Skip to main content

How to Change a Company's Settings

When a SQL Server password changes, a database moves, or a company needs a different port, change it in place with Settings... in ABM Service Server Manager; there is no need to remove and add the company again. Saving restarts the company's Windows service on the new settings, so it is offline for a few seconds.

How do I change a company's settings on ABM Service Server?​

Press Settings... under the company in ABM Service Server Manager, change what you need, and press Save. The dialog is titled Settings - followed by the company's name, and has the same two database groups as Add a company, then Port and Site name.

  1. Open ABM Service Server Manager.
  2. Press Settings... under the company. The button is there when the company is running or its Windows service is stopped.
  3. Change what you need: a database group, the Port or the Site name. The company's name cannot be changed.
  4. Press Test under any database group you changed.
  5. Press Save. A progress window titled Applying settings - and the company's name shows writing the new configuration... and restarting the company on the new configuration....

Saving always restarts the company's Windows service, and starts it if it was stopped, because the company reads its port and connections only when its service starts. The restart signs out everyone signed in to the company, including Customer portal users, so save at a quiet time.

The company's name is fixed because it is also its Windows service, its folder and its firewall rule. To rename a company, remove it and add it again under the new name.

How do I change the SQL Server password a company uses?​

Open the company's Settings... in ABM Service Server Manager, type the whole connection again in the database group whose password changed, with the new password, press Test, and then Save. At the top of the dialog it says A blank login and password keep the stored connection, in either group. Fill them in to rotate a SQL password.

The connection is saved as a whole, so to change any part of one you fill in all four boxes of that group: SQL Server, Database, Login and Password. The Database box of the company group starts filled in with the database the company uses, and the control group's with ABMControl; the server, login and password start empty, because the saved password is never shown.

  • Leave both Login and Password empty in a group and that group's saved connection is kept exactly as it was, whatever else you type in its other boxes. Its Test then says Nothing to test: the stored connection is being kept.
  • Fill in Login and Password and the group is saved as you typed it, after its Test passes. That is also how you move a company to a different SQL Server or database. The company's line in the manager keeps showing the database name it was added with, even after a move.

Change the password in the manager soon after it is changed in SQL Server: until you do, the company cannot reach its database, and its database line in the manager turns red.

What do I change in ABM Service when the company database moves to another SQL Server?​

Only ABM Service Server needs changing: open Settings... under that company in ABM Service Server Manager and fill in the company database group for the new SQL Server. The ABM Service desktop app needs no change, because it takes the company's SQL Server, database and login from ABM's control database, the same company entry ABM itself uses, each time it opens the company.

  • ABM Service Server keeps its own stored copy of each connection and never reads it from ABM, so it goes on using the old server until you change it. In Settings..., fill in all four boxes of The company database group (SQL Server, Database, Login and Password) for the new server, press Test, then Save. Settings... is offered while the company is running or its Windows service is stopped. Saving restarts the company, which signs everyone out, so do it before people start work. If ABM's control database moved as well, fill in the second group the same way.
  • The ABM Service desktop app checks the connection it remembers for each person every time it starts for a company, and looks it up again in ABM's control database when that connection no longer works. Once ABM's own company entry names the new server, the next start connects there. A copy that was already running keeps its old connection, so have people choose Exit on the ABM Service tray icon beside the clock, or sign out of Windows, and then open ABM Service again.
  • If the desktop app says The company database is unreachable with the old server's name in the brackets, ABM's control database still names the old server for that company; correct the company entry in ABM.

How do I move a company to a different port, and what happens when I do?​

To move a company on ABM Service Server to another port, press Settings... under the company in ABM Service Server Manager, type the new number in Port, and press Save. The company restarts on the new port, which signs everyone out, and its Windows Firewall rule moves with it, so its web address changes to the new number. People who saved the old address, and any shortcuts or bookmarks, need the new one.

A port another company already has is refused, even when that company is stopped, with Port ... already belongs to the company and (a stopped company keeps its port). That includes a company of the development channel, if it is installed on the same server. Keeping the port the company already has is always accepted.

The site name only changes how the company is shown in the manager; it does not change the web address. The company's Apps & Features entry keeps the site name it had until a newer ABM Service Server setup updates the service software, so look for the previous name there in the meantime.

Why does Settings say nobody can sign in to this company?​

The company was added before ABM Service Server needed the control database of ABM (Advanced Business Manager), so it has no control database connection yet and nobody can sign in to it over the web. Settings... is the only place to give it one. The dialog says so at the top: This company has no ABM control database connection yet, so nobody can sign in to it.

  1. Open the company's Settings... in ABM Service Server Manager.
  2. Fill in the second group, ABM's control database (the people, and who may open this company): SQL Server, Database (usually ABMControl), Login and Password. Both boxes are marked required.
  3. Press its Test and wait for The database answered, and it looks like ABM's control database.
  4. Press Save.

Nothing in the dialog is saved, not even a new port or site name, until the control group is filled in and passes its test. A blank company login and password still keep the saved company connection.

Why does saving a company's settings fail?​

Saving a company's settings in ABM Service Server Manager fails when a test fails, when the port is taken, or when the company's Windows service will not stop. The Settings dialog stays open for the first two, with the reason in red: a failed test under its own group, a taken port under the first group.

  • A red Test answer: the new connection does not work. Fix what it says and test again.
  • Port ... already belongs to the company: choose another port.
  • could not be stopped, followed by a sentence saying the settings change is not finished: Windows would not stop the company's service. The company carries on with its previous settings and its firewall rule is left alone. Stop the company's Windows service by hand in the Services window, then open ABM Service Server Manager again: it finishes interrupted changes when it opens.
  • Another ABM Service Server Manager operation is changing this machine's web services: another change to the server held it for the whole 30 seconds the manager waits. Only one add, settings change, removal or update of the server software may run at a time. Try again after a minute; if it keeps happening with nobody else on the server, close the manager and open it again, and if it still repeats, send manager.log to your software supplier.