User Support Forum

I am an IT professional that supports a church who uses powerchurch.

When their network was built back in 2013, we installed a Windows SBS server for domain management and other features. We installed powerchurch locally on the server and then ran the netsetup through mapped drives on the workstations. Standard stuff from what I can remember.

Their server is now EOL and I am working a plan to transition their setup from a windows server to just a NAS. The church didn't grow as expected over the years and its hard to justify maintaining a windows AD environment for their needs. So I'm looking to move their Powerchurch install from their windows server to a NAS (still in the planning/proposal stages).

I've found the support article that describes a new powerchurch install from a NAS, and it mentions that one workstation will install normally and then all the other clients will use the netsetup as normal.

Does this mean that the workstation with the initial installation acts as server for other workstations in some capacity?
If I recall correctly, they currently access the server directly to perform updates (where it was initially installed). Does that sound correct?
If so then I assume that the updates would then need to be performed by this 'initial' workstation.

The article makes it sound as if you don't need a 'server', but my guess is that something windows based needs to act as server whether you call it that or not.
I'm trying to understand what role this workstation really plays in a 'hosted on NAS' scenario, and also what other gotchas there might be to move the installation from the existing server onto a NAS.
Will I just perform a new install onto the NAS from the primary workstation and import the data somehow? I apologize if this is obvious when you have all these components in front of you, but as I say, I'm in the proposal phase and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row regarding the pros/cons of moving forward for them with a serverless infrastructure, and Powerchurch is the missing piece of that puzzle.

jeff.waite wrote: ↑

Tue May 11, 2021 12:58 pm

.

Does this mean that the workstation with the initial installation acts as server for other workstations in some capacity?
If I recall correctly, they currently access the server directly to perform updates (where it was initially installed). Does that sound correct?
If so then I assume that the updates would then need to be performed by this 'initial' workstation.

The article makes it sound as if you don't need a 'server', but my guess is that something windows based needs to act as server whether you call it that or not.
I'm trying to understand what role this workstation really plays in a 'hosted on NAS' scenario, and also what other gotchas there might be to move the installation from the existing server onto a NAS.
Will I just perform a new install onto the NAS from the primary workstation and import the data somehow? I apologize if this is obvious when you have all these components in front of you, but as I say, I'm in the proposal phase and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row regarding the pros/cons of moving forward for them with a serverless infrastructure, and Powerchurch is the missing piece of that puzzle.

Jeff ..

the idea of 'server' and 'workstation' was originally used as it described what was happening, the main computer was the 'server', but in reality was a location of the 'shared' drive that contained the data, as well as the executable and support files. The workstation (any other computer on the network) was in reality just a computer accessing the shared drive. Frankly, it was a convenient set of terms for most churches do not have an NAS installed.

With the NAS, the shared NAS drive is providing the storage for the system, and the netsetup program provides the local computer with the 'pcstartxx.exe and a .dll to access that storage, along with setting up the desktop icon with all the proper parameters in place.

Basically you would use any computer on the network to access the shared NAS drive, first mapping that drive, then accessing the \Powerchurch\PCPLUSxx\Install\netsetupxx.exe program.

I would first do a Powerchurch backup from the old server, and copy to USB stick or other location. You'll need it for the next part. I'm assuming you're using v 12.2. If not let me know.,

To setup the NAS, I would just install the program from disk or downloaded distribution .exe as mentioned in the knowledgebase article, start the program, then when asked if this is a new install or upgrade, select upgrade. It will then ask if you are upgrading using a backup, select that. The system will do the rest.

Hope this helps.

That all sounds like I expected, but I would like to reiterate one aspect of my original question for clarity--

"Does this mean that the workstation with the initial installation acts as server for other workstations in some capacity?"

If I'm understanding you correctly, the answer to this question is no. Correct?

Put another way-- if the files are hosted on a NAS that makes the mapped drive accessible all the time, then the computer that performs the initial install isn't being relied on in any way by the other workstations for access, right?


Even with the instructions you've given, you say to just install the program from the disk/installer and choose upgrade. But I have to do that from somewhere. With no server on the network, I have to use a workstation. After installation of the software to the NAS, does this workstation then also need to have the netsetup installer run on it? I just want to be sure I understand whether or not the fact that this workstation performed the initial install means it's somehow important or performs some kind of hosting for the other 'netsetup' installed workstations.

If all the workstionstions simply need to access the files on the network, then could it not be possible to simply copy the files from the server to the NAS and map this new location to the workstations, preserving the same path as before?
If not, why?

On the first question - That is correct. The workstation you run the installer from is not needed once the installation is done. It can be used as a workstation to access the files on the NAS, but isn't acting as a server in any capacity.

For the last question, if your UNC path is the same, then you certainly could just copy everything over, map the same drive letter as before and it should be back up and running. Otherwise, running Netsetup from each of the workstations will update the shortcut to point to the correct start in path on the NAS.

Excellent!

Thank you for your time and the information.