Installing Auction Tracker on a Network

The following describes installation for a "peer-to-peer" network, the steps are the same for installing Auction Tracker on any network, with only a couple exceptions, which are described at the end. 

**When installing Auction Tracker on a permanent network:

You may want to establish stronger security using a security group, and not share the \Tracker folder with Everyone.

1. Install Firebird on all the computers you will be using Auction Tracker on.
   • Copy and paste this Firebird installation link into your browser: https://sourceforge.net/projects/firebird/files/firebird-win32/2.5.6-Release/Firebird-2.5.6.27020_0_Win32.exe/download                       
2.  Make a port exception in TCP 3050
   • Firebird when running over a network requires a port exception on the server for port TCP 3050. Some may choose to turn off the firewall completely; however, it is much more secure to make a port exception in port TCP 3050 for the Firebird database, which is usually installed at: C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Firebird\Firebird_2_5\bin\fbserver.exe. **It is much more secure to do this than to turn off the Firewall completely.                                                                                  
3. Install Auction Tracker itself only on the server.  **This could be the event night "server laptop" if not permanent network.
   • Using the installation program that was sent to you, install Auction Tracker. If you need a copy of your installation disc, contact us at 855-245-7500 or support@maxgiving.com.  **Reminder you must first install Firebird see step #1.
   • Confirm successful installation on the server by opening Auction Tracker. The first step is to get Auction Tracker running on the server. Running Auction Tracker on the other computers is a secondary matter.
4. Share the server’s \Tracker folder
   • Share it to Everyone on your private network. **This is one of the many reasons not to set up a network for Auction Tracker over public WiFi. For tighter security, and in more permanent installations of Auction Tracker, consider sharing to specific usernames, or use a security group.
   • Open Windows Explorer
     • Search for Windows Explorer in the Windows search box in the bottom left corner.
     • Select the yellow folder icon if it is on the desktop or taskbar.
   • Find the Local Disk (C:) drive
   • Left-click the Tracker folder, then right-click the Tracker folder
   • Select Properties
   • Select the Sharing tab
   • Select Share
   • Enter “Everyone”, then select Add
   • In the Everyone row, select Read, and a drop-down will appear
   • Choose Read/Write [in other Windows contexts, you may select Full Permissions here]
   • Select Share
   • Windows may prompt whether you want Windows Explorer to make changes to your computer, if it does select Yes.
5. Telling Auction Tracker where the data is.
   • In Windows Explorer (the program used to share the Tracker folder), go to the server computer’s folder \Tracker\Auct-Tr\bin
   • Open the program
   • Select the … icon
   • Select auctiontracker.fdb
   • Select Open
   • Select Test
   • Repeat the process for CONSTITUENT.FDB: Select the … icon, select the constituent.fdb file, select Open and select Test. **Optionally, you may select Computer Name for confirmation.  
   • When the process is complete, it should appear similar to the screenshot below.
   • Select OK to save and close
   • **Because Auction Tracker will be running on several different computers, we need to only ever point to the data on the Server, to do this we must tell the Auction Tracker program which computer (and which folder on that computer) has the Auction Tracker data. Only one computer’s Auction Tracker data will be used (the Server) – that way, when information such as winning bids is entered in Auction Tracker, it is available to all the other computers.
6. Put a shortcut to the server’s Auction Tracker program on all the computers' desktops  **The workstations need to be running the server's auction.exe executable.
   • From each of the non-server laptops, search for Network and open it
   • Open the server computer
   • Open the shared Tracker folder
   • Navigate to the \Tracker\Auct-Tr\bin folder
   • Left-click on auction.exe, then right-click on it
   • Select Create shortcut
   • Drag and drop the auction - Shortcut file onto the Desktop and/or the Taskbar of each of the non-server laptops.
7. Update Auction Tracker to the latest release
   • Update both the copy of Auction Tracker that has had the data, and the copy running on the server of your new network, before transferring the data.
8. Move the Auction Tracker data from wherever it was, to the server of your new network
   • How to move your Auction Tracker data from one computer to another
9. Open Auction Tracker from each of the laptops
   • To confirm that it’s been installed successfully.