This document is designed as a guide on using the Aloha File Server and recovery options.
On FOH Terminals, there is a Master Terminal, that takes up the role of File Server, in the event the File server is off or disconnected from the network. This is usually the terminal that is assigned (TERM1) on the network and can be verified by the marker below:
Terminals are marked with a RED border around the screen when the terminals are operating in Redundancy mode. The Master Terminal can operate for a max of 30 days in this mode. This gives enough time to address any issues with the BOH server. Always ensure also the DOB and SYSDate time are the same. If it is not, this indicates the EOD was not run or something happened at the scheduled time of EOD. Contact your Aloha Support Representative when this occurs. Make this a check for Managers at the start of the morning Shift to check this value on the Terminals, before opening to avoid issues.
If the File server was restarted during business operations and comes back up, the Terminals will still operate in redundancy mode. Follow these steps to restore communication.
- Login to Aloha Manager
- Navigate to Utilities – POS – File Server Recovery.
If the terminals run an End of Day while in Redundancy mode, it only updates the DOB on the terminals and not the server. This DOB can be found in the Aloha.ini file found in C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\DATA\ and C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\NewDATA if you use Control + F and type in ‘DOB=’. This date format is listed here as DOB=MM DD YYYY. When the fileserver recovery is run, this only updates the Aloha.ini file in the C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\DATA folder of the server and not the Aloha.ini file found in C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\NewDATA. This can cause the DOB to go backwards if a System Refresh is done after a fileserver recovery is done and hence cause an EOD to occur, closing out all current bills. To resolve this:
- After a Fileserver Recovery is done, browse to C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\DATA and C:\Bootdrv\Aloha\NewDATA Aloha.ini files and use CTRL+F to verify their DOB values match
- If the DOB values do not match in these two files, copy the Aloha.ini file from the DATA folder and overwrite the Aloha.ini file in the NewDATA folder. This will update the NewDATA folder with the correct DOB and would prevent the system from back dating when a refresh is done.
When running reports at the BOH, and there is no Dated sales folder for a date, this will indicate there was no communication between BOH Server and the Master Terminal. Follow the steps below to troubleshoot:
All dated folders when EOD is run is stored on the MASTER terminal and copied to the BOH server. IF there is no communication, and the dated folders are not on the BOH server, the dated folder should then be copied to the file server, when recovered. The path on both systems will be C:\Aloha\BOOTDRV\Aloha. On the Master terminal, it should look like this:
MASTER SERVER
In this example, the dates for the 15th,16th,17th are on the Master Terminal. On the File Server, browse to the same path, and copy the missing files to the Server. These missing folders must be cut and moved across to the BOH server. This is not automatically done.
