Quickbooks on Linux

[Tyler Aviss]

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Stephen W. Clarke <stephenc-wtWqQT8woy8 at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 7:05 AM, Stephen W. Clarke <stephenc-wtWqQT8woy8 at public.gmane.org>
>> wrote:
>>> Yes it does work on XP, so the a VM style solution is possible, but if I
>>> do that can I run multiple instances of the same VM simultaneously for
>>> multiple remote users? That seems to be extra complicated.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Does it run on XP? For those times that XP must be run I usually keep
>>>> a copy of XP handy in VirtualBox, etc.
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 6:15 AM, Stephen W. Clarke <stephenc-wtWqQT8woy8 at public.gmane.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Do any of you know if it's possible to run Quickbooks in a linux
>>>>> environment. That is other than in a VM. WINE? CrossOver?
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been asked to install QB2010 on our accounting server, but it is
>>>>> running Windows 2000 Server and won't install. So, I'm wondering if
>>>>> there
>>>>> are any real options other than buying and installing Windows Server
>>>>> 2008.
>>>>> ugh!
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Stephen
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Stephen W. Clarke
>>>>> Marketing and Communications Officer
>>>>> Nray Services Inc.
>>>>> 56A Head Street
>>>>> Dundas, ON L9H 3H7
>>>>> CANADA
>>>>>
>>>>> (905) 627-1302 x14
>>
>> Hmm, do all the users need to access it simultaneously?
>> If not, then what we have here for some of things that need windows
>> (like our Blackberry Enterprise Server), is run it within a VM and
>> connect via RDP when necessary.
>>
>> One person can connect at a time, but at least you could access it
>> from multiple computers on an as-needed (first-come-first-serve)
>> basis.
>>
>> If you're using the commercial version of VirtualBox (free for
>> personal/evaluation/academic use) then you can connect directly to the
>> VM via rdesktop (mstsc in windows, in linux using "rdesktop-vrdp -u
>> VMUSER as -p VMUSERPASSWORD SERVER:3389"). Once it's setup you could
>> use VBoxHeadless to start the VM without needing the GUI
>>
>> If you're using the OSE (open-source/free) version, you don't get the
>> RDP server, USB support, or USB-over-RDP support (which is really
>> cool), but you could still set it up using the VirtualBox GUI and then
>> setup RDP, give the VM a live IP via a bonded interface, and then
>> enable RDP within your windows guest.
>>
>> If you decide it's worth your while I can pass some init scripts etc
>> that make the start/stop a little easier.
>> --
>> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
>> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
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>>
>
> Thanks for this suggestion. It's given me something to think about.
>
> The main reason I'm contemplating a VM solution would be to allow for
> simultaneous user access. The only thing this server currently does is run
> Win2000 server and QB. So if we reduce the QB access to a single user then
> I can just install XP directly on the box and allow for users needing it
> to access through Terminal Services Client.
>
> Currently we have two people who enjoy the simultaneous access they can
> get with our existing set up. Could I install multiple VMs on a linux
> server and allow them to login with rdesktop and then each run their own
> VM of WinXP to access QB? That would be a total investment of $300 instead
> of $1500.
>
> I'll keep thinking about this, but thanks for the suggestions.
>
> Stephen
>
> --
> Stephen W. Clarke
> Marketing and Communications Officer
> Nray Services Inc.
> 56A Head Street
> Dundas, ON L9H 3H7
> CANADA
>
> (905) 627-1302 x14
>
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists
>

At that point it mostly depends on the server. One of our boxes is
running 4 VM's simultaneous and it only really flinches if they're all
trying to do something major at once (the startups are stagged so it's
usually fine).

The server itself has 8GB of RAM and I believe a quad-core Xeon (or
two Dual's, I can't remember which offhand), as well as a decent RAID.
The host OS is Debian, and the guests are two each of "Windows XP" and
"2003 server"

Whether  you could run two VM's depends mostly on the software at that
point. If you literally need two separate installs it shouldn't be an
issue.  If you could do it with two windows workstations, you could
likely do it with two VM's. It somewhat depends on what Quicken's
client-server model is like.
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists