Update #1: Servers are evil.
One of the reasons I’ve been too exhausted to post here is that we’re just replaced the file server at work. Our tech guys (and one could do much worse in the SLC or Davis County areas than Structure Computing — give them a call) ordered our new server for us and got it as set up as they could without the final switchout, which was to happen last Saturday morning — Travis, Jess, and me.
First problem: It turns out that our client database software, Amicus Attorney 7, wouldn’t work on a 64-bit machine. 7 Is a few years old, but we always resist upgrading because our Amicus is linked to PCLaw, our billing software, and any upgrade of either one has invariably broken the connection and been a bugger to fix. But this time, we were stuck. Fortunately, the guys had just gotten a CD of Amicus Attorney 2010 at their office in Kaysville because they’re official consultants, so one of them made the roundtrip while the other stayed with me to continue setup. A quick look at the specs, meanwhile, told me that we would have to upgrade our PCLaw too, as the version we were using wasn’t compatible with Amicus 2010. Naturally.
Also naturally, in order to do the PCLaw upgrade we had to talk to the PCLaw support staff, who weren’t working on a Saturday. So that got left for Monday morning. That’s okay, I suppose; just the planned tasks plus the Amicus upgrade took us nine hours on Saturday.
Monday morning I got the product key for the PCLaw upgrade and ran the conversion without a hitch. Even the link between Amicus and PCLaw was seamless. Travis came in to help me hitch up some odds and ends and left mid-morning. All seemed shipshape… until about an hour later, when users started losing file server connectivity. Both Travis and Jess had other things through the day, but whenever he could, Jess would remote in to our system (and O, the joy of living in The Future when that’s possible) to try and figure out the problem. Eventually he came here physically and spent past quitting time figuring out what was really wrong: The antivirus on the server was screwing things up. Rising Antivirus, we hate you!
Yesterday we finally got to addressing a problem with our document management software, Worldox (which, yes, we had upgraded on Saturday too), had been exhibiting since the weekend: it wouldn’t conduct full-text searches. Jess remoted in and, after several phone calls back and worth with Worldox support, he found out that they hadn’t bothered to mention that a newer version of C++ would need to be installed for it to work. Silly Worldox. He also fixed a reporting feature on my Amicus.
So. A bazillion hours since Saturday, spent with recalcitrant software. As I told a co-worker yesterday, If I ever plan to take possession of a new server again, it will be because I want to use the box as my coffin.
Greetings. Your post of 1/13 re: upgrading Amicus / PC Law was timely. I’ve hassled with linking these products for years. My current dilemma is that we’ve ordered a new 64 bit server running Windows Server 2008 R2. Everyone says that both Amicus 2010 and PCLaw 9.31 will run on a 64 bit platform, BUT nobody will tell me if they will continue to link together “because nobody’s tested it yet.”
Is the server referred to in your post running a 64 bit program, and if so, did the link work?
I’d really appreciate your response. Steve
Yes, it’s a 64-bit server running Server 2008 RD, and Amicus 2010 and PCLaw Pro 10.03 (yes, we went right for the cutting-edge release) link without headaches.