Hi JoeSchwarz:

The Sage 50 Knowledgebase is down as well as some links I have tried. The 2021 version only has 1 new feature and it is a news feed showing product updates, support alerts and important communications according to Sage's What's new in 2021? I have been using it for several months and have had no issues to date. I am not using Remote Data Access. Sage 50 2020.2 support and updates will expire by June 2021 if I am not mistaken.

Hi Joe:

I apologize, I did not answer all of your questions. With payroll if a client is using the auto calculations feature then you should update when the client is ready. Payroll updates generally come twice a year but not always. This usually come late December and late June if there are any major tax changes.

Hope this helps!

My apologies for late reply - turns out my spam filter was blocking the replies, only found out this morning.  So it seems I'm going to have spend 20+ minutes on x4 computers for some fluff and potentially annoying messages.  Sigh.  At least now I know this isn't a rush thing.

Thanks for the answer.

I've got a followup question.  The database is on our server, will I need to run an update/install there?  I know there's always an update of the database but I do that from one of the client computers. I know that I've had to do a Connection Manager update once or twice on the server, but it doesn't seem to be required in every version update.

Also, wondering about your earlier comment saying you've been running it for months.  We've only got update notifications for the past couple weeks - was it actually released months ago?  Or are you a beta tester for Sage?

Hi JoeSchwarz, 

Thanks for reaching out! There is a version change in the connection manager for Sage 50 2021.0 which requires the "advanced install option" in the installer. 

Here's some more resources:

• KB 51101 - What is the latest version of the Connection Manager for Sage 50?
• KB 10226 - "The Sage 50 Connection Manager is installed but it isn't running on the computer where you store your data"

Hope this helps!

Warm Regards, 
Erzsi

KB 51101, as you may notice, this KB does NOT include any information about 2021. Even tho the "page" was updated Nov 24th. 

So this does not help for 2021 version. I already reported this shortcoming, a week ago, still CRICKETS from Sage.

I tried to find this information prior to making changes to the Server Connection Manager, but found NOTHING.

So any KB, take it with a grain of salt, as I don't trust them to keep them updated with any amount accuracy or "current" information.

Howie

Hi Howdoit, thanks for reporting and for your patience. The article has been updated with information for version 2021 and we will work on the time it takes to update all of the articles touched by a new release.

Thankyou Erzsi.  It does help - now I know that I can't do the update during the day, because in the past some Connection Manager updates have required a reboot.  Our server isn't dedicated to Sage, it runs other things that can't just be stopped during production hours.

Thanks for pointing that out.  I've been looking at different articles and they all were saying last updated Nov 24, guess somebody ran an SQL statement "UPDATE KnowldgeBase SET LastUpdated = 24-Nov-2020"

I found the Sage 50 Product and Payroll update page and it says

• There are no new changes in the 2021 product

Which contradicts the first response I got (supposedly some sort of news feed - oh yeah!).  And I guess a new version of Connection Manger does not count as a "new change"?

So have you actually done the update yet?  As per my original post, I prefer to hold back and see what problems the early adopters find first.

Yes, I did the update and we have some issues to work through.

Server/Client model, multiuser (2012 Std-not R2). Workgroup. No DC, AD or GPO's.

Shared Directory, Mapped drives

Something went south on us. Getting data problems, missing totals/balances, and, not enough memory to print, or invalid printer setup, errors.

Connection Manager for 2021 is V10.0

I will have a call into Sage tomorrow and will report back.

Howie

Update:

No solution as yet. Spent 2-1/2 hours with support. Monday we go up the ladder to engineering team. They were fully booked for Friday (today).

Issue identified.

When any company is opened, even the sample company and these datasets reside on the server (Sage data, shared drive) we are seeing 8 ".pem" files get generated and put into the root of the company "folder". This happens over and over after doing many tests, fresh company files or whatever we tried. Prior to opening a company, these files do NOT exist. As soon as we open any company, off the "server" poof, there they are again. Then we have these issues.

If the same company is copy/pasted and opened "locally" all is fine. These 8 PEM files do NOT get generated and everything works, balances are once again accurate and numbers match what is expected. Printing also works. No errors whatsoever.

So there is something going on in the server/client world that Sage dose not seem to like.

Sage 2020 had no issue using the same model, where AV was running (webroot) along with malwarebytes.

No changes on Server, but to be sure, I have the AV now uninstalled,  confirmed Windows f/w is off on client and server and Malwarebytes uninstalled to limit any potential conflicts. 

No change.

So for the moment we can have only one user access Sage (locally). Not ideal but at least some accounting can take place.

Monday I will report back if there is anything to report.

Howie

Thanks for keeping us informed.  So far I only see a couple other 2021.0 posts here, so I'm wondering if that means problems are only with very specific environments or the majority of customers have not yet upgraded.

I'm curious, couldn't you have gone back to a 2020 backup and used that while working out the bugs with the 2021 install?

Thats a good thought, but one we both overlooked, as we were so intrenched in trying to resolve this odd "pem" file generation thingy.

Fortunately, the users are ok with this delay, in part to knowing their Data is OK. (not corrupted) First emotion they feel is mass panic and a heart sinking moment, thinking the "whole" system is totally foo-barred, to a point everything they have ever done is somehow gone forever.

Haaa. We have put them at ease.

Month end already done, so we have some room.

Tier 2 support managed to get this issue sorted. But other issues continue.

We ended up doing may things such as:

Complete uninstall (Connection Mgr on server was stubborn and had to be "ripped" out. Would not uninstall properly and may have been root cause.

Uninstalled some older C++ redistributes, and reinstalled

Uninstalled ODBC Connectors, reinstalled with installation

Reinstalled Net 3.5

Verified data consistency - all passed

Once we carried out all this, the auto generation of .pem files (8 of them) stopped and pesky errors about data corrupt, or printer installation errors ceased.

However, client still says Ledger and Balance sheet do not match and a few other balance issues.

Journal entries are strange as well like incomplete when user drills down. 

As I am not sitting with the client, I am not privy to all the G/L accounts, entries and balance sheet reports, so depend on them for letting me know what is accurate and what is not.

Client is now waiting for call from Sage Support. 

The problem is, in the mean time, there is nothing they can do without fear of creating a bigger mess if they continue to post things. 

So it's a tense waiting game.

Will report back on where this takes us.

Howard

Thanks for the blow-by-blow - but you are making me nervous!  My fall back plan was I could always go back to 2020 version, but since I need to upgrade Connection Manager it sounds like it might be a major pain to uninstall that and go back to the previous version.

Final Update:

Short story. Data got corrupted when converted to 2021 version, because of the apparent mis-installation of the software. The installation issue Only shows up when a company file is opened on the "server". Thats when those ".pem" file got generated. And this is also where the other errors about data corruption, or wrong printer installation, begin.

So whatever or however the initial install got corrupted is still a mystery. All I did on the server side was the Connection Manager, not the whole program. 

I mentioned CM v10 didn't want to be removed nicely and seems to be part of the story, but why it happened.....we just don't know.

Data consistency checks, although they Passed, do not prove there is good math behind the scenes. Something got stomped on that isn't apparent on first look, other than it throwing the errors previously mentioned.

For anyone wanting to test or check this PRIOR to committing to it, go ahead and load the 2021 Connection Mgr on the server (backwards compatible), Sage 2021 on desktop, and open a sample company from the server. In order to do this, (unless you install the whole program on the server) find the sample company on the local PC and copy to server. (1 file SAI, 1 folder SAJ = 2 pieces) Share this of course. Once you open the sample company (called Universal?) from the workstation, check the file folder where the sample company lives on the server. The root of the folder may or may not have the 8 additional .pem files at that point in time. Root folder should only have (my view) 4 folders, and 8 files that live there. Not 4 folders and 16 FILES.

Removing them does not improve the math as we found out with previously mentioned balances and journal entries. It would seem that once the company is opened AND these pem files are generated the data is corrupted.

Solution:

Server 2021 connection manager uninstalled (ripped out) then rebooted.

Some C++ entries, both ODBC, and Dot NET, re & re, but not sure what impact if any, it had on outcome

Re-install v10.0 connection manager

Copy/paste a backup we had back over to the server.

As of late this afternoon, all Data entry has been done up to Nov 30 month end. Good news, all balances with Bank Statement.

Back in business. 

Howard