Introduction

POS Server is a small utility which complements Idealpos when running Pending Sales, Table Maps or Bar Tabs over multiple terminals.  It holds a central database to which all POS terminals communicate regarding Restaurant Table data.  Being a centralized database, it allows tables to be “locked” while in use by a terminal which gives greater control over multiple users accessing tables over multiple terminals. The lock will be released after the terminal has finished operation on the table.

The POS Server only needs to be installed on one computer/terminal.

Configuring the POS Server;

1. Right click on POSServer.exe (Default location c:\Program Files\Idealpos Solutions\Idealpos 6.0)
2. Select Create a Shortcut
3. Right click on shortcut & select Cut
4. Paste the shortcut into the startup of windows (Default location on XP/WePOS/POSReady  is c:\Documents & Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup)
5. Then double click on the Shortcut to start POS Server
6. POS Server will now start up automatically on Windows startup.

 
To setup the POS Server;
1. When first initializing this system, make sure all tables on the Pending Sales/Table Maps/Bar Tabs are empty/ready and all Terminals are synchronized.
2. Go to Ideal POS System > Global Options > Miscellaneous – tick “Use POS Server” and type in the IP Address of the computer on which POS Server is running.
3. Make sure POS Server is running and then restart All POS Terminals.
 

POS Server will run in the background on the computer it was installed on and accessing it will rarely be necessary.  Below is a description of the manual functions that can be used inside IPS Table Server if necessary.


POS Server Server Functions;

1. Release Locks – will release all the current locks on all the tables. (Will not affect Table data).
2. Reset Ports – will close and re-initialize TCP/IP Ports (Will not affect Table data).
3. Clear All Tables - will Clear all Data from all Tables in the central database.
3. Reset Ports – will close and re-initialize TCP/IP Ports (Will not affect Table data).
4. Copy Table Data – will copy the current data from the local IPS.MDB into the Central database (IPSTables.MDB).

All of the functions above (as well as Exiting) will require the Idealpos Admin password.

Path to IPS.mdb
If POS Server is already installed into an Idealpos directory, this field will be automatically set.  However, if POS Server is installed into a different directory, browse to an Idealpos directory so POS Server can link to an IPS.mdb.

TCP/IP Ports used in POS Server
The ports of each POS terminal are set in the POS Server automatically. For each POS terminal, the port number is allocated as 11000 + X where X is the POS number. (Example: POS 4 uses port number 11004.).


In the extremely rare case that the Server goes down, you will be able to set another PC to be the Server.

1. Go to another PC and run POS Server (it will be automatically installed in each IPS directory)
2. It will create an empty IPSTables.MDB database file.
3. Use the Copy Table Data function to copy the current table data from the IPS.MDB database.
4. In IPS/Global Options you will need to change the IP Address setting for POS Server.
5. If this will be a permanent thing, you will need to put a shortcut to POSServer.exe in your Windows Startup menu.
6. Restart all IPS Terminals with the new settings.