Database to the Terminal Server Desktop Click on the Windows Start button, then click My Computer

Navigate to where your existing Access database resides on your machine by double-clicking on the drive icon. In this example, the Access database we’ll be using is on the C on SAGO….. (this will be whatever the name of your PC is)


BPP SQL/Alva

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Since the Terminal Server may not have access rights to your user profile folder on your local PC, please follow these steps to create a temporary folder to use for copying your Access database. Minimize the Terminal Server window (so-term-ext) by clicking the ‘-‘ in the upper right corner.

Click on the Start button on your PC and select My Computer. Navigate to your Local Disk (C:)

Right-click on the C: drive and select New | Folder


BPP SQL/Alva

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Name the new folder TEST

Navigate to where your existing BPP Access database resides. In the below example it is in the Documents folder.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Right-click your Access database (in this example bpp_SQL.accdb) and drag it to the TEST folder and select Copy

You will now have a copy of your Access database in the TEST folder


BPP SQL/Alva

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Maximize the Terminal Server window again by clicking on the minimized icon on your Windows taskbar

Click on the Start button and select My Computer and navigate to the local drive where you copied the database to.

Double-click on the TEST folder. You should see your Access database there.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Right-click on your existing Access database, (bpp_SQL) and drag it to the desktop. When prompted, select “Copy Here”. By copying your current Access database to the remote server, performance as well as security will be improved.

Once complete, a copy your Access database will then reside on the desktop of the remote terminal server.


BPP SQL/Alva

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To verify the Access database has been copied correctly, double-click on the icon and your Access database, with queries, linked tables, reports, etc. should appear.

The copying and setup of your Access database is now complete. You can skip to the step “Creating an Alva icon on the Desktop” if you do not already have this icon on the desktop.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Creating a New Access Database This process is for those who wish to setup a new Access database for the first time. If you already have an Access database you’ve been using, see the previous section for copying it to the terminal server desktop.

Click “Start” then click on “Microsoft Office Access 2007”


BPP SQL/Alva

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Click the icon for “Blank Database” at the top of the screen


BPP SQL/Alva

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(1) On the right side of the screen, click the folder icon (2) When the dialog box opens, click “Desktop” which is where your database will be saved. (3) Enter a name for your database (e.g. My BPP Database) (4) Finally, click “OK” This will be your personal database where all the queries, reports, etc. that you create are saved. It will also contain links to the actual BPP tables.


BPP SQL/Alva

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After you click “Create”, you will see an empty database as pictured above. Close this database for now and return to the Windows Desktop.

You will now have an icon for your Access database on the desktop. Now we need to link the BPP tables into your database.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Double-click the Access database icon you just created on the Desktop to open your database.

Once the database has opened, click on the “External Data” menu item at the top.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Click on the “More…” button, then select “ODBC Database” from the dropdown list that appears.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Select the option to “Link to the data source by creating a linked table” and click “OK”


BPP SQL/Alva

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Click on the “Machine Data Source” tab, then click on “BPP-SQL”, and click “OK”


BPP SQL/Alva

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You will then see all the available BPP SQL/Access tables. Click the “Select All” button and click “OK”.


BPP SQL/Alva

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You will see a pop-up dialog “Select Unique Record Identifier” for each table selected. Just click “OK” for each table, nothing needs to be selected in these boxes. There will be one dialog box for every table so you will click “OK” a lot!


BPP SQL/Alva

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Once done, you should see all the BPP linked tables on the left side of the screen. Note: Any tables, queries, reports, etc. that you create in the future will also appear in this same list.


BPP SQL/Alva

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To verify the tables are linked correctly, click the “Create” menu item, then click on the “Query Design” icon on the top right. You will be presented a box with the available tables for the query. Click on the first table, “dbo_Accounts” and click “Add”. Then click the “Close” button to remove the “Show Table” dialog box.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Now double-click on several of the fields in the “dbo_Accounts” table to have them added to the query selection boxes at the bottom of the screen. On the line for “Criteria” you can enter a Part Number as I’ve done above (or any other selection criteria you wish).


BPP SQL/Alva

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Click the “View” icon in the top left corner and it should display the data based on the selection criteria you entered. If you didn’t enter any criteria, all records in the table will be displayed.


BPP SQL/Alva

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When you exit from a Query, Access will prompt you to save it. If you wish to save it, enter a unique name and press “Save”, otherwise just click “Cancel” to exit.


BPP SQL/Alva

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If you saved your query, it will then be availble for future use. In the above example, on the top left side of the screen you can see the query we saved, “Part 01 Accounts”. To run this query again, just double-click on it and the data will be displayed.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Since the data in the linked tables is updated automatically, any changes to the data in BPP will be reflected each time you run the query. There is no need to modify the query before running it unless you want to add fields or change selection criteria. Each time you run it, the most current data will be displayed.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Creating an ALVA icon on the Desktop

Click “Start” then right-click on “ANACOMP Viewer” (also known as ALVA) and drag it to the desktop. When prompted, click “Create Shortcut Here” to create the shortcut on your desktop.


BPP SQL/Alva

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You will then have a shortcut to the ALVA (ANACOMP Viewer) on your desktop. Double-click this icon to start the ALVA program for viewing Earnings Register Report.


BPP SQL/Alva

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In the ANACOMP logon screen, enter “BPP” as the User ID and leave the Password blank. Click “OK” and you should be presented with the ALVA data.


BPP SQL/Alva

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The only report currently available is the Earnings Register Report. Highlight this report and click “OK”.


BPP SQL/Alva

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You will then see a list of available reports on the left side of the screen for querying. Refer to the ALVA help library for questions on viewing the data.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Printing from the Terminal Server You may be able to print from the Terminal Server to your local printer by following these instructions. While logged into the Terminal Server, you can look to see if your printer appears in the Printers and Faxes dialog box. Click on the Windows Start Button and select Printers and Faxes

If your locally attached printer appears in the above box, you are ready to print directly from the Terminal Server applications to your printer. If your printer does not appear here, follow the directions below for “Getting Your Printer Connected” or see the directions for “Using the Microsoft XPS Print Option”.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Getting Your Printer Connected On your local PC, you will need to find out what type of printer driver you are currently using. Click on the Windows Start button, then Click on Control Panel. Double-click on Printers and Faxes.

Your default printer will have a small checkmark like the example below.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Right-click on your default printer and select Properties at the bottom of the pop-up menu.

Click the Advanced tab at the top and look in the “Driver” drop-down box. Copy this information, in this case “hp LaserJet 1320 PCL 5e”, and send it to us so we can install that driver on the Terminal Server. Once the drivers are installed, the printer should be visible as noted in the beginning of “Printing from the Terminal Server”


BPP SQL/Alva

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Using the Microsoft XPS Print Option Another option is to print to a file that is saved to a folder or desktop on your local PC and then print it later, once you minimize or get out of the Terminal Server session. If you click on the Windows Start menu and choose Printers and Faxes, you’ll see that there is a Microsoft XPS Document Writer installed.

To see how this works, right-click on the Microsoft XPS Document Writer and select Properties.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Select Print Test Page

Click the arrow on the drop-down box at the top and select a place to save the print file on your local machine. You can identify your local drives by looking at the name, in this case “C on SAGO-08xxxxxx” is what we’ll use. Click the drive to select it.


BPP SQL/Alva

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You will then see a dialog box with your local drive and the files. You can see from the top box that you are now looking at your local machine. Double-click the “Documents and Settings” folder and browse to the place you want to save the file.


BPP SQL/Alva

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In this case, I’ve chosen to save it to the Desktop so I can easily find it later. I also named the print file to something meaningful and clicked “Save”


BPP SQL/Alva

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The file will be saved and you will see this dialog, just click “OK” on the first box and “OK” on the second box and close out of the Test Print dialog boxes.

Go back to your local machine and you will have a file on your desktop, in this example, Test-Print-to-XPS.xps. Double-click this file and print to your local printer or any printer you are connected to. Now anytime you wish to print from the Terminal Server, you can select the Microsoft XPS Document Writer as the printer and follow these steps to create a file for printing later.


BPP SQL/Alva

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If you wish to use the XPS Document Writer as your default printer, right-click on the icon in the Printers and Faxes dialog box and select “Set as Default Printer”

You will then see the little black checkmark on the Microsoft XPS Document Writer indicating it is the default printer.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Closing the Terminal Server Session When Finished There are two ways to end your session with the Terminal Server when you have finished working. Both methods accomplish the same thing so choose whichever one you’re more comfortable with. Method #1 – using the Terminal Server toolbar at the top of the screen Click the “X” in the upper right corner of the Terminal Server toolbar:

You will then see this pop-up box to confirm your selection.

Click “OK” to end the session.


BPP SQL/Alva

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Method # 2 – Using the Windows Start button Click Start | Shut Down

Change the drop-down box selection to “Disconnect” and click “OK” to end the session.