Remote access from PS Client to PS Server SQLEXP

[f.leyssens]

Hello Board,

I'm new to Photo Supreme (currently running a trial version) and I have a few questions re. remote access from a Photo Supreme 'Client' over the internet to a (remote) Photo Supreme Server Edition (64-bit) installed on a server on my home domain.

My questions are:

1. Can you please confirm that there is (exists) no specific Photo Supreme CLIENT module that you can download from your website. Not in trial mode and also not for registered users.
Is my assumption right that you simply download the Photo Supreme Server Edition software (32 or 64 bit version) from your website and USE IT AS A CLIENT to access one or more remotely located Photo Supreme Servers?

2. Can you please confirm that you can use and run Photo Supreme Server Edition (32 or 64 bit) in Client-Server Mode, whereby 1 instance of Photo Supreme Server Edition acting as a Client can access another remote instance of Photo Supreme Server Edition acting as a Server and owning the SQLExpress Server Catalog over the internet?

3. In order to use Client-Server mode and remotely access the Photo Supreme Server over the internet from a Photo Supreme Client, do you need to do any special (extra) configuration on the server (or the client) or do you simply fill-in the proper server parameters in the Client's Login Panel: providing Server Name, Port Number, Database Name, User Name and Password?

4. As I'm not a networking expert, how do I need to specify the address of the remote Photo Supreme Server so I can access it? What is the exact format of the server address so that I can access it remotely
Note that I have successfully created a SQLEXPRESS database with some test pictures and have gained access to it from the Photo Supreme client software installed on the same computer
What do i have to substitute 'servername\foldername' (used when accessing the DB from same machine) with in order to access over the internet and what is the exact format. DO I need to specify a UNC path ?

Here are the params of the components I try to network:

Using Photo Supreme Server Edition 32-bit as a Client on a Lenovo Tablet running Windows 8.1
Using Photo Supreme Server Edition 64-bit with SQLEXPRESS DB Server on an ASUS Desktop PC running Windows 7.
Using a Synology NAS with DSM 5.0 to host the picture files.
Both the Photo Supreme Server and the Synology NAS reside on the same home network.
Note that the Photo Extreme software installed on the Desktop can access the pictures on the NAS.
The NAS has a DDNS name configured to it allowing remote access over the internet.

Appreaciate any help i can get with this!

Thanks a lot in advance!

Frederik

[Hert]

Hi Frederik. First of all a warm welcome to the forum.

1. Can you please confirm that there is (exists) no specific Photo Supreme CLIENT module that you can download from your website. Not in trial mode and also not for registered users.
Is my assumption right that you simply download the Photo Supreme Server Edition software (32 or 64 bit version) from your website and USE IT AS A CLIENT to access one or more remotely located Photo Supreme Servers?

That is correct. More specifically: use it as a client to access a remotely located database server.

2. Can you please confirm that you can use and run Photo Supreme Server Edition (32 or 64 bit) in Client-Server Mode, whereby 1 instance of Photo Supreme Server Edition acting as a Client can access another remote instance of Photo Supreme Server Edition acting as a Server and owning the SQLExpress Server Catalog over the internet?

Photo Supreme works in a c/s model where the application is the client and the database is the server. Apart from the database you don't need anything else on the server side.

3. In order to use Client-Server mode and remotely access the Photo Supreme Server over the internet from a Photo Supreme Client, do you need to do any special (extra) configuration on the server (or the client) or do you simply fill-in the proper server parameters in the Client's Login Panel: providing Server Name, Port Number, Database Name, User Name and Password?

The client needs access to the database server that is typically installed on a centralized server within the same network. If the server is in a different network then you may have to fiddle with host configurations on the client side, but typically this won't be needed.
The server needs to be configured in such a way that the database server software can accept remote connections. This means: check the configuration of the database server, check firewall/router settings. The installation instructions for PSU-Server Edition (see website) outlines how the database server should be configured to accept remote connections.

4. As I'm not a networking expert, how do I need to specify the address of the remote Photo Supreme Server so I can access it? What is the exact format of the server address so that I can access it remotely

Well, for a non-network expert you know your stuff. I'm not a network expert either. The connectivity with the database server is done in the login dialog. It will prompt you for a server name and port. Here's a sample of the PSU-PostgreSQL login dialog.

postgresql-login.png (29.99 KiB) Viewed 3528 times

The server name can be a hostname (how the machine is known in the network) or a IP-address of the server machine where the database server is installed on. If you're planning to use SQLServer then the login will change slightly because then you'll need to enter the SQLServer instance name in the Server Name field. E.g. hpstorage/SQLExpress

Note that I have successfully created a SQLEXPRESS database with some test pictures and have gained access to it from the Photo Supreme client software installed on the same computer

While SQLServer si a great database system, I wonder why you select the Express edition over PostgreSQL. The SQLServer-Express system has some limitations that aren't on PostgreSQL. If you don't own a full SQLServer version then I recommend to use PostgreSQL instead.

What do i have to substitute 'servername\foldername' (used when accessing the DB from same machine) with in order to access over the internet and what is the exact format. DO I need to specify a UNC path ?

Did you already configure the SQLServer database according to the instructions (with remote IP access enabled)?
http://www.idimager.com/Trial/QuickInst ... upreme.pdf

Hope that helps
Hert

[f.leyssens]

Dear Hert,

First of all thank you very much for getting back to me. Also my apologies for responding to you so late with results and outcome.

Yes, thanks to your feedback and some additional info i found on the internet, I was able to make the remote connection work.
I now have a 32 bit client version of photo supreme installed on a windows 8 tablet that remotely connects to a 64 bit server version of photo supreme residing on a Windows 7 Server with SQLExpress 2012 . The images themselves are hosted on a NAS platform connected to the server.

Just one more remark that may be helpfull for other people trying to make thgis type of connection work for a photo supreme server instance installed on MS SQLEXpress 2012.
Initialy after providing the right params in the input/connection panel (computername/instance name) I still got a error message ('error 0) each time i tried to connect to the server. Reason for this I found out is that for connecvting to SQLExpress 2012 not only TCP port 1433 but also UDP port 1434 needs to open to allow a connection. Once that port was opened on my firewall everything worked fine.
People trying to set up a similar connnection can refer to following youtube video on the internet which describes connection requirements in detail. Site: Voluntary DBA.com

YouTube: How to allow remote connections to SQL Server Express
Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIovZluNmNs

Hope this helps. Thanks again for your great help.

Frederik