How to Avoid the Sage 300 ERP Sign On Manager for Sage CRM Integration
More Tips to Avoid the Dreaded Sage 300 ERP (Accpac) Sign On Manager for Sage CRM Integration
In the spring, I wrote a piece called A Simple Way to Configure A Windows User To Run Sage 300 ERP (Accpac) Web Deployment and Sage CRM Integration. In order to run Web Deployment, and therefore Sage CRM integration, you need a properly configured Windows User. Often, the first message that you encounter letting you know Web Deploy/Integration is not working is the display of the Signon Manager which, 99 times out of 100, I’ll assume is a configuration issue with the Windows user.
What about the other 1% of the time? Interestingly enough, twice in the last couple weeks, a few rare exceptions bubbled up. So, cutting to the chase, what else can cause the Sage Accpac Signon Manager to appear:
1. Windows user does not have the ability to run Internet Explorer as an Administrator.
Okay – big problem here. In order to run Web Deploy/Integration, the workstation needs to download the Sage .NET remoting files. If the user has inadequate rights to download the files … well you see the problem. For clarification: No local download of Sage .NET remoting files = no Accpac Web Deploy = no Sage CRM integration pop-up screens.
In some extreme cases, even when logged in as Administrator, I have seen permissions or policies still somehow preventing the download of the .Net files. If this keeps happening, you may need to install them manually. To do this, navigate to: \{WEBSERVER}{ACCPACSHARE}{ACCPACPROGRAMSFOLDER}WebCabs and run the smdotnet.exe installer.
2. Windows, or other, Firewall is locked down like Fort Knox.
I do not profess to be an environmental or Windows expert. I believe I have stated that position in previous articles; if not, please take me empathetically at my word now. What I can tell is that is there is a wonderful, magical piece of software, known as a firewall, which keeps bad guys out. Problem is, sometimes it keeps good guys out too. Web Deploy requires that ports 9000 through 9180 are opened in the firewall. 9000-9180 are the default ports when configuring Web Deploy; if you use a different range, you’ll need to ensure that port range is opened instead. The range of 180 ports is used as Web Deploy allows for up to 180 objects to be launched system-wide. I’ve never tested it, but it stands to reason that if you limit the number of objects allowed to, say 30, again in Web Deploy configuration, then perhaps you could open only 30 ports. Again, I have not tested it.
Note: Sage created a handy utility to help open the ports in a Windows Firewall:
3. Router is locked down like Fort Knox.
I have also learned that there is a wonderful, magical piece of hardware, known as a router. A router not only allows the distribution of the series of tubes to various machines in my home, but can also be configured to keep bad guys out. Therefore, we have the same potential problem, as above, with the good guys. What needs to happen is some configuration of the router’s port forwarding. By the very nature of routers, and what they do for us, this is more likely to be an issue when connecting to Web Deploy or CRM externally of the environment.
As much as I try to be an expert on all things integration with Sage CRM, I certainly have not experienced every possible road block and therefore have not conceived every solution or work around. I’m always interested in hearing about issues with integration that can’t be resolved by suggestions in my articles. Please let me know about your experiences, problems, and solutions! Special thanks to Rene Jule and Prabha Virah Sammy for bringing up these additional issues with the Signon Manager to me recently.