Quickbooks Database Server Manager

Quickbooks Database Server Manager by Intuit, supposedly also runs on GNU\Linux. I've spent some 10-20 hours trying to get it to work (with limited success) and here's what I know. This program supports QB Enterprise clients only (I have read).

Overview

What QB Database server manager for Unix is, is Sybase SQL Anywhere. It appears to be tailored to Quickbooks. There are two programs:

• qbfilemonitord
• qbdbmgr_##

The number refers to your edition of QB. 2014, uses QBDBMGR_24.

The program is offered in an RPM format. It is possible to convert the RPM to a .DEB and install it on Debian. However there are integrated commands that will fail (a ps -efff which searches the task list for the port and ip of qbdbmgr), so its best run in RHEL. The program is a pair of 32 bit binaries, so it's either run in 32 bit or you can install 32-bit compatibility libraries in 64-bit mode.

The RPM will unpack two main directories. in /opt it will put two folders for the binaries. In /etc, it will put an init.d script, and a logrotate.d script. There are also configuration files in /opt/. Additionally, the .qbw.TLD, .qbw.DSN, .qbw.ND files contain paths relevant to the QB DB manager (in plain text for the latter two). However, you can delete them before the first run of the .qbw file, and the server will generate them. Do not delete them while the DB is being accessed or you can crash QB. There is a qbdir.dat file that the db server will generate as well, that also has path info.

How to resolve H202 Error in Quickbooks Database Server with Linux

Per the Quickbooks FAQ page on this, adding a hard coded hostname for the ip address of the DB server should eliminate this error. It goes in the hosts file of Windows (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts).

How to resolve the "QBDB_ARGUMENT_ERROR: FixNDAndPermissions request sent to Linux" Error

Not sure yet. It seems that it can be ignored.

What others have done

https://dave.umry.sh/posts/quickbooks_linux/ From what I can tell, he didn't test enough. It's easy to open a DB file in single user mode, but a functioning multi user mode is what we are after. Actually, if you want to run QB DB Server in single user mode, it's easy in GNU\Linux. Multi user is where things start getting ugly.

Tips/Tricks

Using Sybase tools to discover QB databases

Yes, it is possible to use Sybase tools to discover QB DBs hosted by GNU\Linux on the LAN. You should also technically be able to connect, though I'm not sure what QB uses for credentials.

e.g. Sybase Central 6, has a Connect with Sql Anywhere 12 option.

Can you use a more recent QBDBMGR with older QB?

This doesn't work. Even if you fool some of the scripts (init.d) into thinking it is the same Database version required by your QB, there are additional checks that will get you. It's best to use the one supported for your QB. Intuit deleted some off their website recently, so possibly support can provide them. That would be called built in obsolescence.

Why not use Docker to install QB DB Manager

Good idea, but I didn't have any luck down this path. I need to try again.

Will Wine work with the Win DB manager?

Who knows? Another path to try.