FAQ 102: How do I share a database on my network? (COv4)

[Support]

[This FAQ applies ONLY to the Professional edition of ClinicOffice v4]

If you have a number of computers networked together then you can share your ClinicOffice database over your network. This FAQ will help you to setup File Sharing for your database on the Windows operating System.

[1] Nominate a Server Computer

Firstly, you need to decide which one of your computers will actually store the database. This computer is referred to as your ‘server’ computer.

How do I decide which computer should be my server?
If you already have dedicated server computer, then it’s best to use that one.

If you don’t have a dedicated server computer, then you could simply choose whichever is your most powerful computer (usually the newest one), as it will be able to ‘serve’ the database faster.

Another consideration is that ClinicOffice will actually perform faster when used on your ‘server’ computer. This is because the database is actually stored on that computer, so data is accessed directly rather than going over your network. For this reason, many clinics choose to nominate their reception computer as their server, because it is important for the receptionists to have fast access to ClinicOffice (seeing as they do the bulk of the work anyway ;-)).

[2] Configure your Server Computer

Once you have decided which computer will be your ‘server’, we need simply need to follow these instructions!

1. Open ClinicOffice v4
2. Click on Manage Databases
3. Select your database
4. Right-click and select ‘Share Database’

ClinicOffice v4 will now setup your file sharing so that you can connect from other PC’s. Once it has done this it will give you the ‘unc’ path that you will need to type into the other computers. This will look something like ‘\\server\MyDatabase’

OK! File Sharing is now enabled on your SERVER computer.

[3] Connecting to the Database from your other Computers

Your last job is to tell the other computers on your network about the database which is now shared on your server. From each the other computers you need to do the following steps which differ slightly depending on which version of ClinicOffice you are using :-

1. Run ClinicOffice
2. From the Logon screen, click the “Manage Databases” link under the “Select which database to logon to:-” box
3. Click the “Add Database” button
4. In the Locate window type in the ‘unc’ path that your server provided you and click OK

You should now be able to logon to your database as usual with your username and password. Please remember that you need to repeat the above process for all of your networked computers.

 

Q. I’m still struggling with the File Sharing – where can I get more help?

For more information on file sharing, please take a look at this Microsoft knowledgebase article:-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

There is another article here with useful screenshots which may be helpful:-

If you need any further assistance, please feel free to post your questions here or if you have joined the ClinicOffice Support Plan then please feel free to give us a call so that we can help you out!

[adminboy]

Hi there,

Thanks for the detailed instructions.

In the interest of having a shared database and good disk performance, I’m thinking setting up a network so that the CO database files are held on a NAS (Iomega Home Media 2TB Network Hard Drive) and then CO installed on each PC.

Have you tried CO using a NAS?

Is it a supported setup?

Thanks,
Admin Boy.

[Daniel Casserly]

Hi. This question is discussed on this post.. Hope this helps!

[Author]

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