Synchronisation Sites, often simply called Sync sites or Sites, are configured for each device that is running mSupply that is using the synchronisation system. The synchronisation system ensures that all data on remote sites are synced to the central server.
How mSupply handles sync sites was 'refactored' and released in mSupply v5.07 (2022-03-22). This refactoring was significant. The main changes that the user will notice / experience are:
When thinking about sites, it's helpful to understand which mSupply products are being used - refer Comparison of the mSupply products.
As Synchronisation is sensitive to misconfiguration, only system administrators should have permission to edit sites. The user permission to edit Sync settings is found under Edit user > Permissions tab > Admin.
Without the permission, a user may still view sites but may not edit them.
From drop down menu Special and click Show Sites… or from the navigator as below:
From here you'll see the list of all sites:
You can see the unique site ID, site name and application type of the remote site here.
Note: The active central server site will always be at the top of the list when sites are viewed on the central synchronisation server.
Note: The X/Y number in the bottom left corner shows the number of sites showing in the table (X) and the total number of sites (Y)
Double-click on a site in the list to open its details window:
The various fields are all described below in the Creating New Sync Sites section. Click on the Log tab to see a list of the logs that have been recorded for that site:
The filters are set to show all logs for the current day by default.
Click the New button in the Site List window above to create a new Site. This will open the Site details window:
The details to be entered are explained in the section below.
While editing a site, no changes that you make are saved in mSupply until you press OK. This allows you to press Cancel to discard all the changes to the site you had entered, including additions or removals of stores.
To view details and edit any existing sync site, double click any site in the list of sync sites to view the and edit its details.
If the site is blocked because there have been too many failed login attempts then an Unblock site button will be shown next to the Check connection button. Click it and the site will be unblocked so that isers can attempt to login to it again.
The Site ID is a unique ID number for the site used throughout the mSupply system. It will be automatically allocated with each new site that you create and is read-only (you can't edit it).
The Site Code is a free text field allowing you to set a short human readable code to identify the site. You can edit this at any time and it will not affect any workings of the sync system.
The Site Name should succinctly describe the site. The value here will be used in authentication by the remote site communicating with the central server.
Note: due to this being used for authentication, beware editing it. If you change the site name on an actively used site, the remote site will stop syncing. To resume syncing, the site name must be restored to the old value on the central server, or updated to the new value on the remote site.
The password is used by remote sites to authenticate with the central server. It is recommended to use copy and paste so as to avoid data entry errors, particularly as you cannot view the password that is set here.
The Hardware ID is automatically set by remote sites when they authenticate with the central server for the first time. It identifies the particular device that is syncing, be it a tablet or a desktop computer. Once set, any sync requests for this site coming from a different device will be rejected, as they'll have a different hardware ID.
This is to protect against having multiple devices syncing to the central server using the same remote site details. If this were to happen, it'd cause both devices to have out of sync data. One would need to be disabled, and the other resynchronised.
If a device is lost or destroyed, you will need to setup mSupply on new hardware. In this case, for the site to start syncing on a new device you'll need to reset the Hardware ID by pressing the reset button to the right of field on the central server.
The site type simply indicates the intent to synchronise the sync site with mSupply Desktop or mSupply Mobile. When a remote site synchronises it will update the value of this. As of v4.12, this setting has no functionality. Functionality around this is planned for the future.
If this is checked the site is active on this datafile, which means transactions can be entered in it but master data (like item and customer details etc.) cannot. If unchecked then the site is not active in this datafile and transactions cannot be entered in it.
This preference is not recommended and will be disabled in future versions of mSupply (v7.11 and above). Node JS was used in special circumstances where 4D HTTP handlers were not working well on cellular connections for certain regions. This has been improved and Node JS is no longer needed.
Only visible if you are on a remote site. The number of minutes to leave between sending and receiving synchronisation records. Minimum is 1 minute.
Only visible if you are on a remote site. The number of synchronisation records to send and request at a time. Make it smaller if you have a bad internet connection. mSupply will automatically adjust this to optimise the efficiency of communication with the server as synchronisation occurs.
Only visible if you are on a remote site. The URL of the server to synchronise with, including the port number if necessary.
In mSupply v7.14.00 we've added configuration for open mSupply central server, which is required for open mSupply remote site from v2.0.0 Open mSupply Central Server Settings are used to identify a site as open mSupply central server
Only editable when site is not active on mSupply central server. Only one site can be set as open mSupply central server, an error will be shown if you try to set this site as open mSupply central server (the site that is set as open mSupply central server will be shown in the error alert).
A url which points to this open mSupply central server site. This url will be sent to all open mSupply remote sites on every sync iteration, open mSupply remote site will in turn use this url to synchronise with open mSupply central server. This url can be changed if open mSupply central server site is relocated
Note: You can only add a single store to a mobile type site. If you try to add another mSupply will show you an alert telling you that you can't add another.
To add a store press the Add store button, which will bring up a list of stores that you may add to the site:
Double click a store, or highlight one and click on the OK button.
The store you select will be removed from the site it is currently active on. The behaviour here will differ based on whether the store was on the central server, or an a remote site:
If the store is currently on another actively used remote site, please use caution. It is important to ensure the old remote site fully stops any usage of the store and synchronises before starting usage on the new site the store was moved to.
It is OK to move stores from the Central Server to a remote site, as the Central Server will be guaranteed to have the most up-to-date data.
When editing an existing site, all store data of any added stores will automatically be queued to sync to the remote site after pressing OK to save the changes.
To remove a store, highlight the store you wish to remove in the list of stores in the Site window, then press the Remove store button.
Stores removed from a remote site will automatically be moved to the Central Server site.
All explanation of what the site editing is on the remote site.
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
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