Q&A: How Does My Internet Connection Affect Big Business?
We receive a good number of inquiries from Big Business users who are upgrading their Internet connections to offerings such as ISDN and DSL. The most common questions relate to a server's function in the connection, remote-access for Big Business, and any problems to watch out for.
This Solution provides some basic information to illustrate the impact that adding or changing your Internet connectivity may have on your Big Business Multi-User setup. Big Business Single-User should not be affected by any connection change.
More detailed answers to some of the issues here (like remote connectivity for a BB Client) can be found in other Solutions, linked below. (3491)
Multi-User versions of Big Business are capable of using the same protocol (TCP/IP) used by your Internet connection. The following information may be of interest if you are planning to alter your current Internet connectivity.
• The recommended protocol for use with Big Business Multi-User is TCP/IP.
• Dial-up services (modem, ISDN) require a "host" computer or "gateway" to control the dialing device. Your Big Business Server machine should not be the "host."
• Always-on services, like DSL, use a router which can usually be connected directly your network (hub or switch) without a "host."
• Devices or software (such as connection-sharing solutions, e.g. www.rampnet.com; proxies, e.g. MS Proxy; and firewall or Virtual Private Network solutions) can be used to maintain "internal" IP addressing and control access to and from "external" (Internet) addresses.
• If your Big Business Server is accessible from the Internet, a Big Business Client can connect using any Internet connection. As a practical matter, "remote-control" of a local Client (e.g. Timbuktu Pro or PC Anywhere) is preferable for lower bandwidth (less than 384Kbps) connections.
• If you connection change requires switching addressing (e.g. from "internal" class C addressing: 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255 recommended in other Solutions), you will need to rebuild resource files (trash the System Folder/Preferences/ACI folder on every Mac; Delete the contents of C:\Windows(Winnt)\ACI except the contents of the Network folder on PCs) to connect. The Server will need an accessible IP address (e.g. in the same subnet).
• Dynamic addressing (e.g. DHCP) should not be used (unless it is assigning the same addresses each time--not very dynamic).